Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Shiver (Shiver series, Book 1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Young Adult

Scholastic Press (August 1, 2009)

400 pages

ISBN: 978-0545123266

From Amazon:

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

There are so many things that I have to say about Shiver, yet everything that comes to mind falls short of adequately describing my impressions.

It's just so gooood.

I truly feel lost writing this review. I first attempted to put my feelings down last night, just after finishing it and I found it impossible. So, I thought that I would sleep on it; give my brain a chance to sort through it. I'm still sort of speechless. It's not that I don't have any clear feelings about the story, it's just, how can I do any justice to it? How do I sum up something that elicited such a reaction from me and manage to do the author, and the book, any justice? Alas, I can't put off writing it forever - so here I am, forcing myself to give you something.

The facts are these: Grace Brisbane, our heroine, is a seventeen year-old high school junior living a rather ordinary life, albeit somewhat more independent than the average teenager. Her parents are frequently absent and emotionally distant, but not for a lack of love. They are simply selfish, shallow people, more focused on their own lives than on the well-being of their daughter. This lifestyle is what shapes Grace into such a practical and mature individual. Six years prior, Grace survived an attack by a pack of wolves in the woods that lay near her home. During her encounter, she takes particular notice of one of the wolves, choosing to focus on him rather than on what was happening to her. She continues to watch the wolf from afar over the subsequent years as he also watches her. Events lead to them finally meeting each other while Sam, her wolf, is in human form. Over the course of the novel, Grace learns a great deal about this mysterious wolf and about herself as well.

The story is told from the alternating viewpoints of both Grace and Sam. Grace's narrative tends to be simpler while Sam's often contains various song lyrics and poem stanzas sprinkled throughout, reflecting their respective personalities. Constantly alternating the point-of-view is a difficult feat to pull off. Stiefvater does it just right, never losing the reader in the telling of the story. In fact, the changes in POV lend to the suspense of the plot as the story progresses. It only falters once, in the end, where it happens to subtract from the suspense of some of the final moments.

As far as the plot goes, it's very well constructed. All the pieces, storylines and characters, come together seamlessly. Stiefvater has created a novel that has emotion dripping off of every page, yet it manages to not stray into sappy territory. The prose is simultaneously poetic and stark - just like the narrators Grace and Sam. Their honest, straight-forward love for each other is translated into the flowing poeticism of the tale, making it a story that's heart is laid just as bare as those of the protagonists.

The relationship between Grace and Sam is just as sad, passionate, and beautiful as the language that Stiefvater uses to convey their story. If one were to do a side-by-side comparison of their personality traits, they might appear to be complete opposites. Grace, the stoic pragmatist, and Sam, the artistic, sensitive, and painfully shy soul. These characteristics, however, are what makes them such perfect complements. Those and the fact that they share a bond over their mutual love.

This just may be the most unique love story that I've ever encountered. The idea of someone being in love with an animal just smacks of bestiality weirdness. That thought did not even occur to me though, until I had put the novel down. So real did their love come across, that the animal factor didn't even cause any issues with believability.

Stiefvater does an excellent job of building a substantive setting and relevant secondary characters. The world and lifestyles of the wolves of Mercy Falls is unique, with wolves that can only live as humans in warm weather. The supporting cast is what gives the plot such sturdy legs to stand on. In the interest of not spoiling the story, I can't elaborate any more than that.

If I had to find fault with Stiefvater's writing style it would be in regard to the lyrics that Sam would often spontaneously think up during the story. At times they just came across a bit juvenile, but what else are we to expect from an eighteen year-old?

Shiver is definitely going on my favorites list - not just my favorites of the year, but of all-time. It's, hands down, one of the best YA novels It is as simple as it is complex; as lovely as it is dark. An all-around gorgeous novel that has me anxiously anticipating the release of its sequel, Linger, which is on track for a fall 2010 release. I don't know where Stiefvater has been all my life, but I'm sure glad to have found her.

Grade: A

Visit Maggie Stiefvater's site

Listen to the first two chapter (as read by Maggie)

Listen to a Q&A with Maggie about Shiver

Read an excerpt