Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2)

Maggie Stiefvater

Scholastic Press

Released July 13, 2010

This review is for the second book in The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. There may be spoilers for the previous book, so if you have not read it, I suggest you hold off on reading this review. You can read my review of the first book, Shiver, here.

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.

GoodReads

Through this book is the sequel to Shiver, it doesn’t feel like just a continuation. Its got its own feel to it. The tradition of the second book in a series, and especially in a trilogy, being the darkest one is extremely true here. Stiefvater’s beautiful writing is still here, and just like how the poetic language of Shiver was fitting to the story and the characters, the melancholy and cold feeling is fitting here too.

This book is narrated by not only Grace and Sam, but by Isabel and Cole too. Cole is a new character with an interesting back story of his own. I liked being able to get into more characters’ heads this time around. There is something huge going on with Grace. I wish I could say more but I really don’t want to ruin any of the story. The stakes are higher and the characters are forced into facing consequences that are being thrust at them.

The wolf lore becomes more complicated. A lot more complicated. New factors come into question and the tension and suspense of Sam, Grace, Isabel, and Cole scrambling to figure out what is going on and what can be done about it will keep you reading late into the night.

Since the third and last book, Forever, isn’t coming out until July, I didn’t have the ability to jump right into the next book like I did when I finished reading Shiver. And this one leaves us with an even bigger cliffhanger! But I am so excited to see how this story ends, I don’t know how I’m going to wait. Luckily I have plenty more books to read in the meantime.