Shiver (Maggie Stiefvater)

It isn't really the eighteenth. No, it's the seventeenth. Right? Right.



My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I still want to know what's with the blue ink. But anyway.

Grace lives with wolves. Well, kind of. There are wolves that live in the forest her yard backs up into. Several of them. There's the white she-wolf, the black wolf, and her wolf--one with pale yellow eyes. Her wolf, who saved her life six years ago when she was dragged off her tire swing in the backyard by the wolves. Her wolf saved her. Ever since that day, Grace's been the slightest big obsessed with the wolves. So when a boy is reportedly killed by one, she can hardly believe it. She has to, though--especially when hunters go into the woods, hell-bent on killing some wolves.

Grace doesn't believe in werewolves, either. Until she sees her wolf on her porch, bleeding from his neck, yellow eyes fearful. Human.

It's Sam's last change, and he knows it. He's going to have to fight for every day he remains human. The wolves change forms depending on the temperature, and as it grows colder and colder, Sam is closer and closer to turning wolf again. Unless they can find a cure, and fast, Sam's days as a human may be numbered.

Tetch. Seemed too close to Twilight for my comfort. And it kept reminding me of Twilight as it went on. Yes, yes, Shiver was begun before the whole Twi-craze, but that doesn't mean they aren't remarkably similar. Still, Shiver wasn't all too bad. For one, I don't hate the protagonist. And they both joke about how it's kind of creepy that Grace is so into wolves and that wolf-Sam was in love with human Grace. Grace's parents struck me as unusually distant for a bit, but after thinking about it more, they're not too far off-base from what could be reality.

The cynical side of me, though, can't help but make fun of Sam for a moment, though. He's too... nice. Too perfect. He and Grace never argue. Ever. Maybe twice in the entire book. Sam lives with her for weeks and weeks. There's only one bed in Grace's room. Not an issue at all. Someone in a café asks how long they've been together, Sam says six years without missing a beat. It's kind of hilarious, actually, while still being very sweet. I'm tempted to say it's not realistic enough, not possible. But hey, it could be, right? So I'll just leave off with a footnote: Sam's a total softie. Didn't ruin the book for me, though. And I certainly can't wait to get my hands on the second.