Thursday 9 September 2010

Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Shiver
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
ISBN 10: 0545123267
ISBN13: 9780545123266

About the book (from Goodreads)
For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human ... until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1
Published: 1st August 2009
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Excert: Excert

My Review
Shiver is gripping story which pulls you into the lives and relationship of Grace and Sam, a powerfully and poetically written tale of soul mates, love and werewolves.

Grace and Sam are soul mates, despite the fact that she is human and he is a wolf. The connection has been there for years, since Sam saved Grace when she was attacked by wolves as a child. For years Grace spent her winters watching the wolves from her yard, which backed onto the forest, always looking out for her wolf. The first time she meets properly him as a human he is naked on her back porch having been shot. Once she sees he has the same yellow her wolf has she simply accepts werewolves straight off, like she had always know really. From that moment on they do not want to be separated.

Grace is an easy character to like, she seems so genuine and honest. Having been near obsessed with her wolf for years she feels she has come home when she finally meets Sam. I found Sam is a harder character to like but his love for Grace is nothing but genuine.

The wolves in Shiver are different to wolves I read in other series. They are human in the summer and wolf in winter, the cold makes them change, forget the moon and silver etc usually associated with werewolf stories. In Shiver, once they are wolves very little, if anything, is remembered of their human lives, much more a true wolf than in many other stories. Sam, however, longs to just be “Sam” and not loose himself as a wolf, dreading that this seems to be his last year before he become as wolf for the rest of this life.

The story is told partly from Grace’s point of view and partly Sam’s. I found the changes in POV easy to follow and added depth to the story, helping us to see that the deep true love was there on both sides. I found Shiver to be well paced especially the second half.

I really enjoyed Shiver. If you like werewolves and tales of true love then Shiver is for you. It may be YA but is very readable by even adults who usually do not read YA at all. I found this a difficult review to write without giving away too many spoilers!

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1 comment:

  1. Personally, I found the whole "soul mates" thing to be a cheat. It's a pretty obvious way to kick-start the romance. But the romance is pretty god once it gets started.

    Nice review. But you need to proof better. "lose" has only one o, and "excerpt" is spelled with a p. Spellchecker is a good friend, but a lazy worker. ^_^

    ReplyDelete

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