Shiver

Title: Shiver

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Publication Date: August 1^st, 2009

Length: 390 pages

Genre: Romance

Format and Source: Hardcover, from school library.

Summary from Goodreads: [This will be spoiler free, but the actual review below will not]. 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.

Review: [Reminder: Spoilers]. I feel very conflicted about this book. On one hand, I thoroughly enjoyed this book – there were a lot of aww moments and Stiefvater’s writing is absolutely stunning. On the other however, I found many flaws in the story’s plot. The idea behind the story was great – but it could have been executed better. The first half of the review focuses on the negatives in Shiver, and the second covers the positives (of which there were many).

The first problem was evident from the first three chapters in the book. Bestiality was implied, and it wasn’t subtle. Grace falls in love with a wolf who stood by as she was attacked by members in his pack? This didn’t really spell out romance for me. She has no idea that he’s a werewolf, and knows for a fact that he is lethal, yet sits out on the porch during cold winters to catch a glimpse of him. At this point, I was worried the book was going to go downhill very quickly, but kept reading for the sake of finishing the book. The issue of bestiality isn’t so prominent after the first few chapters, but Grace makes comparisons to Sam’s majestic wolf form multiple times – it’s hard to forget about the questionable beginning.

Another problem was the Purple Prose. This includes the language used by our main characters, Sam and Grace. Their vocabulary is far too mature for their age – in fact, it makes them seem like they belong in a retirement home rather than in a high school. Their interactions weren’t realistic simply because of the use of language. Along with this, the extensive descriptions make it so difficult to keep reading. I had to force myself to continue more than once simply because the story wasn’t pulling me in. The lyrics and poetry by Sam also didn’t help suck me in. I found myself skipping over all of Sam’s sappy poems – they were too much to handle. If they were sparse and appropriate for the situation, they might have added to the development of their love – but if Sam could function enough to construct a poem in the midst of a rocking make out scene, it wouldn’t have been described as intense it was.

The final problem I had was with Grace’s parents’ absence. It was absurd to expect parents that had no drug or alcohol addiction, or no incredibly pressuring career to be so unattached to their daughter’s life. She gets away with smuggling Sam into her bedroom every night to sleep there without being caught. I doubt any sober parent wouldn’t notice this after a while. Her parents seemed too uncaring and aloof, and I felt that this was lazy on Stiefvater’s behalf – it was as though if she got the parents out of the way, she could focus more on the romance.

The combination of faults didn’t take away from the beauty of the story however. Stiefvater is able to capture the very essence of winter and it makes an amazing read. The story portrays the winter blues felt by most people in the cold season, while using the sadness to enhance her characters’ emotions. While the immense amounts of descriptions were boring at times, when used appropriately, I really felt like I could almost be part of the surroundings (as cheesy as it sounds).

The idea behind the story was incredibly creative. Sam would be a human in the summer and a wolf in the winter – but slowly, his summers would shorten until he had none left. Then he’d be a normal wolf with a slightly longer lifespan. The first time Sam talks to Grace as a human is in his last summer, but he withholds this information from her. When she finds out, the story shifts to a desperate fight for more time. Because a new wolf (Jack) doesn’t want to live the life of a wolf, he threatens to hurt Sam if Grace doesn’t cure him, so the book takes a turn and focuses on curing the wolves who’ve been infected.

While this book didn’t leave a great impact on me, I got great pleasure from reading it. While I never really felt too much sadness over Sam leaving (it was quite predictable that he wouldn’t be gone for good, with two books left in the trilogy), I definitely felt surprise, happiness, and anger multiple times. The greatest moment for me, when I truly felt involved in the plot, was when Grace and Isabelle found a possible cure for the wolves’ changing. The book, while quite lazy in some senses (brushing over important details to keep a relationship going), was undeniably beautiful, and I will surely read the next two books to find out what happens to the wolves of Mercy Falls.

Final Rating: B-. I really can’t bring myself to give this book a higher rating, but giving it a lower rating would also be unfair, as it has its merits. It has its faults, but I like that it’s not a conventional werewolf story. I would recommend this book to fans of YA romance that falls under the supernatural category, but keep your patience when reading it. Shiver is a good book that may be hard to get into, but is definitely worth finishing. 

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