Review: Linger

Book: Linger (Mercy Falls, Book 2)

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Pages:368

Date Read: January 17, 2011

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 Isabel, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole

Yani's Analysis:
Again, I can't say how much I love the writing style of this book. In fact after I finished it, I started reading another book and all I could think was, I wish the narrator viewpoints would switch. I was concerned with the addition of two additional narrator, Isabel and Cole. One being a character I never really related to in the first book and the other being a new addition to the story. I thought it would clutter the book and confuse the reader, but the opposite occurred. In real life if you where ever in someones mind, listening to their thought, you would only see the world there way. The way the want to see it. The addition of the different viewpoints gave a clear picture of what life was like for these teens in Mercy Falls.

I grew to like Isabel and Cole, and the more the story progressed they where no longer a secondary story line to me. I thought Cole was going to bring drama to the story by creating a love triangle with Sam and Grace, but Stiefvater surprised me, and Cole has become a complex and deep character like Sam. I hunger for more background on the two chacaters, and this book gave me that. It wasn't an action filled as the first, but the story line was still suspenseful. And even though I knew what was happening the ending was heartbreaking all the same.

For a sequel, this novel did not let me down. It used the things I loved about the first book (rotating viewpoints, a great love story) and added new elements (new characters, parental drama) without making the story suffer. If there really is a Mercy Falls out there, I would move in a second- though I don't know how I would handle the cold. I can't wait until the third book, Forever, is released. Until then I will have to find romance, suspense, fabulous story lines, and great characters elsewhere.

Ratings:

Plot: 5/5
Writing Style: 5/5
Uniqueness: 4/5
Characters: 5/5

Memorable Quotes:

‘Aren’t you afraid?” Isabel asked, suddenly, and I opened my eyes. I hadn’t realized I’d shut them. Her gaze was intense.

“Of what?” [replied Cole]

“Of losing yourself?”

I told her the truth: “That’s what I am hoping for.”

and....

“One of these days, I am going to get used to the idea that it’s morning and I’m going to be a guy for the rest of the day. For all the rest of all the days. But until then, I’m stumbling around.” Sam