Take a photo of a barcode or cover
serrendipity 's review for:
Shiver
by Maggie Stiefvater
"He started to hum a song, and then, after a few bars, he sang it. Quietly, sort of half-sung, half-spoken, incredibly gentle. I didn't catch all the words, but it was about his summer girl. Me. Maybe his forever girl. His yellow eyes were half-lidded as he sang, and in that golden moment, hanging taut in the middle of an ice-covered landscape like a single bubble of summer nectar, I could see how my life could be stretched out in front of me."
Oh, this book is a tricky one...
...also, I apparently never finished it the first time? It's been sitting, abandoned, in my TBR basket for....YEARS, apparently? When I cleaned out the basket after the holidays, I found it, and was properly horrified to see the bookmark about 1/3 of the way through. It's been so long, I'm not sure I know why I never went back to it. And now...well, that's part of why this is so tricky. I'm a die-hard Maggie fan, and I think my love for her books, knowing what comes after this series, colors my reading of this book.
I know it was published in the wake of Twilight and is part of that surge in YA fiction of Girl-Loves-Supernatural-Boy stories, so I'd love to know which was the chicken and the egg here. Did the Twilight phenomenon help Maggie Stiefvater get this published? Did she write it first, and then Twilight happened and it was a lucky coincidence? Or was she inspired to write a better love story? I don't know...
The Maggie Stiefvater hallmarks are there, though: a fiercely independent and intelligent female protagonist; said female protagonist has an artistic mom who seems more like a cool aunt than a mother; an aloof, enigmatic male protagonist who has similarly absent parents and a found-family; there's music and art and old cars...Grace is very much Blue's literary ancestor, and Sam is very much Gansey's.
That, in and of itself, is a Maggie Stiefvater Hallmark, though.
I peeked at a few reviews -- most of which compared this (quite unfavorably) to Twilight -- and they said similar things: too much purple prose, too much teen angst, nothing happens in 400 pages.
Which...ouch. Again, die-hard Maggie fan, so I might be biased here, but:
(1) I don't find the writing "purple prose." Is it descriptive? Yes. Is it lush? Yes. I love Maggie's writing style because I find it lends itself really well to rereading. There's always something new I find each time. I do like the writing in the Raven Cycle better, but that may be (1) natural growth as a writer and (2) maybe more authorial control which comes after some success.
(2) There is a bit of teen angst here, yes. Is it as bad as Bella and Edward's pining? NOPE. But, again, maybe the context of the Supernatural Romance boom played a part.
I honestly couldn't decide if Sam's being a wolf bothered me or not. On the one hand, he's a WOLF. And Grace KNOWS he's a wolf. (And maybe even loves him as a wolf?) IDK. But, Grace is also a wolf...so there's that. I don't know why loving a wolf is squishier than loving a vampire -- but, wait. I kinda do. A vampire is humanoid, and a wolf is an animal so there's some inter-species stuff going on there. It's tricky.
(3) Maggie writes character-driven novels. I normally prefer plot-driven novels, because there, at least, the action drives the plot forward. Character-driven novels can be tricky, because if they're not skillfully executed, they can be a slog to get through. Either I can't connect with the characters or their voices/personalities aren't differentiated enough, or it's just not engaging -- I normally steer clear. But, for me, Maggie can skillfully execute the character-driven novel. Compared to other stories, not as much may happen, but the emphasis is on the characters and how they respond to the situation.
Yes, I prefer The Raven Cycle with it's Welsh mythology and the hunt for the dead Welsh king in rural Virginia. The mythology is a little more prevalent there and the romance isn't as featured. But I still couldn't put this book down and stayed up way too late at night reading it. I'm hoping that in the next two books (three?) we broaden out a bit and see more of the other characters -- Isabel and Rachel and Olivia and the pack. Fingers crossed.
Oh. I couldn't quite it 5 stars because (1) the teen romance angst was a *bit* much at times and (2) wolf violence.
Nope.
It's not as bad as a dog dying (which is borderline unforgivable, for me) and I know that the wolves are affected by their human personalities, but...nope.
Oh, this book is a tricky one...
...also, I apparently never finished it the first time? It's been sitting, abandoned, in my TBR basket for....YEARS, apparently? When I cleaned out the basket after the holidays, I found it, and was properly horrified to see the bookmark about 1/3 of the way through. It's been so long, I'm not sure I know why I never went back to it. And now...well, that's part of why this is so tricky. I'm a die-hard Maggie fan, and I think my love for her books, knowing what comes after this series, colors my reading of this book.
I know it was published in the wake of Twilight and is part of that surge in YA fiction of Girl-Loves-Supernatural-Boy stories, so I'd love to know which was the chicken and the egg here. Did the Twilight phenomenon help Maggie Stiefvater get this published? Did she write it first, and then Twilight happened and it was a lucky coincidence? Or was she inspired to write a better love story? I don't know...
The Maggie Stiefvater hallmarks are there, though: a fiercely independent and intelligent female protagonist; said female protagonist has an artistic mom who seems more like a cool aunt than a mother; an aloof, enigmatic male protagonist who has similarly absent parents and a found-family; there's music and art and old cars...Grace is very much Blue's literary ancestor, and Sam is very much Gansey's.
That, in and of itself, is a Maggie Stiefvater Hallmark, though.
I peeked at a few reviews -- most of which compared this (quite unfavorably) to Twilight -- and they said similar things: too much purple prose, too much teen angst, nothing happens in 400 pages.
Which...ouch. Again, die-hard Maggie fan, so I might be biased here, but:
(1) I don't find the writing "purple prose." Is it descriptive? Yes. Is it lush? Yes. I love Maggie's writing style because I find it lends itself really well to rereading. There's always something new I find each time. I do like the writing in the Raven Cycle better, but that may be (1) natural growth as a writer and (2) maybe more authorial control which comes after some success.
(2) There is a bit of teen angst here, yes. Is it as bad as Bella and Edward's pining? NOPE. But, again, maybe the context of the Supernatural Romance boom played a part.
I honestly couldn't decide if Sam's being a wolf bothered me or not. On the one hand, he's a WOLF. And Grace KNOWS he's a wolf. (And maybe even loves him as a wolf?) IDK. But, Grace is also a wolf...so there's that. I don't know why loving a wolf is squishier than loving a vampire -- but, wait. I kinda do. A vampire is humanoid, and a wolf is an animal so there's some inter-species stuff going on there. It's tricky.
(3) Maggie writes character-driven novels. I normally prefer plot-driven novels, because there, at least, the action drives the plot forward. Character-driven novels can be tricky, because if they're not skillfully executed, they can be a slog to get through. Either I can't connect with the characters or their voices/personalities aren't differentiated enough, or it's just not engaging -- I normally steer clear. But, for me, Maggie can skillfully execute the character-driven novel. Compared to other stories, not as much may happen, but the emphasis is on the characters and how they respond to the situation.
Yes, I prefer The Raven Cycle with it's Welsh mythology and the hunt for the dead Welsh king in rural Virginia. The mythology is a little more prevalent there and the romance isn't as featured. But I still couldn't put this book down and stayed up way too late at night reading it. I'm hoping that in the next two books (three?) we broaden out a bit and see more of the other characters -- Isabel and Rachel and Olivia and the pack. Fingers crossed.
Oh. I couldn't quite it 5 stars because (1) the teen romance angst was a *bit* much at times and (2) wolf violence.
Nope.
It's not as bad as a dog dying (which is borderline unforgivable, for me) and I know that the wolves are affected by their human personalities, but...nope.