Review: Linger

by Maggie Stiefvater
publisher: Scholastic Press
date published: July 13, 2010
format: hardcover
pages: 360
source: purchased
Amazon / Goodreads / B&N
challenges: Goodreads 2011 Reading Challenge; 2011 YA Reading Challenge

From Goodreads:

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love -- the light and the dark, the warm and the cold -- in a way you will never forget.

What I Thought

While starting off a little slow this time, Linger turned out to be very riveting. Two new characters were introduced, one being more in line of a main character, Cole. At first, Cole did a very good job at making me dislike him. He was an apathetic, selfish jerk, for the most part. However, he eventually began to change and became a much more likeable character as a result. I hope to learn more about him in Forever. As for Grace and Sam, I don't want to give away events tied to Shiver. Suffice it to say that both continue to grow as characters and face new struggles that will test the strength of their relationship.

Several new problems are introduced in Linger. One of the main issues was with Grace's parents, who continue to be insufferable. Without trying to give much away, it astounded me that they went from being absentee parents to strict at the drop of a hat. Don't get me wrong. As a parent I understand why they are upset. However, their actions and the way they said things when confronting Grace about the problem at hand was bordering on reprehensible, and I was appalled at the actions of Grace's father near the end of the book. In other words, they bothered me no less than they had in Shiver. They continue to be as ridiculous as before.

The book continues to be written in multiple first-person points of view. However, more voices are thrown into the mix. Rather than just Sam and Grace, Cole and Isabel are given their say, so I was able to draw more from the story. I was often able to see two sides to a conversation, as the p.o.v. switched back and forth between two characters in several chapters. I rather like this device and hope it continues in Forever.

Another thing that I like about this book, though unrelated to the writing itself, is the design. Like Shiver, the ink used in the printing matches the color scheme of the cover. Linger uses a dark green ink that I have found very appealing. I am curious to see if Forever will be printed in dark red ink.

Finally, there was a lovely bit of foreshadowing in the end of the book that leads me to believe a character with villainous intentions will come more into play in Forever. It left me with a sense of dread and curiosity to see what will happen. As a result, I am definitely going to pre-order Forever. I am really looking forward to July now!

Linger didn't have quite the same amount of punch that Shiver had at the beginning, but it is still a very enticing read. Once you reach the middle of the book, you won't want to put it down. I had planned on finishing the book on Tuesday morning. Instead, I stayed up half the night reading. I give Linger 4 hoots.