Book Review: Linger (Maggie Stiefvater)

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love -- the light and the dark, the warm and the cold -- in a way you will never forget.

How am I supposed to write a decent review when I'm this speechless?

If I'll try to sum Linger up, I'd say heartbreaking. Shiver was a story about coming together but Linger is about staying together. It's a book of battles, really. Sam and Grace has to fight to stay together. Sam has to battle the remnants of his past and for his future. Readers are introduced to a new character, Cole, who has to wage a battle of his own. There is Isabel, who has to face a broken family and a guilty heart. And then there is Grace, who is simply fighting to stay Grace.

It takes more than just love to stay together, and Linger shows that in Grace and Sam's relationship. They take a lot of battering in this book. And a lot of space between them, which is just impossibly saddening. When Grace defies her parents, it's not their reactions I was frustrated about, but their lack of understanding. Yes, as parents, they have every right to chastise Grace, but the fact that they refuse to acknowledge their absence in Grace's life and pins all the blame to Sam is just beyond infuriating. Again, we see a broken family theme in Linger, underscored by the same imperfection of the Culpeper and St. Clair families.

The pace is at times frustratingly slow. It has the effect of a detailed development of the sub-plots as well as an in-depth characterisation in Cole. The author has a penchant for creating the perfect imperfect character and Cole is not an exception. He is as broken as Sam, but as determined to stay wolf as Sam is to stay human. His introduction adds flavour to Isabel, whom we already know from Shiver. Together, their relationship is vastly different from and hence highlights Grace and Sam's. It also pleased me how Cole is redeemed so wonderfully at the end of the novel. Great character.

Linger frustrated me at the beginning because I wanted to read more of Grace and Sam. I was not exactly expecting a smooth ride, but I really wanted to savour the languid romance that was so prevalent in Shiver. I missed Sam and Grace's time together, the many songs and lyrics that amplifies Sam's feelings for Grace. Instead, Linger introduced two more narrators, more subplots and a lot more complexities. The pace also took some time to warm to me. But it is the rich, lyrical narrative in Sam that I missed most. Because Linger has four narrators, Sam can only speak so much.

It was the ending that clinched the deal for me. I grew frustrated with the slow progress but when it sped up at the end, it was such a fast-paced read. That is when everything seems to fit together and complete the picture. I was left speechless and yearning for more, ultimately reminded why I fell in love with the series in the first place.

Four Stars.