Book Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

In Shiver Grace was attacked by a pack of wolves when she was eleven years old. She was dragged from her back garden which back onto Boundry Woods. But she didn’t struggle or cry even though she could see her own blood in the snow: instead what she remembers about that day is the wolf who saved her. The wolf with the yellow eyes who looked right at her and dragged the other wolves off her.

Over the next six years, Grace becomes obssessed with the wolves in Mercy Falls, where she lives. But it’s the one with the yellow eyes who she seeks out. On the occasions when he’s appeared at the edge of her garden they watch each other, waiting. One day, a local boy from her school is attacked by wolves and dies and the town is in uproar and a party of men go hunting the wolves in the woods. When Grace returns home she finds a naked boy about her age on her porch who has been shot. She takes him inside and recognises him instantly – the yellow eyes, Sam.


What follows is a love story between two people who have “known” each other for years. It’s simple, tender and subtle. They are drawn together and can’t be apart, but there is something in their way – whenever it gets cold, Sam changes back into a wolf and this year there is a race against time to stop him changing as Sam thinks it may be his last year as a human.


I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I can absolutely see how it would appeal to teenagers but I think it’s a good one for adults too. It’s touching and tender. I am looking forward to reading Linger, the next in the series when it’s out (July 2010).


Stiefvater has also written another series which I will be reviewing shortly - the first two books in the series are Lament and Ballad.