Review: Forever by Maggie Stiefvater ~ ***The Starry-Eyed Revue***

Title: Forever
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: Wolves of Mercy Falls
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Publication Date: July 12, 2011
Links: Amazon | Goodreads
Rating:

From Goodreads:

The thrilling conclusion to #1 bestselling Shiver trilogy from Maggie Stievater.

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. In Linger, they fought to be together. Now, in Forever, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in.

Review:

Forever was the perfect ending to The Wolves of Mercy Falls series. Perfect. I love a well-written happy ending as much as the next girl. But even better is a well-written open-ended finale that leaves the reader with hope and a burning desire for a fourth novel in a series with only three books. Check and check.

The lyrical writing of Maggie Stiefvater is unrivaled. The way she conveys emotion with words, well, it leaves me at a loss for words. It’s simply beautiful. So clearly does she describe emotion that if feels like I’ve been written into the pages of her novel, experiencing everything first-hand. I can almost envision the pained looks, swiftly exchanged glances, eyes brimming with love. And the way that she describes the forest, Beck’s house…everything. It’s almost scary how realistic a picture this woman can paint with words.

Speaking of words, holy cow, did she sneak some good ones in! I love adding new words to my vocabulary! And she used context clues, so I didn’t even have to crack open a dictionary (or use Google) to figure the terminology out. One example that stands out: ouroboros. Seriously cool word and awesome usage in the book. (Picture a dog chasing its tail.) I love that she writes for a more astute audience.

And the characters! I’ve loved Grace and Sam since I first met them in Shiver, and I adjusted to the addition of bristly Isabel and arrogant Cole in Linger. But I really think they all came into their own in Forever. Maggie was just giving us a taste of who these characters were before, but after the events of the first two novels, these guys really showed their true colors. In a good way. They were so developed, so realistic and ultimately relatable. I’m really going to miss them!

Alas, I passed up Shiver on the bookshelves at Borders many times before finally giving this series a try. To think that I never would have visited Mercy Falls or watched Sam and Grace fall in love! Okay, I'm going to have to wrap this up and stop reminiscing, or I'm going to start crying again. Seriously, such a great ending!