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A review by caroleheidi
Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
5.0
What I Liked: I loved Linger even more than I loved Shiver which is quite impressive. On top of everything I said about Shiver this book had even more to offer.
Firstly it cleared up my complaint about Grace's parents quite neatly and I can now accept their attitude and absence in the first book as a necessity for the final story. An example of complaining about something before it's finished there, but I wasn't to know that at the time.
Secondly the introduction of the new wolf, Cole, and Isabel to the narrative mix added brilliantly to the depth of the writing and characters. The relationship between Isabel and Cole helped to define and show a different side to love than that between Sam and Grace and it also brought out elements of the characters that you had never seen before. Sam through Isabel's eyes for example, and the whole situation through a newcomer thrown in head-first to the deep end.
I loved Cole's character. He is horrible and flawed, lost, frightened and obnoxious. Everything you would expect him to be which makes him so brilliantly human despite the fact that sometimes he's furry and has four legs. I think he is possibly the most human character in the books and keeps the story grounded even when the fantasy romance of Sam and Grace threatens to take over.
Grace's secret is kept beautifully throughout the story too, even though many parts are from her viewpoint you are never certain what is going on because she is denying it to herself as well as everyone else for a lot of the time. This added an uneasy undercurrent to much of the story and resulted in me crying on more than one occasion as the emotions and tension flew around. (Much crying done on a busy train I might add, so I looked like a right idiot snivelling away behind a book.)
What I Didn't Like: This is where I have an issue because my only complaint in Shiver was cleared up in Linger so I now can't actually think of anything I didn't like. Apart from having to wait until Summer 2011 for the final book that is. I really don't like that at all.
Rating: No beating around the bush with this one. 5/5 no question. A brilliant read.
Firstly it cleared up my complaint about Grace's parents quite neatly and I can now accept their attitude and absence in the first book as a necessity for the final story. An example of complaining about something before it's finished there, but I wasn't to know that at the time.
Secondly the introduction of the new wolf, Cole, and Isabel to the narrative mix added brilliantly to the depth of the writing and characters. The relationship between Isabel and Cole helped to define and show a different side to love than that between Sam and Grace and it also brought out elements of the characters that you had never seen before. Sam through Isabel's eyes for example, and the whole situation through a newcomer thrown in head-first to the deep end.
I loved Cole's character. He is horrible and flawed, lost, frightened and obnoxious. Everything you would expect him to be which makes him so brilliantly human despite the fact that sometimes he's furry and has four legs. I think he is possibly the most human character in the books and keeps the story grounded even when the fantasy romance of Sam and Grace threatens to take over.
Grace's secret is kept beautifully throughout the story too, even though many parts are from her viewpoint you are never certain what is going on because she is denying it to herself as well as everyone else for a lot of the time. This added an uneasy undercurrent to much of the story and resulted in me crying on more than one occasion as the emotions and tension flew around. (Much crying done on a busy train I might add, so I looked like a right idiot snivelling away behind a book.)
What I Didn't Like: This is where I have an issue because my only complaint in Shiver was cleared up in Linger so I now can't actually think of anything I didn't like. Apart from having to wait until Summer 2011 for the final book that is. I really don't like that at all.
Rating: No beating around the bush with this one. 5/5 no question. A brilliant read.