I honestly don’t know how to start this review. I could tell you how much I love this series, because I do. I could also tell you that I felt a mixture of excitement and sadness when I started reading Forever; the first because I wanted to know what would happen, and the second because I knew it would end eventually and that would be that. But I ended up reading it. Excitement and my undying love of Sam won out, and what happens is something you’ll have to read to believe.
Warning: The summary will have spoilers to Shiver and Linger, but the review is relatively not spoilery.
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 love moved from a 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.
For most of this book, I was in an emotional place. Mainly this place was called sadness and irritation as Sam and Grace weren’t together as much as I wanted and Isabel and Cole’s POVs kept getting in the way. Gosh! Stupid Isabel and Cole.
The events are a mix of fast and slow paced. Fast when the plot called for it, mostly on the wolf side, and slow just when we needed it, especially as it related to Sam and Grace reconnecting. *sigh* I love when Sam and Grace connect. (Yes, that’s code for something.)
More people find out about the wolves and some people die and you wish that someone in particular would die because everyone HATES her and she’s horrible and…and… the ending! Oh my god.
Some questions are answered and some are left open-ended. I can read the last chapter and still get a little choked up because Maggie leaves it so open-ended that anything can happen. You hope and wish for the best, but it all comes down to Maggie left it open for anything, so my mind will occasionally go to an unhappy place. It’s not a good time for anyone around me when it does.
Seriously guys, this is a great series. I’m so glad I read it and I’m so happy that I met Maggie Stiefvater and could tell her how much I love Sam and Sam and Grace together because I really, really do.
If you’re on the fence about this series, I will tell you this: I was on the fence, too. I’m not big on werewolf stories, but this series is so much more than werewolves. And Maggie’s writing and flow is amazing and very easy to get lost in. I love how she can turn a phrase. So, just try Shiver. If it’s not for you, then it’s not. You won’t like every book that’s popular. That’s just a fact. But it just might suck you in and turn you into a life-long Maggie Stiefvater fan, like it did me.
Have you read Forever? What did you think of it? I am fully prepared to talk major spoilers in the comment section, so you’ve been warned!