Monday, July 11, 2011

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater


Disclaimer: I’m going to try and keep this review short & sweet to avoid spoilers. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, here is the general gist of the first book “Shiver”. Grace was attacked by wolves when she was nine years old, but one of the wolves, the one with the yellow eyes, saved her. Every winter brings the return of her wolf and she relishes in the tranquility of the season and the connection they share. When a teen is found killed by the wolves, the town retaliates and Grace finds an injured, shivering young man on her porch. One look into his yellow eyes and she knows it’s her wolf, in human form. Dun dun dun...

I loved “Shiver”. It was gorgeous, elegant, and otherworldly. The prose was musical and while the plot wasn’t anything to write home about, Ms. Stiefvater’s writing drew me in and kept me there until I finally looked up and realized that I had read the entire book in one sitting. The romance between Sam and Grace was tender, yet intense. Then came the second book, “Linger”, and while I liked it, my love was waning. As the plot moved on from the romance to multiple conflicts, the magic seemed to fade away. Unfortunately, in “Forever”, the magic (for me) was completely gone.

I wanted to love this book. Normally, I devour whatever I’m reading, especially when it is a conclusion to a series I’ve been anxious to read. I love Ms. Stiefvater’s writing, but “Forever” felt like the title. It took me forever to read. There were some really great moments and I loved the additional character perspectives. In fact, I really feel like Isabel and Cole were the standouts this time around. I loved reading their stories and would have loved to have had more happen there. Sam and Grace just seemed so one note. Gah, I hate writing negative reviews, but I’ve stewed over this and it is what it is. I didn’t like “Forever”. I felt like the pacing was slow up until the ending and then it was completely rushed. Plot lines were left open in awkward ways and the plot line I really wanted to see tied up wasn’t at all. I think one of the major downfalls though is that between “Linger” and “Forever”, most of the characters have lost their likability. Sam and Grace became boring and a lot of the other characters did pretty iffy things. It makes it hard to read when the characters are one-note and unlikeable. I think I’ll just pretend this book didn’t happen and pretend “Shiver” is a stand alone.

I hope it’s just me and that you’ll enjoy “Forever” when it hits the shelves in July. Let me know your thoughts! I’d love to discuss this book.

Thanks to Scholastic for sending me an ARC for review. “Forever” is scheduled to be published on July 12th.

4 comments:

  1. It can be tough to write a negative review. Good job.

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  2. It's a well-written negative review. Quite persuasive. That means scratch one book off my book shelf.

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  3. Thank you. I hate to put negative stuff out there because I love so many of the authors, but I want to be honest. I'm not just here to sell books. I'm here to give you my honest opinion.

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  4. I was totally excited for this book. and then i read it and it took me forever to finish becuase I hated it! There was like no action at all. It was pretty lame.

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