When you think of werewolves, what’s the first thing you think of? The possibilities to that question are endless: you probably thought man-beast, evil, a full moon, and of course, their sworn enemies, vampires. After reading countless books, seeing too many television shows, and movies with this same and overused vampire plot, I was ready to pull my hair out. I cried to the book gods for something interesting about wolves that doesn’t involve vampires, and finally I got one.
Shiver is the first novel in a trilogy that follows the lives of werewolves fighting for their lives. This book is double-narrated by the two main characters, Sam and Grace. Both were bitten by werewolves at a young age. In cold temperatures, Sam changes into a wolf and has no idea when he will return to being human. Grace, on the other hand, has never had the chance to change, but wants the opportunity to change, so she can be with the wolf pack. This causes her to search the woods every night in hopes to see her wolf: the one with the yellow eyes.
And if you haven’t guessed by now, the wolf with the yellow eyes is no other than Sam. He leaves his home and his family in hopes of forgetting his human life. He reluctantly embraces the wolf life to leave the pain that he felt there. From then on, he’s watched Grace and protected her ever since she was seven, but he never built up the nerve to talk to her. Now that something has threatened the lives of all the wolves, he has no choice but to talk to her. At home, Grace takes care of herself. The title of, “World’s Greatest Parents,” do not go to hers. She cooks dinner for them, cleans up after them, and checks up on their whereabouts every now and then. She doesn’t feel like they really care for her, and she hides her pain. She ignores her parents regularly, and waits to meet Sam.
When they finally meet each other, they quickly fall in love. And when I say quickly, I mean quickly. I found it weird that during their first conversation, they were already incredibly close. Probably too close for comfort. But it’s not every day that someone builds up the nerve to talk to someone they’ve been watching for 10 years.
I loved the suspense in every chapter. As their love gets stronger, and the days go by, winter approaches. They both go by living everyday as if it’s his last day before he changes into a wolf for months at a time. I was a fan of that message that the author, Maggie Stiefvater sends. In a way, she’s telling her readers that you never know when a person can be gone so cherish the moments you have with them. I enjoy the romance aspect of this story as well. This is a beautiful tale of first love for both characters. Stiefvater’s writing makes me fall in love with Sam too.
This novel isn’t a stereotypical story about non-humans that change into werewolves at the full moon, they weren’t born into their fate, and they aren’t ill-tempered monsters. That’s most enjoyable to me. Stiefvater does an incredible job of introducing something new to readers. I quickly became attached to this series because of the drama that happens with Grace’s classmates, and the problems with her parents are somethings that anyone can relate to, and of course, her love of Sam. The next book is “Linger,” and a lot of readers would be excited to read it.
