Friday 2 March 2012

[REVIEW] Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

Published: July 2011
Publisher: Scholastic Press Inc.
Age Group: Young Adult
Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls #3 [end]
In Stiefvater's "Shiver," Grace and Sam found each other. In "Linger," they fought to be together. Now, in "Forever," the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in. (From Goodreads)

Forever is the last book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. If you've never heard of them, I think you should go read the first one (Shiver) right now. That being said, the Wolves of Mercy Falls revolves around the two main characters Grace and Sam. Maggie Stiefvater though, has a peculier way of writing each chapter. She tends to change the narrator, of course she lets you know when she does, but the change in narration adds an extra perspective. Often the characters are present during the same event but Stiefvater's way fo changing the narration gives you more thoughts and feelings as oppose to having  only one narrator. 

In Forever, the narrators are Grace, Sam, Isabelle and Cole. As a brief explanation of each character in case you haven't read Shiver or Linger (the second book in the trilogy), (NOTE: these are technically spoilers) Grace was attacked by wolves when she was younger but has yet to change in to one. At the end of Linger though, she is overwhelmed by the wolf cells inside her and eventually turns into a wolf. Sam was turned in to a wolf and adopted, in Shiver, he was cured temporarily, meaning he doesn't change into a wolf again but the wolf cells are still inside him. Grace and Sam are in love with each other. Isabelle is the girl who figures out the wolf secret. Her brother was turned into a wolf and killed. Cole is a famous singer, missing after he chose to be turned into a wolf. Cole is a genius and in forever, spends his entire time attempting to find a cure. 

So with that out of the way, Forever starts right after Grace turns in to a wolf. It follows Grace's experience from shifting from human and wolf, and the eventual wolf hunt that seeks to eradicate all the wolves living in Mercy Falls. Thus, throughout the book, Isabelle, Cole and Sam are attempting to save the wolves while Grace deals with personal issues when she tells her friend what she truly is. 

I find that at the end of every series, there seems to be a MAJOR battle at the end. The good guys usually win and then the series ends in a happy ending. Forever follows that exact pattern. At the end of the book, there's the giant wolf hunt. The wolves live and it is implied that everyone lives a happy life. The ending of this book though, in my opinon, was absolutely horrible. The ending just didn't seem like an ending. I remember flipping over trying to find the actual ending and actually visiting the book store in an attempt to see if my copy of Forever was faulty. No, turns out that really bad ending was the ending. Maggie Stiefvater's writing is truly amazing but i guess she didn't know how to end the series. 

Although the ending sucked, Maggie Stiefvater can really convey the character's feelings through her writing. I can really feel the sadness, happiness, anxiety and frustration that each character emotionally goes through. I remember at the ending of linger, I was crying and could not wait for the next book. Forever was just a whirlwind of emotions. With so many different narrators, I was feeling angry, then happy, then sad, then sympathetic. For Steifvater to do that just with her writing is truly amazing. 

Out of all three of the books, forever is my least favourite but this trilogy definitely is and if you love books about romance and werewolves, you should definitely try reading shiver.

3/5
(originally posted in the TPL Word Out program)

2 comments:

  1. Forever is also my least favorite book. The ending wasn't very good, but still the series is very nice to read especially if your in to romance. I got insane in the ending of Forever because I didn't know what Sam was going to do. But still Shiver, Linger, and Forever is one of my favorite books because you can feel what the characters of the book feel. Maggie Stiefvater is truly an amazing author.

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    1. I totally agree! I love Maggie Stiefvater and maybe Shiver and Linger were so well written that it was hard to write an ending that gives the series total justice.

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