Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Review! Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater


Shiver
Maggie Stiefvater
Scholastic Press
August 1, 2009 
ISBN-10: 0545123267 
ISBN-13: 978-0545123266

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.


I honestly wasn't going to review this book until I heard that a few of you wanted to hear my thoughts on it. I've had Shiver in my TBR pile for months now, even though I had heard how wonderful it is, I guess I wasn't ready to read it yet. I think that for the first several chapters, I was thinking that okay, it's good but yeah, it's not wowing me. Needless to say, I was getting a little paranoid as every single review I had read of Shiver claimed that it was pure awesomeness.

But then it happened, I can't tell you when it was, or if it was a sentence, an expression, a setting. I don't know but I went from thinking oh, it's good to just.. wow. Stiefvater's writing is, it seems to me, poetic. It just flows so well that based on the writing itself I'd have to give five stars to this book. But when you throw in two characters like Grace and Sam, it's perfect.

Grace and Sam are in their own ways completely different yet completely the same. They are absolutely perfect for each other. It's rare to see two characters as well-developed and so easy to fall in love with. There wasn't one moment where I thought "God, she's so stupid." or "Gee, he's a jerk" which admittedly pretty much happens with every single book I read, no matter how much I end up loving it. Sam and Grace have that perfect love that we all want.

Ultimately, Shiver is, in fact, pure awesomeness. The characters are lovely and the plot will keep up at night but I think it's the writing that just stole my breath away. I honestly can't say enough good things about it, it's poetic and refreshing and Shiver is just one of those books that will make you sigh, or smile and laugh or cry. It's a roller-coaster and you'll love it, I absolutely recommend it.

7 comments:

Tales of Whimsy said...

Poetic is a perfect way to describe her writing.
I love Lament and can't believe I haven't read Shiver yet.

PS The book you're currently reading looks GOOD. Can't wait for the review.

Unknown said...

I totally agree with you - poetic is a GREAT way to describe what Maggie can do with a book, with settings and chacters! I am so glad you loved it....

Adriana said...

I haven't read this and I want to read it so bad after hearing how good it is. I really want to read something by Maggie Stiefvater since she sounds like an amazing author.

Cindy said...

I can't wait to read this, it sounds really good :) Great review

Smokinhotbooks said...

Wendsie you said it girl. I was surprised when another blogger totally bashed on this book. I loved the idea of temperature being the component to shift.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't Shiver great?!! I can't wait til Linger comes out!

Alexia561 said...

Well shoot, now I HAVE to read it if you liked it so much! *L*

Thanks for the great review!

He can Chapter-32 me anytime!

Bones is Mine