Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic Audio, 2010 (print from Scholastic, 2010)
Narrators: Dan Bittner (Cole), Pierce Cravens (Sam), Emma Galvin (Isabelle), Jenna Lamia (Grace)
**Spoilers for Shiver follow. You've been warned.**
In this second installment of The Wolves of Mercy Falls series, Grace and Sam are getting used to the fact that Sam is a human for good now. Things seem wonderful on the surface, but something is happening inside Grace, something resulting from the original wolf bite she got as a child. Meanwhile, new wolf Cole can't stay wolf, as he so desperately wants to do, and Isabelle is still wracked with guilt over the death of her brother. They find they are drawn to each other despite their frosty exteriors and complicated interiors.
Though this isn't my favorite series, I did enjoy Linger, more so than I liked Shiver. Stiefvater goes much more into depth with the science behind the werewolf shifting, the characters were more interesting, and it ends on a nice little cliffhanger.
Grace and Sam are very eyeroll-inducing; they're so damn sweet it made me sick. But the book was saved by Grace's mysterious illness, throwing a wrench into their paradise, and by Cole and Isabelle's narrations. I really loved Cole and being inside his head, and his fame added a delightful problem into the plot. This book needed drama and problems, and luckily we got them.
The narrators did a nice job reading the different voices. Again, my favorite was Cole's narrator, Dan Bittner. Everyone else seemed to put a little bit too much inflection into their performances, which annoyed me at first but I got over it pretty quickly.
What I can't understand is why EVERY. SINGLE. ADULT. was so incredibly awful. I hated all of them, except the bookstore owner who was only in one scene. Grace's parents are absolutely detestable and, p.s., are horrible parents. Isabelle's father is a disgusting man and truly a villain. I can't understand why adults are painted in such a horrible light as a general rule here. I know it's supposed to be the teens against the world, but really.
Overall though, despite my misgivings, I am curious to see where the story will go. I love the werewolf mythology Stiefvater created and will certainly pick up Forever at some point.
Disclosure: I got this audiobook from my library.
I actually won this audiobook from Maggie Stiefvater. I've already read Linger, so I know the story, but I may go back and give this one a listen.
ReplyDeleteI've heard from some who've read it that the voices are hard to distinguish, but that wasn't a problem with the audio version. It's not bad; I'm glad I listened to it instead of read it.
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