Forever

I was successful in not crying all the way until the end of this book, in spite of quite a bit of provocation to do so, but I lost the fight when I read the "Author’s Note" after the last page, which begins: "It’s a little odd to be saying good-bye to a world I’ve lived in for almost four years…”

I could relate to the difficulty of saying good-bye to some of the characters....

This is a very appealing trilogy (known collectively as "The Wolves of Mercy Falls") that is truly more about love than anything else: the unquestioning love the boy Sam has for his adoptive father Beck and Beck's fierce love for Sam, juxtaposed with the uneven and sporadic parental love experienced by the girl Grace, and how alone she has always felt show more because of it. But most of all, this trilogy centers around the steadfast love between Sam and Grace, who, on the verge of adulthood, find their true natures through their love for one another. Theirs was a love at first sight from when they were just kids, and there is no uncertainty, no misgivings, no rivals, just them. The author (also in the afterward) says:

"Many, many readers have written me asking wistfully about the nature of Sam and Grace’s relationship, and I can assure you, that sort is absolutely real. Mutual, respectful, enduring love is completely attainable as long as you swear you won’t settle for less.”

When their story begins in Shiver, Grace is 17 and Sam is 18, but they have been in love for many years. When Grace first met Sam, she was a young girl, and he was a wolf. Specifically, he was a werewolf, one of a pack who changed back to human form when the weather in Minnesota warmed up sufficiently.

In Linger, because of plot complications you’ll just have to read about, Sam stays human and it is now Grace who changes with the weather into wolf form.

In Forever, Sam and Grace look for a way to stay together all year round. But they have to battle protective parents, wolf hunters, and even other wolves. And most importantly, they need to find a way that they can both be in the same form at the same time, and plan their future with each other. But which form should that be? And how can it be accomplished?

Discussion: The sections on the wolves are a way to teach not only the readers about the benefits of wolf pack dynamics, but also to teach the characters, who learn how to live and play well with others, and how to look for the strengths and the goodness that each has to offer, because they cannot live just for themselves any longer. This is why, in the Evaluation, I maintain that this series should not be classified as "paranormal." The "paranormal" aspect is not the main focus of these books.

In the series, Sam, who is the sensitive type, composes lyrics and music to reflect his preoccupation with seeing Grace. One of the songs he writes is “Summer Girl.” The UK-based band, Jonas & Plunkett, a favorite of the author's, used the lyrics, first appearing in Shiver, to write a version of "Summer Girl" that you can hear in a trailer available on youtube. It’s really a lovely song that you can even buy on itunes, and the lyrics beautifully explain much of the plot and tone of the Series. A second video on youtube has almost identical visuals, but features music written by the author and performed by her and a collaborator. The music is absolutely stunning, and remarkably, if you've read the books, I swear you can actually see the story in this music, even though it is wordless!

Evaluation: In spite of the werewolf connection, I really would not put these books in the usual “paranormal” category, because, as indicated above, the focus is not on the paranormal aspects, but on the love between Sam and his packmates; Sam and his girl; and another very wonderful relationship that develops between two damaged friends of Sam and Grace, named Cole and Isabel. These last two are characters who I didn’t like in book two, but loved by the end of book three.

If you give these books a try, I can’t imagine not liking them. I’m not sure that the second two books can make it as standalones, but why not just go for all three?! Highly recommended! show less

I want to thrust the books in front of you and say read! Or tie you to a chair and insist, freedom comes if and when you finish reading. However, I know many readers want explanations, why must I read this? What’s so great about it?

A dash of Mandelstam, a sprinkling of Roethke, a whole mess of Rilke and every bit Maggie Stiefvater. Characters that scream their humanity from pages that beg to be read. A progressive maturity across the three books that is refreshing and increases the realness of it all. I realize that I’m making a YA series sound like a study of the human psyche, worthy of a Nobel prize, but I appreciate the books uniqueness. In that they are not like every other YA book on the market.

Werewolves? Yes. Romance? Yes. show more Tragic? Yes. But it is human, real, believable. Sam who speaks to the quiet intellect in us all. Grace, brave and yet fragile. Cole who perhaps you should hate more often than not, but can’t help feeling a kindred “lost” tie to. Isabel such a bitch, but so much more than that, you want to hold her hand and listen.

All I know is Maggie Stiefvater gave me: werewolves, introduced me to my new lover, Rilke, some musings in German, and characters I wish I was living amongst sorting through my own issues right along side of. If that’s not enough to entice you, well then, keep reading what you have been and realize you’re missing out.

