Thursday, June 30, 2011

Book Review: Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

FOREVER is the third book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series, so if you haven't read the first two (SHIVER and LINGER), look away! Also, it comes out in two weeks (July 12), so this is a tad early (but just a tad).

I just finished FOREVER like .5 seconds ago, so you're getting my uncensored, immediate thoughts about it.

Back when I read SHIVER, I wrote in my review that Sam and Grace were one of my favorite literary couples, and I recall liking them in LINGER too, though I don't mention it specifically in my review of that one.  But for most of this installment, the once bright spark of their relationship was rather dull.  It could be because Sam was more mopey than usual and Grace more distant than usual, or it could be that the emerging relationship between Cole and Isabel just burned brighter on the page.

And I dare say FOREVER is Cole's book - he matures so much as a character and steals the show with his science experiments, his rock star grin and his growing realization that maybe life doesn't completely suck after all.  (Can we get a Cole spin-off series please?!)

I don't want to spoil any plot details, but generally I'm left scratching my head a bit.  The driving action of the book is Isabel's father's plan to arrange a helicopter hunt of the wolves - many of whom we've come to know and love during the course of the series.  While this part unfolded fine (if slowly) leading up to a fast and furious climax, there were other threads that I would liked to have seen resolved that weren't.

Anyway, on the whole, I enjoyed it.  And if you're a fan of the series already, I'm betting you will too.

13 comments:

Liviania said...

I'm sad to hear that Sam and Grace fizzle rather than sizzle. But I'm still looking forward to this one quite a bit.

Lenore Appelhans said...

They do sizzle some - just not as much as in the prior books, and not as much as Cole and Isabel.

Pam (@iwriteinbooks) said...

I'm enjoying it even though I'm only about a fifth of the way through. I like the books for their slow, poetic pace rather than other crash, bang, boom supernatural ones I've read.

goodaljm said...

Even in Linger, I started to prefer the Cole/ Isabel relationship, so it's alright with me if Forever is more focused on them! I think this is my most anticipated read of the summer.

Zibilee said...

I had to look away because these books are on my TRB stack for the summer. I had gotten Linger at SIBA, and ten went out and picked up Shiver at the warehouse sale a few moths ago, so I am all set, but now it looks like I am going to have to make another bookstore trip!

Alpa@1 more page please said...

I have bought 1 st 2 books of the series. But yet to start them

Michelle said...

I'm a huge fan and loved it. I agree with you though, this was definitely a book that shined for Cole. I can also say that I felt like it left some things feeling unresolved. Not sure why I can accept that (when generally I'm not good at doing so) but I did. I was satisfied with the ending though admit I'm unrealistically hopeful that we'd see another in the series.

Staci said...

I've only read book one whereas my 16 year-old son has read 1 and 2...he'll be excited to read this one!

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

I enjoyed it too and you nailed it when you said it is Cole's book. It really is.

I know this is a trilogy but I felt it left enough open to a fourth book.

Anonymous said...

Only 9 more days till it's released - at least at our local bookstore :) and I can't wait. Your review has definitely sparked my interest!

Thanks for sharing!

Beth F said...

I had to skip to the last paragraph. I need to wait for the book to show up in my local store.

Anonymous said...

Cole and Isabel started being more interesting and Sam and Grace started being less so in "Linger". I look forward to reading "Forever".

Rachelle

yumikochan said...

I second the motion on the Cole spin off!

I just finished reading the book and I enjoyed reading it as much as the other 2 books. There are just questions that were left unanswered..

But Cole was a real star! I loved his character so much.