Forever - Review

Forever (Wolves of Mercy Falls, # 3)

By: Maggie Stiefvater

Published: July 12th 2011 by Scholastic Press

388 pages

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal, Werewolves

Source: Personal Library

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*Note: The above links to Amazon, Book Depository, and Booksamillion.com are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--then.
When Sam met Grace, he was a wolf and she was a girl. Eventually he found a way to become a boy, and their loved moved from curious distance to the intense closeness of shared lives.

now.
That should have been the end of their story. But Grace was not meant to stay human. Now she is the wolf. And the wolves of Mercy Falls are about to be killed in one final, spectacular hunt.

forever.
Sam would do anything for Grace. But can one boy and one love really change a hostile, predatory world? The past, the present, and the future are about to collide in one pure moment - a moment of death or life, farewell or forever.

So, 4 stars. I read this book pretty quickly. I picked it up on my way home from work on Tuesday, but didn’t start reading it until…Saturday, I think? Finished it in 3 days. I had a hard time putting it down—which usually means one of two things. A) It was excellent. Or B) It kept me thinking good stuff was about to happen and never really did so I had to keep reading to get to the good stuff. I guess this one is unusual as looking back on it I’m not quite sure it fit in either the A or B category. I can’t say it was excellent, but it wasn’t a let down either. Fair warning, I’m having trouble putting my thoughts about this book into coherent sentences.

I do need to address that I love Maggie Stiefvater’s writing style and will be checking out any and all other books she has available from here on out. Now onto the review.

There is a lot of weightiness to this book. Returning to the story after the end of Linger, Grace is now missing/a wolf. Olivia is still missing, and eventually found dead—near Beck’s property. Jack has died (in Shiver). A lot has gone wrong for Mercy Falls. And for Sam and Grace. Sam has the weight of the world on his shoulders. The entire pack’s survival is in his hands, despite not shifting anymore. Grace is a wolf, which is the last thing he wants. He feels like he has to keep Cole from self-destructing—even though Cole’s destructiveness has been put to good use in the experiments he’s created and used on himself to control the shifting. Grace’s father thinks Sam has murdered his daughter—a large portion of Mercy Falls agrees, along with murdering Olivia. The police even agree. And Sam can’t shake the questions he’s ignored for so long about his adopted father’s choice to turn him in the first place. As if all of that is not bad enough, Tom Culpepper is working to get the wolves removed from the protected list so they can be hunted down and snuffed out once and for all. This doesn’t set the stage for good things for our friends in Mercy Falls.

Experiencing the volatility of Grace’s shifting due to the newness of her transformation was interesting. It finally gave us a look into the world of the wolves that we’d yet to experience in the past two books. Grace’s transformation also offers us a transition in her relationship with Sam. They understand each other better having changed roles, yet there’s a wariness about their relationship that they can’t seem to shake. It makes them closer and further apart all at the same time.

If ever there was a theme to this book, it would be trust and forgiveness. Sam and Beck, Grace and her parents, Grace and Rachel, Sam and Koeing (I can't remember if that's how you spell his name and I'm too lazy to look it up right now--sorry, no excuse, I know), Sam and Grace's mom, Cole and life, Cole and Jeremy, Isabel and life, Sam and Cole, the list goes on and on. Just goes to show how dynamic the story really is.

I feel like this review hasn't been composed at all. I can't quite explain it. Maybe I should give it some time and think on it some more, or maybe I need to read the series again. I'm not sure. I'll just say this and leave it be for now, check it out. It's definitely worth a read.

*Updated: September 6, 2013

Bloodlines Chapter 1

Just finished reading Chapter 1 of Bloodlines. Here's the link:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/60088608/Bloodlines-by-Richelle-Mead-Chapter-1

My interest is piqued. Ready to see what happens with Sydney, Jill, Adrian, Eddie, and friends. Looking forward to the release next month!

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2 Movie

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Director: David Yates

Writers: Steve Kloves (screenplay) & JK Rowling (novel)

Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint

Released: July 15, 2011

130 minutes

Production: Warner Bros, Heyday Films, Moving Picture Company

( Amazon )

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Midnight showing was great...and crazy. Our movie theater here didn't have the organization down for this midnight showing. I've been to see 4 midnight showings now (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, & now HP7-2) and this was the craziest yet. Plus we got stuck on the second row which was the pits. I was getting sick during the previews due to the rapid movement from one shot to the next, plus I'm extremely far-sided in one eye--which means I see better far away--but once the movie started up it was better. Still not as good as sitting at the top, but acceptable.

The movie was really, really good. I was genuinely impressed overall. They really stuck to the book with the beginning of the movie. Of course when it comes to a book making it to the big screen, changes are made for the sake of time and visual appeal and sometimes just because. This movie was no different. There were some things I really wish they had not changed and others that I suppose I can understand. But that's the way it always is. If the movie was exactly the same as the book, there would be a lot less to talk about.

