Review: Shiver
As I mentioned earlier, the lovely Maggie Stiefvater (m_steifvater) will be joining the blog on Friday as part of her tour promoting Shiver, which comes out September 1st. To prep me for her guest blog, Maggie very, very kindly had her publicist send me an advance copy of Shiver, which I devoured today. I started it this afternoon, taking a break from some copyediting work, and the book did not want to be put down. So, this is my very brief, non-spoilery review of Shiver to prep y'all for Maggie's visit on Friday.
Grace was attacked by werewolves as a child, and was saved by Sam, a young wolf destined to one day become the pack leader. Over the years, they watch each other, girl and wolf, with Sam never revealing his identity. (This is in the first ten pages, so I promise, not spoilery.) When events bring them together, finally, their romance takes on the star-crossed lover archetype to the nth degree. This is a Romeo and Juliet where Romeo isn't a fickle teen, devoted to one girl at the beginning of the play but willing to kill himself for another by the end; where Juliet isn't a teen in the throes of her first love with no sense of practicality and meaning. Sam and Grace are real people in an extraordinary situation, given a limited shot at true love.
I don't normally recommend books on the basis that they make me cry (I cry at a lot of books, and don't usually pick up books based on the "made me cry" recommendation from others), but Shiver is heartwrenching and beautiful and worthy of all the tears I spent on it. Not only is the relationship between Grace and Sam potent, but the relationships of each of them to their friends and family/pack are so amazingly well drawn that many of the touching moments came out of those, rather than the romance.
I'm having trouble finishing the review without just devolving into gushing, so I think I'll leave it here, with the highest recommendation. Don't forget to come back and hear about the novel in Maggie's own words on Friday!
Grace was attacked by werewolves as a child, and was saved by Sam, a young wolf destined to one day become the pack leader. Over the years, they watch each other, girl and wolf, with Sam never revealing his identity. (This is in the first ten pages, so I promise, not spoilery.) When events bring them together, finally, their romance takes on the star-crossed lover archetype to the nth degree. This is a Romeo and Juliet where Romeo isn't a fickle teen, devoted to one girl at the beginning of the play but willing to kill himself for another by the end; where Juliet isn't a teen in the throes of her first love with no sense of practicality and meaning. Sam and Grace are real people in an extraordinary situation, given a limited shot at true love.
I don't normally recommend books on the basis that they make me cry (I cry at a lot of books, and don't usually pick up books based on the "made me cry" recommendation from others), but Shiver is heartwrenching and beautiful and worthy of all the tears I spent on it. Not only is the relationship between Grace and Sam potent, but the relationships of each of them to their friends and family/pack are so amazingly well drawn that many of the touching moments came out of those, rather than the romance.
I'm having trouble finishing the review without just devolving into gushing, so I think I'll leave it here, with the highest recommendation. Don't forget to come back and hear about the novel in Maggie's own words on Friday!