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.
This book took me forever to finish (see what I did there?), and although it pains me to say this, I can't help but feel a bit relieved. I have faithfully followed the Wolves of Mercy Fall's series since Shiver, the first installment, was released, and when I saw that Forever was out, I immediately bought it - but not immediately read it. Shiver was a fantastic light-read that I fell absolutely in love with, but Linger, the second installment, was a huge disappointment where nothing too interesting happened. So, in a way, I suppose I put the reading of the finale off for as long as possible, until my fellow WoMF fan, Ellie, started to read it - I mean, what's a friendship without a bit of light compeition? And now that I have finished it, I feel a mix of emotions. For one thing, I really liked it - they had an urgent goal they had to reach, and the anticipation in this book was immense, especially towards the end half of the novel. I've always loved Grace and Sam's relationship, because it is fluffy and cute, but not over-the-top, and this book just further emphasized it, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also adore the characters of Isabel and Cole, and I love reading their chapters, because their wit and humor is amazing! However, I was a bit disappointed with certain things - one of them being the fact that the first half of the book is incredibly boring, where nothing much happens. Another is that most of the book seemed to just go over what we had already accepted in the previous two novels - it just felt like words were being used just to make the book thicker, when it would be fantastic stripped back. But out of all this, the most annoying thing was the ending - it was a cliffhanger! At the end of a book, you want a lasting result - you don't want even more speculation when it isn't going to be continued! It really frustrated me, but in a way, I suppose there was no other ending - there's only so much action a book can fit.
Altogether, I'd say that I'd recommend the Wolves of Mercy Falls series to anyone who likes light, easy reads - but not to anyone who likes a book they can really get their teeth into. And despite my critisism, I am going to miss this series, especially because I have stuck with it for so long. In a way, it feels like the end of an era. Stiefvater is a talented author, and I hope that in the future I will continue on to read more of her books.
Rating:3/5