The complete review is on my blog: http://with-a-flower.blogspot.com/2012/01/book-review-forever-isnt-nearly-long.h... show less

How can I even summarize my thoughts? I looked forward to this book for months and months. I pre-ordered a finished copy last week. The ARC came first and I took two full days to read it. I could have read it in a half a day but I drank in the words and allowed the images to be conjured inside my head while enjoying the emotions of each of the characters. I loved every part of this book.

And I hate Minnesota.

*Caveat* I've only been to St. Paul and it was in February so it's an unfair assessment. I'm just saying.

This is the end of a trilogy. This is not the kind of trilogy that is painfully spread out with nothing happening in the second book but three solid books that needed the separation of being different books. However, in order to show more understand this book, the other two need to be read first. Go read them now. Go ahead. I'll wait.

For those who are still here, here's the summary:

Book 1: Grace finds naked Sam shot in the neck on her porch. She knows he is the wolf that watches her winter after winter. She does not know that Sam is also the book seller boy at The Crooked Shelf in town. The history of logistics of shifting from wolf to human to wolf are described. This sets up the rest of the series. Grace was also attacked as a child but never changed. This is explored extensively. Introduction of Isabel who takes bit** to a new level. Love her. Meet Rachel, the epitome of quirky. Adore her. Meet Shelby, the psychotic werewolf. Fear her.

Book 2: Sam and Grace are enjoying each other's company and all is peachy keen except that Grace is getting sicker and sicker. Beck is in his last human season. He has also introduced new wolves to the pack, including two members of an extremely popular rock group, NARKOTIKA. Cole is the lead in the group and you kind of have to hate him. At first. Then he really grows on you. Turns out, he has a charming personality and an I.Q. that is off the charts. Just like his singles. HA!

Book 3: This is the book where we are seeking equilibrium. The wolf gene (?) is unstable and Cole is working on a cure. He is using himself as the patient which is messy and unpredictable. Isabel's father wants the wolves killed. Another girl is found mutilated. Slight spoiler - remember that psychotic werewolf? She's still psychotic and she's not dead. Who is human enough to problem solve? Is there are cure? Who will die? Who will live? How can Rachel still be so adorably quirky?

Stiefvater has the most amazing writing style. She describes details I often take for granted or includes a non-sequitur that is a game changer.

Quotes from ARC so there may be changes in final copy but I hope not. I really, really hope not.

"He looked away from me, as if he didn't expect me to have the answer, and instead looked at his hands, his fingers spread wide. He studied both sides of them, backs and then palms, his eyebrows drawn together. It was such a strange, intimate gesture that I glanced away. It reminded me of our funeral for Victor for some reason."

Each scene, thought, description sets up the next one in a way that seems accidental but clearly is not. Each character is well defined and developed while never deviating from their personality. The book plays in my head like my favorite movie - memories surface and built on the story or the character, explaining why Sam is so quiet or Grace is so independent or Cole is so... Cole.

The end is bittersweet. Assumptions must be made on the part of the reader and I'm bitter that it's not going to be milked into just one more book but feeling deeply satisfied by the three books that are written and a little drunk on the words and imagery. show less

Was quite satisfied with this conclusion to the trilogy. It was much better than Linger, because the central challenge and driving force of the book was presented toward the beginning: Isabel's father, Tom Culpepper, has arranged an aerial hunt to kill all the wolves in Mercy Falls' Boundary Wood. With Grace as a wolf, Sam as a human, Cole experimenting, and Isabel angry, the pack is in trouble, but once Grace shifts back into a human, she has a solution to the problem: move the wolves.

With the time until the hunt ticking down, there was a sense of urgency to the plot that Linger was lacking. Cole and Sam are excellent foils for each other, with Sam being the dreamy emo boy and Cole being the wild risk-taker. Grace forms a bridge show more between them with her logical problem-solving. As in the previous books, Sam and Grace's relationship is portrayed beautifully: they are a mature couple who clearly love each other deeply, and there are many moments that are romantic but not sappy. (There are sparks between Cole and Isabel as well.)

All in all, I'm glad I continued on after Linger; this is a solid trilogy, and I look forward to whatever Stiefvater writes next. If The Scorpio Races is any indication, she's just going to keep getting better.

