Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Aug 15, 2010 Jennie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, signed-copy

Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater, is a young adult novel centered around werewolves. Stiefvater has a new take on the mythology—that is, the werewolf turns into their wolf form when the outside temperature drops below a certain level. Because cold triggers the change, a werewolf may be a wolf throughout fall, winter, and most of spring.

While I was reading the book, I felt like I was 17 again. Stiefvater does a fantastic job of describing how dizzying first love can be, while the rest of the world k Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater, is a young adult novel centered around werewolves. Stiefvater has a new take on the mythology—that is, the werewolf turns into their wolf form when the outside temperature drops below a certain level. Because cold triggers the change, a werewolf may be a wolf throughout fall, winter, and most of spring.

While I was reading the book, I felt like I was 17 again. Stiefvater does a fantastic job of describing how dizzying first love can be, while the rest of the world keeps moving on. (And of course, if you’re a teenager in a young adult supernatural novel, there’s usually some Bad Shit happening that you need to take care of.)

When I looked at Goodreads reviews to see what other people were saying, some of the most popular (and spoiler-iffic) reviews eviscerated the book for being “like Twilight, Team Jacob edition,” or “too sappy.” I strongly disagree with those particular criticisms, not the least reason being that Stiefvater’s writing style is far more lyrical and grammatically sound than Stephenie Meyer’s.

To be fair, while I have read all four Twilight books, I don’t like them. The first one was fine, but the last three went from boring to laugh-out-loud ridiculous. Yet they’re inexplicably popular, and I so often hear young women talking about “finding her Edward” or something along those lines. My response to that is, “Oh lord. Talk to me when your ex leaves roses and a creepy note in your apartment while you’re sleeping. See how Edward looks then.” (This happened to my best friend, pre-Twilight-era.)

I’m not going to re-hash what many people have already said about Shiver. I think it’s excellent. There are definitely weak points, but for the most part, I finished it and thought, “If I had a teenager, I’d rather that they read Shiver than Twilight.” Here’s why.

Potential spoilers for both Shiver and the Twilight series after the jump.

(view spoiler)

The bottom line

Those are the main comparisons I came up with, besides the whole “dreamy guy with odd-colored eyes and musical talent” hero thing. Twilight and Shiver are both tragic teenage romances that are going to appeal, mostly, to the young adult set. When it comes to my hypothetical children reading them, though, I’d want to talk to my kid about the messages in Twilight far more than anything I saw in Shiver. ...more

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Oct 16, 2013 Punk rated it did not like it

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult

YA Fantasy Werewolves. I refuse to even summarize this book. It's just that bad. The world-building is slipshod, the writing is bland, the characters are flat, the romance is dull, the werewolves are boring. Having just read and loved Stiefvater's The Raven Boys, I expected a lot from this and it delivered none of it.

One star. Surprisingly terrible. The only question is: Are the sequels any better? And will I read them anyway because I have them sitting right here? Please say no.

Contains cornflo ...more

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Jun 23, 2010 Megan rated it really liked it

This was my second attempt at reading this book, and I'm really glad that I gave it a second chance. With all of the Twilight fame, it was hard to read another human/werewolf love story. However, the writing in Shiver far surpasses the Twilight books. This is the story of Grace, a teen girl who was bitten by a pack of wolves when she was a child. Since then, she has been fascinated, and oddly protective of, the wolves that live in the woods by her house. She is particularly intrigued by one male ...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Shoshanah rated it really liked it

I've been hearing about this books for so long, that part of me feels like I'm the last one to read them. It almost actually feels like this books are "so yesterday" and everyone else has already moved on from them. Obviously, I've heard great things about these books, and expected to love them as well.

Except that wasn't quite the case. Yes, I enjoyed them, but I don't quite see what all the fuss was about. I think part of it is I knew this was the first of a trilogy, which ruined quite a bit of ...more

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Oct 09, 2011 Laura rated it it was ok

Shelves: teen, eh

While certainly better written than the Twilight books (I'm sorry for the comparison, but it's just too close not to), the book never managed to pull me in. I wasn't that interested in the story and the wolf explanation/mythology seemed quite arbitrary depending on what the author needed for the plot. I would definitely recommend it to teens interested in paranormal romance, but it just didn't keep my attention. I slogged through it. ...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Lara rated it it was ok

I had a hard time getting through this book on CD. I liked the alternating male/female readers but when they read the voices of the opposite sex it was awful.

I like the temperature-based werewolf mythology, but I found Grace's absentee parents overly convenient and the descriptives are far too telling and pointless. We don't really need to know that Grace is washing out her travel mug or what sort of leftovers are in the fridge.

I thought the conflict with Jack was a bit contrived, and all the c ...more

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Jul 25, 2013 Wiltshire Hermit rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

i kept reminding myself that this was a teen book as i winced at the overly emo romance, and asked myself why we needed this series a mere 4 years after Twilight. but having said that, as a 43-year old woman, i read the Twilight books and even quite enjoyed them. of COURSE they're not highbrow. of COURSE they're not literary masterpieces, but they were kinda fun. and so was this. there were some small parts that were really quite prettily written, and it will be a shame to see it go to film and ...more

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Apr 18, 2010 Marianne rated it really liked it

The readers who like TWILIGHT will eat up this werewolf story.

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Feb 10, 2010 RachelAnne rated it liked it

Shelves: youngadult, fantasy, adventures, romance, spooky

Here's an atmospheric, well-crafted paranormal teen romance in a contemporary setting. Better yet, the characters are well-developed and believable, and the novel describes a resolved, satisfying story-arc while leaving room for sequels. ...more

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