Hello Rad Readers!
So, this is a toughy. I ultimately gave this book 2/5 stars on GoodReads which seems like an extraordinarily low rating, but the thing is that I didn't find it extraordinarily bad, I just found it boring and a little unbelievable. It certainly was well written, though. I have read some of Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven series and although that wasn't exactly my favorite either (you can check out my C8's Takes on The Raven Boys as well) her books are certainly well written. The way scenes are described and characters are developed (in this series more than The Raven Cycle) is impressive and seamless, but it is always when it comes to the actual plot, the actual story, that I find her books to fall short for me.
I think that my issue with the plot is just the peculiarity of it accompanied by the lack of explanation for its peculiarity. Don't get me wrong, I do have an affinity for the peculiar. Harry Potter slaps, Throne of Glass is nuts, I could go on and on about fantasy series with totally unbelievable plot points that I did enjoy immensely, and that I could believe and get into. However, Shiver would not make the list. It centers around a girl who was attacked by wolves when she was younger and ever since then she has been obsessed with them in what I just went ahead and decided was a super weird way. She literally is out here saying that she is in love with them and that is just strange. Then, finally it isn't so strange because she discovers that they are actually werewolves which was super forced and a little too convenient for my liking.
There was no transition period whatsoever from finding out that the supernatural exists, to the acceptance of that. She found out that werewolves existed and she was just like...
Okay.
Sweet.
And then, they went on with the plot as though there wasn't life altering information being dealt. Then, there was the unnecessarily dramatic subplots that just had be going WHYYYY! There was a certain point in the story where I was like, I genuinely just don't even know what this book is about anymore. There was something about love and; then there was something about the cure; and then there was something about wanting the disease; and then there was something about Grace's friend; and then there was kidnapping and attacking; and then there was something about how time was running out and I was like TIME IS RUNNING OUT? FOR WHAT?! It was just so confusing. I didn't even find it interesting enough either, to try to interpret the confusion. I was just trying to get past it to find a part where I could make sense of everything, but that part just never came.
Then, finally in the end after we go on this wild goose chase by which the reader doesn't know what they are chasing, it ends in the most simple, dull, unexciting terms. Essentially there was no problem to begin with is what we find out and that is just a major slap in the face to a reader that spent 300+ pages following a conflict that was not in fact a conflict at all. UGH!
This isn't really a constructive comment whatsoever, but when Sam started singing... and it was supposed to be... good... and... emotional... HAHAHAHAH! I laughed for many reasons.
1. There is no way this was actually written and then reread and then edited and then decided on for print.
2. Read the room dog. Not the place, not the time.
3. Let me just quote this iconic moment. It is better that you see it for yourself.
"She draws patterns on my face / These lines make shapes that can't replace / the version of me that I hold inside/ when lying with you, lying with you, lying with you. 'I like your hair,' she said." (pg. 157)
HAHAHAHAHHAH WHAT!?
Ultimately, my suspicions say that this was an aim to try to follow the ever so troubling trope where the female lead character falls in love with a supernatural being that she has known for less than three months, and is willing to ruin her current life, friendships, family, and future for this "person." We've seen it with Twilight. We've seen it with TVD. The point is... We've seen it.
It's sexist and boring.
Sexist+Boring= 2/5 Stars on GoodReads. :/
- C8 ;)