[One slight annoyance: the books' text are printed in colored ink to match their covers. I didn't notice with Shiver - the purple/blue must have been very close to black - but Linger was in green and Forever in red. Unnecessary.]

Morning lost its healing powers when it arrived and found you already wide-eyed and wary. (Sam, 46)

There is no better place than this: someone else's laughter in your mouth. (Sam, 78)

"how long it takes us, each day, to know each other" (120)

I didn't understand how someone could be both God and the devil. How the same person could destroy you and save you. (Sam, 189)

"I can't tell the difference between not fighting and giving up." (Isabel, 195)

It wasn't a touch that said I need more. It was a touch that said I want this. (196)

"That's how I would kiss you, if I loved you." (Cole, 196)

"and there stood no one
and no one entered
and no one said: welcome
and no one answered: at last" (378) show less

LOVE LOVE LOVE this conclusion to Sam and Grace's story. One thing I love about Maggie Stiefvater's writing is the way she manage to bring her characters to the end of a personal journey over the course of their narrative arc. And that was so rewarding to read here. Grace is a wolf when we start out. Sam is human, and missing her terribly. We soon find out the wolves are in terribe danger and Sam and Cole must figure out how to keep the pack safe permanently.

But again, the best part was the character journey. As we count down to the final moments and realize the wolves will be hunted down by helicopter and potentially exterminated, each character faces the thing they haven;'t been able to. Sam is no longer afraid. He willingly becomes show more his wolf to save Grace. Grace confronts her parents, FINALLY, as an adult, for all their years of neglect. Cole, who has spent how many years trying to kill himself, drags his dying carcass into the woods, desperately trying to live. And Isabel saves the wolves even though she couldn't save Jack. Loved.

Please excuse typos. Entered on screen reader. show less

WHAT A JOURNEY


I have to admit, this series kind of got me into werewolves. I love the world created, and the "rules" of the werewolves. The characters are all unique, with very distinct voices: the strongest part of this series is how the mismatch of characters all somehow fit together to create a misfit family. The bonds between everyone are very strong, and easy to see, although sometimes not easy to understand. The writing isn't as sophisticated as Stiefvater's later works, but it's clean and clear and filled with lines that make your heart skip.

Yeah, things do just kind of "fall into place," and maybe it ends a bit too perfectly, but sometimes all we want is a happy ending. I'm here for it.

I've responded emotionally once or twice before to a book. It doesn't happen very often for me though, just because the writing usually never reaches that far into me. Forever reached in and squeezed everything it could out. I'm writing this only minutes after I've finished it, and I don't know what to say. There's so much running through my head right now, and nothing at the same time. Shiver was one of the most magical experiences I have ever had with a book. Linger was less so, but still enjoyable. Forever... Forever is in a way less than Shiver and more than Linger, but at the same time more than both because of the reaction is has elicited from me. I felt everything these characters were feeling. All the pain, joy, terror. This show more book made me cry.

I've ended this series loving every single character, but one. We only ever got glimpses of Paul or Ulrick, or any of the other wolves named, through Sam's memories. I felt like I knew them and when I realized they weren't part of the main story anymore I was sad that I wouldn't get to know them more. I felt like I had lost friends. Beck. I know what he did is wrong, but unlike Sam who struggles with the full truth of what happened, I can't find it in me to hate him in any way. He did more for Sam than Sam's own parents could ever have done. Cole St. Clair and I started off on the wrong foot in Linger, when he was still too destructive. In Forever though he has a purpose, and starts living again. I don't know exactly when or how, but I've completely changed what I think of him. Rachel and Isabel are in their own ways great friends to Grace. We see Olivia again in Forever, but not how I thought we would, which also saddened me.

And the story itself was well done. There were times where it might have seemed a little slow, but I thought it worked for the development of this book. The twists and turns in this never ceased to surprise me, and by the last 60 pages or so I was on the edge of my seat, feeling the gamut of emotions mostly in that stretch. I've seen around that there were many people unhappy with the way it ended, and I can understand that, but I was satisfied with it. Sure it isn't clear-cut what will happen in their future, but that's where we the readers come in. we hope for them, and they live on happily ever after in our imaginations.

This was definitely for me an emotional ending to a stellar series overall. No matter what genres you like you definitely should not pass this up. Of everything and everyone in these books I'm going to miss Sam and Grace the most, how they were with each other. That absolute love that was never shaken, even in the most dire situations. Truly a masterpiece. show less