Book Review: Linger By Maggie Stiefvater

When I finished SHIVER (read my review), I remember thinking I could be happy if the story were to end there. As a standalone, it works (with a couple of plot threads hanging, but no biggie). And then when I started hearing that at the start of LINGER, Grace feels her long-dormant wolf nature calling, I was flat out terrified – how cruel would it be to tear Sam and Grace apart now that they’ve finally found a way to be together?

Well, I put my reservations aside and gulped down this second installment in a few hours after I got it at the Bologna Children's Book Fair over a month ago. I was going to wait to review this until closer to its July 20th release date, but I’ve been hearing more and more chatter from readers with fears similar to my own and I just wanted to assure everyone that with LINGER, you are in very good hands. Maggie deepens the story and creates a new sense of urgency for the characters that will carry into the third novel FOREVER. I won’t lie and say it’s not painful, but it makes sense, and now that I’ve read it, I couldn’t see it ending any other way.

LINGER adds two new POVs – that of icy, totally human Isabel and former rock star/newly turned wolf Cole. I liked the way the POVs sometimes changed right in the middle of a scene so that we could literally “see both sides”. And I also liked the way the characters played off each other – the grudging attraction Isabel feels for self-absorbed Cole, the conflict between Sam who never wanted to be a wolf and Cole who chose to be a wolf, and the three-way truce between Isabel, Grace and Sam as they try to keep their dangerous secret.

What I didn’t like so much was the interference of Grace’s good-for-nothing parents. After their years of neglect, their sudden interest in Grace’s welfare seemed very much like an artificial author way of creating a dramatic obstacle between Grace and Sam.

In any case, I can’t wait to be wowed by FOREVER next year. I totally trust you Maggie! Find out more about the series at the author’s website.