I picked up a copy of  Maggie Stiefvater‘s werewolf novel, Shiver, at the local used bookstore. It’s been taking up space on my shelves for a while now, but when it came up as the monthly group read of one of my Goodreads groups, I decided that its time had come.

Description from Goodreads:
For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can’t seem to live without.

Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human… until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It’s her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Review:
This is an eery, poignant read. It feels like something M. Night Shyamalan would have a hand in, minus the horror. But, like the almost missable wolf on the cover, you feel the odd camera angles and barely perceptible background music that incites the reader to feel overlooked. It gives the book a real sense of atmosphere.

The writing is absolutely beautiful. One of the characters likes to compose songs, and the whole thing reads a little like his lyrics. It’s pretty, and it flows well, but I have to admit that after a while, it wore on me a little bit. I think purple prose is the correct term to use here. Everything is over-described, flowery to the umpteenth degree. Again, it’s beautiful, but I could have done with a few hundred fewer similes. No one just walked into a room. They walked into a room like an avenging angel, or soft winter wind, or rolling thunder. I’m making these up, but you get the point.

The two main characters are generally likable—Sam especially. It would be hard not to like someone as gentle (and fragile) as he is. He is well-complimented by Grace, and together, they feel fated. I would have really liked to get to know the rest of the pack better. You get almost nothing of them in this book. I expect they will play a bigger role in future books, though.

All in all, I’m glad to have read it. I probably would have let it linger on the shelf forever if it hadn’t been a group read. I’m glad it got bumped up. As an aside, I rather liked the subtle blue ink of the text that matched the cover so well. A fun detail.