Oh. My. God.
I literally just finished Shiver a few minutes ago. It is amazing. Seriously. I want to go out and buy every book that Maggie Stiefvater has ever written. Like right now. I follow her on twitter and before I started reading I asked her what I should expect and this was her reply.
@TiaRawls Tissues. I would recommend them, if I am any good at all at what I do. 5:17 PM Jan 4th from web in reply to TiaRawls
She couldn’t be more right.
I had a difficult time wanting to read this week. I’m chalking it up to an insane work week and being bummed about the ending of The Lovely Bones. However, I connected with Shiver the moment I started reading. I immediately felt this intense lonely, yearning that I hadn’t felt in quite some time. It stirred up my emotions so much at times that I had to just sit the book down and take a break from the intensity.
Shiver is about 17 -year-old (every so appropriately) named Grace and 18-year-old Sam. They live in a small town named Mercy Falls (I alternate between appropriate and irony on this…)
The book begins from Grace’s point of view as she is remembering when she was attacked by wolves when she was younger (I believe she was 11). What first struck me was that Grace never fought what was happening to her.
“I could have screamed, but I didn’t. I could have fought, but I didn’t. I just lay there and let it happen, watching the winter-white sky go gray above me.”
I couldn’t help but wonder what could possibly be going on with this child where she wouldn’t fight for her life?
Then the next chapter…Sam. I suppose I should note that I was intrigued by why each chapter had a temperature underneath the chapter title.
Example:
Chapter Two • Sam
15°F
I knew that Sam was a wolf from the moment I read his first words. Since I had no knowledge of what this book was about going into it, my first thought was, “Oh shit. Another werewolf book.” As much as I loved the Twilight series when it first came out, it seems as if vampires and werewolves are all that anyone writes about anymore. I DID NOT want to read another one of those books again. So, I promised myself that I would suffer through it for the sake of my ABAW goal. From the ending of the second chapter where Sam says,
“…I thought she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, a tiny, bloody angel in the snow, and they were going to destroy her.
I saw it. I saw her, in a way I’d never seen anything before.
And I stopped it.”
Maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for romance. Perhaps it is the way Maggie is so descriptive, I’m not sure. I just know that I had to know what happened from that point own.
So begins this intricate twisted love story between Grace and Sam. Ever since that fateful night when Grace was attacked Sam has always watched her…except in the summers. When the temperature is warm that is when these wolves become human again. Well, for a few years. Eventually the wolf overtakes the human and it is The End. The story becomes somewhat predictive in the sense that it is Sam’s last year being human and he fights it.
That is all that I found truly predictive, though. Maggie takes the plot of the book in so many twist and turns that had I not been following her on twitter I would have been quite upset at the ending of this book, as it is a bit cliffhangery (I make up new words simply because I’m that awesome and I can!). Shiver is part of a trilogy. Linger, the second book in the series is due out in July 20, 2010. This is the type of book that I can’t really say too much about without ruining it, so go read it and let me know what you think of it.
Maggie made this awesome trailer for Shiver. Check it out!
Links:
Questions for the comments/readers:
Do you believe that the literary world (in particular YA) is being taken over by vampires and werewolves? Does this dissuade (or even persuade) you from reading a book/series?
Well, werewolves and vampires, ummm…are they taking over literature? Maybe adolescent literature (ie. literature written for middle-schoolers). But that’s beside the point.
Going a little more in depth (no plot spoilers, though) would make a better review. (I’m being constructive!)
Other than that, if it made you all emotional it’s probably a good book. You’ve made that point. Good luck with the ABAW goal!
thanks jesse! my biggest problem is trying to sum it up without spoiling things.
I would definitely say more topics relating vampires, werewolves, and magic seem to be more prevalent. Some good, some not so much. Mostly in YA I would say. Shiver sounds excellent. Can’t wait to read it for my self.
The “Paranormal Romance” genre has been exhausted with Twilight-inspired books. This book was a bit of a light in the murky waters of the vampire books in the YA section of the world’s libraries and bookstores, and I hope that Linger and Forever continue to be well received for this interesting series.