Front Flap Summary: (from Amazon.com)
the longing.
Once Grace and Sam have found each other, they know they must fight to stay together. For Sam, this means a reckoning with his werewolf past. For Grace, it means facing a future that is less and less certain.
the loss.
Into their world comes a new wolf named Cole, whose past is full of hurt and danger. He is wrestling with his own demons, embracing the life of a wolf while denying the ties of a human.
the linger.
For Grace, Sam, and Cole, life is a constant struggle between two forces--wolf and human--with love baring its two sides as well. It is harrowing and euphoric, freeing and entrapping, enticing and alarming. As their world falls apart, love is what lingers. But will it be enough?
Once Grace and Sam have found each other, they know they must fight to stay together. For Sam, this means a reckoning with his werewolf past. For Grace, it means facing a future that is less and less certain.
the loss.
Into their world comes a new wolf named Cole, whose past is full of hurt and danger. He is wrestling with his own demons, embracing the life of a wolf while denying the ties of a human.
the linger.
For Grace, Sam, and Cole, life is a constant struggle between two forces--wolf and human--with love baring its two sides as well. It is harrowing and euphoric, freeing and entrapping, enticing and alarming. As their world falls apart, love is what lingers. But will it be enough?
Amy's Review:
I love Maggie Stiefvater's writing. If you've never read anything by her, go pick up "The Scorpio Races" -that's my Stiefvater favorite right now. She has this weird style of writing, like everything is a musical poem. Most books in first person "speak" as if the character is talking to you, but even through the multiple views that The Mercy Falls books take us through, there is the rhythmic quality that makes the writing beautiful.
As for the plot of this book, it moved a little slowly. There was a lot of exposition from two previously secondary characters (Isabel and Cole) that was, plot-wise, next to useless. It interrupted the flow of action between the main characters, Grace and Sam, and made the book seem a lot longer than it needed to be. The first 200 pages moved a little slowly because we had to be introduced to Cole St. Clair and his moody, depressing and drug-filled rock star background, but I would have appreciated more about his relationship with his ex-girlfriend and his best friend and bandmate, Victor, whom he also had made into a wolf -"for the high of it." More details on these characters and Cole's relationships with them would have made me feel more sympathy for Cole later on in the story. The story following Grace and Sam moved a bit faster, especially because Sam had to rediscover all of the possibilities life can now offer him and his wolf-less state. Grace's parents needed more of a reason to dislike Sam (at least before they found them in bed), and more of a reason to become so overprotective and authoritative. Also, Grace's illness/the wolf's death at the beginning needed more connection. The reveal at the end that they went hand-in-paw was a little far-fetched because in 300 pages it wasn't brought up after the initial discovery of the dead wolf.
The emotional impact of this book is powerful, especially if you've been with Sam and Grace since Shiver. I found myself crying at the end in a few places, mostly when Sam couldn't bring himself to change back into a wolf to be with his Summer Girl. Stiefvater definitely knows how to squeeze a few tears out of a reader, and she did it well in the conclusion of this book.
Overall, I give Linger, Book 2 of the Wolves of Mercy Falls 3 out of 6 stars. Despite its slow beginning and questionable attempt at a connection to science, the characters of this world have intricate and beautifully tragic personalities and lives, and the musical quality of the writing kept me reading until the end. I will most certainly be picking up the final book in the series, Forever, to see if Grace and Sam can be together for, well...forever.
Thank you for reading.
