Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Nov. 22nd, 2009 11:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
The pack circled around me, tongues and teeth and growls.
When a local boy is killed by wolves, Grace’s small town becomes a place of fear and suspicion. But Grace can’t help being fascinated by the pack, and by one yellow-eyed wolf in particular. There’s something about him – something almost human.
Then she meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away ...
Six years ago, Grace was attacked by a wolf pack, only to be saved by a yellow-eyed wolf. The two have been fascinated with each other ever since but now the pack has killed Jack Culpepper, a jock at Grace’s school, plunging the small Minnesota town where they live into a state of fear. When Grace tries to save the pack from a cull, the yellow-eyed wolf transforms into a yellow-eyed boy called Sam. Sam’s ability to change is governed by the temperature – the colder he is, the stronger the compulsion to turn into a wolf and worse, he is reaching the point when the transformation will be permanent. As Sam and Grace fall in love, they realise that Grace survived her attack without becoming a wolf, which means that there has to be a cure. The race is on to find out how ...
Stiefvater’s take on werewolf mythology is original, particularly the idea of the transformation being governed by the cold. By labelling each chapter with a temperature, she effectively builds tension. Sam and Grace have strong voices and while there is a similarity of tone at times, it does add to the sense of their being right for each other.
While Grace has elements of the traditional female role (she cooks and cleans for her parents), she is also determined and her relationship with Sam doesn’t define her. Sam by contrast is more sensitive and had a troubled upbringing with parents. His struggle to retain his identity is an interesting conflict that gives the story its emotional spine.
There’s a lot of plot – from the dynamics of Sam’s pack and his relationship with Beck (a werewolf who offers his packmates shelter when they are in their human form) to the mystery surrounding Jack’s attack and Grace’s relationship with her photographer friend Olivia, who comes to share her fascination with the pack – too much at times so that the resolution for some isn’t particularly satisfying. More could have been made of the pack element in particular, although this may well be dealt with in the sequel, LINGER. The cure itself seemed a little silly and I wasn’t completely clear on how it was intended to operate.
All in all though, this was a sweet, romantic story that gives the characters a story beyond their feelings for one and other. I look forward to reading the sequel.
The Verdict:
It’s refreshing to read a teen romance that gives the characters more to do than stare moodily into each others eyes and while I think that there was a little too much plot within this novel, it was still an entertaining read.
When a local boy is killed by wolves, Grace’s small town becomes a place of fear and suspicion. But Grace can’t help being fascinated by the pack, and by one yellow-eyed wolf in particular. There’s something about him – something almost human.
Then she meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away ...
Six years ago, Grace was attacked by a wolf pack, only to be saved by a yellow-eyed wolf. The two have been fascinated with each other ever since but now the pack has killed Jack Culpepper, a jock at Grace’s school, plunging the small Minnesota town where they live into a state of fear. When Grace tries to save the pack from a cull, the yellow-eyed wolf transforms into a yellow-eyed boy called Sam. Sam’s ability to change is governed by the temperature – the colder he is, the stronger the compulsion to turn into a wolf and worse, he is reaching the point when the transformation will be permanent. As Sam and Grace fall in love, they realise that Grace survived her attack without becoming a wolf, which means that there has to be a cure. The race is on to find out how ...
Stiefvater’s take on werewolf mythology is original, particularly the idea of the transformation being governed by the cold. By labelling each chapter with a temperature, she effectively builds tension. Sam and Grace have strong voices and while there is a similarity of tone at times, it does add to the sense of their being right for each other.
While Grace has elements of the traditional female role (she cooks and cleans for her parents), she is also determined and her relationship with Sam doesn’t define her. Sam by contrast is more sensitive and had a troubled upbringing with parents. His struggle to retain his identity is an interesting conflict that gives the story its emotional spine.
There’s a lot of plot – from the dynamics of Sam’s pack and his relationship with Beck (a werewolf who offers his packmates shelter when they are in their human form) to the mystery surrounding Jack’s attack and Grace’s relationship with her photographer friend Olivia, who comes to share her fascination with the pack – too much at times so that the resolution for some isn’t particularly satisfying. More could have been made of the pack element in particular, although this may well be dealt with in the sequel, LINGER. The cure itself seemed a little silly and I wasn’t completely clear on how it was intended to operate.
All in all though, this was a sweet, romantic story that gives the characters a story beyond their feelings for one and other. I look forward to reading the sequel.
The Verdict:
It’s refreshing to read a teen romance that gives the characters more to do than stare moodily into each others eyes and while I think that there was a little too much plot within this novel, it was still an entertaining read.