My biggest complaint of the changes they made in the movie (SPOILER ALERT) is that Harry tells Hermione and Ron before he goes to the forest to meet LV in the movie, which he does not do in the book. It only bothered me so much because while going through the book that was the most emotional scene for me. Harry's just witnessed Snape's memories in the pensive and he realizes that he has to die. So he goes to face his death alone...very alone. He has the resurrection stone and he sees his parents, etc, but even they vanish before he actually faces LV. And my impression while reading the book was that of him being utterly alone. I didn't QUITE get that from the movie. Sometimes I think movies and tv shows accidentally protray the main character as being a superhero and above what they are, when in truth Harry was really scared (not to the point of refusing to do what he had to) and truthfully he winged it A LOT, but that's what we love about him. He's real, and he's human--or well, wizard, but you get the point. I don't know, I didn't get the same feeling from the movie in that scene that I did in the book.

Oh and I wish Harry had been able to tell LV off in front of everyone, but they changed that up a bit too. Not too devastating though. And loved the scene with Mrs. Weasley and Bellatrix. Last thing (I think), Harry and Jenny's kiss...awkward. They totally could have done another take for that one. Not nearly as good as Ron and Hermione's.

Well pleased. Sad that it's over. Want to see it again.

*Updated: September 6, 2013

Quick

Going to midnight showing of HP7 Part 2! Tomorrow night. YAY!

Linger - Review

Linger (Wolves of Mercy Falls, # 2)

By: Maggie Stiefvater

Published: July 13th 2010 by Scholastic Press

360 pages

Genre: YA, Paranormal, Fantasy, Werewolves

Source: Personal Library

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | Booksamillion.com )

*Note: The above links to Amazon, Book Depository, and Booksamillion.com are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--The astonishing #1 New York Times bestseller.

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 Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

Ok, so I don’t think I gave Shiver 5 stars, but I’m starting to feel like I should have. I guess I’d be leaning toward 4.9 to 5 for Linger and for the series as a whole thus far.

I very much enjoy the writing style of Maggie Stiefvater. The tone she writes in is beautiful and can be heartbreaking exactly when it should be. I enjoy swapping the narrator in the way that she does. It feels natural, where as other books that I’ve read do this, but have not achieved the narrator swap with the perfection that she has. The voice of the character she chooses to showcase always best fits the situation, whichever is experiencing the scene in the most interesting way is the exact person‘s view she chooses to share with the reader. Continuing with the praise of her writing style, the addition of Cole St. Clair and Isabel’s voices as narrators was also natural and seamless. I was hesitant about this when I first heard they would be additions, but it works so well.

A good portion of the storyline fits in with the real world and that is important to me. I can’t take a book that portrays things as normal—in a semi-normal world—that in no way represent how life is really lived. Grace’s parents don’t believe or understand the intensity behind her relationship with Sam, which I find to be realistic. How many parents would take their child’s first relationship seriously? So many of us have several misses before we hit any where close to the mark. Another realistic aspect of the book is the blow up Grace has with her parents after they find out that Sam’s been spending the night in their daughter’s bed. I had a hard time believing that no matter how absentee the parents that Sam and Grace could get away with sleeping in her bed together every night for so long. So it was appropriate for this to be the catalyst between Grace and her parents’ explosion. The rebellion Grace goes through after her parents’ reaction appears yet again very typical. Despite how unfounded their opinion of Sam, Grace never fully explains why she feels the way that she does and how wrong they are—about Sam’s character in particular. I feel like that’s classic teenage pride—though I can’t imagine myself not vehemently defending my beloved’s honor. It’s a follow up on how adults make teenagers feel like they are idiots and how adults think teenagers believe they know so much more than they actually do. It’s all very believable. One last tidbit about how real this book felt for me…Sam and Grace both have that “miss you while you’re still there” thing going on. I’ve totally felt that before.

Moving into the actual storyline, I was also nervous that with the addition of Cole & Isabel’s voices that we would have a repeat of the exact way that Sam & Grace came together. Forgive me, Maggie Stiefvater, for not having faith in you. It wasn’t personal. It came from being let down by other stories where the characters change names but the overall arch of the story and events remains the same. This did not happen in this book and I loved it for just that reason. Cole and Isabel are their own story. They are their own characters. They are not Sam and Grace, and they stand their ground just the way that they are. SPOILER ALERT: I actually like that they don’t get together in this book. It would be out of character. There is so much pain between the two of them. They need time. They need to heal. And they have to do that alone before they can achieve anything higher than where they are. Cole is learning to let go, learning how to be human again, and Isabel seems to be just trying to keep it together. It would have been fake and completely forced to have them fall madly in love upon first meeting and subsequently solve each others problems and broken hearts.

Sam and Grace. Oh Sam and Grace. I feel certain that Hollywood and critics will talk down about Sam and Grace because they are both so young and are already talking about marriage. Some seem to think it is a weakness to be so in love that you’re broken when they are gone, that you’re unable to function when life threatens to take away your love. They think that makes you weak. I think they are wrong. Perhaps it’s because I was that way myself that I defend this position so adamantly. But all I wanted was to love and to be loved. To hold onto my love with a fist so tight it threatens to snuff out the oxygen for the rest of the world. Sam and Grace are unafraid of loving so deeply that they would be destroyed without the other. I don’t call that weak. I call that strong. Love like there’s no tomorrow.

*Updated: September 6, 2013