Review: Forever, by Maggie Stiefvater

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Forever

Series: Wolves of Mercy Falls (#3)

ISBN: 9780545259088

Publisher: Scholastic (2011)

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My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“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.“ GoodReads’ blurb

*

Forever is the last book of the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, and I have to note that it is, indeed, the perfect mix of the first two.

Why? Because there was action, urgent and tense, even more so than in book two but still keeping up the trend. We cover a lot of ground towards the explanation of what makes the “werewolves” change, and take giant steps towards finding a cure.

I liked the way Sam has to deal with Grace’s disappearance – namely, through the police! Of course they’d suspect him, and I think it was neatly done. I’m actually grateful about the way the cops, and Grace’s father, try to nail him. It makes sense!

On that topic, Grace’s parents see a huge development, even though they are secondary characters without so much as three decent spotlights. They are there, hovering, and coping with the disappearance of their daughter. It’s said through the book that Sam changes and matures a lot, but I frankly can’t see it. For me, it’s the same old Sam. The ones who do change by leaps and bounds are Isabel and Cole. Cole stops trying to get away form his father shadow, stops trying to die and starts fighting to stay human, to find a cure – and to figure out what’s going on between Isabel and him. Isabel is down-to-earth, and while they other characters called her bitchy I found her practical, and more responsible than the rest.

I have mentioned that I love her relationship with Cole, right? I wish we had seem more about that. More from them, in general!

And that brings out to what Forever shares with Shiver: way too much emotion. Which I’m fine with, really. I like doing emotion. I just dislike it when it drags on and on, describing in detail places and memories to reminisce, and thus the action get left in the curb like a kicked puppy.

In Forever, the wolves face a very serious threat. Sam doesn’t act out on it. First, because no matter how loud he says that he’s Beck’s son, he still refuses to lug with the leadership position and the responsibility. Second, because he’s so busy bemoaning the fact that Grace is a wolf, that Grace is instable as a human, that Grace’s with the pack and not with him, that he doesn’t get around to finding solutions.

Well, no matter. A nice side character turns up, proves his observant abilities by discovering the whole pie, and gives him a way out – a way to save his family.

And, what happens then? That he waits! That he “has to think about it”! Oh, come on! If you’re so worried about Grace, just save the wolves – if she’s not with you, she’ll be with them, you silly. That’s not even going into how I feel it’s unfair and not nice of him to be more worried about her than about his only known family, no matter how much she’s the love of his live: they brought him up, they loved him, they gave him everything he is... and now, Cole’s about to find a cure that might still work in them! So, how can he delay his actions by moping about and lamenting the lack of Grace? Or loose his time cuddling Grace when, hello, there’s hell right around the road?

You know, the fact that it got me this incensed is actually good. It meant that I was not just turning pages, but caring about the story.

Sadly, it doesn’t change the fact that I wanted to slap Sam, and shift the focus of the whole thing over to Cole and Isabel, who seemed way more level-headed (when a rock start and former suicidal junkie starts acting more responsible than the hero, I think we do have a problem...)

So! Final words? Great moments peppered with some slow sentimentalism that felt out of place (because it didn’t really move forward characters or plot, and wasn’t cute). Even though Cole’s point of view scenes are few and far between, it’s still worth it to get the audiobook. And if you’ve read the first two books and liked them, the third will be a riot. If you just liked the second, it’ll still be good. If you haven’t read them at all, you should at least give the series a try.