Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

17 reviews

fanboyriot's review

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challenging slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
This was like a Twilight wanna be but with a focus on wolves.

I hated the characters.  Genuinely really couldn’t care about them.  Grace treated her friends and family like shit, all of her attention is on her wolf.  She is incapable of empathy apparently.  Sam is so whiny and nearly has insufferable as Grace.  And their romance was giving nothing, they was zero chemistry between them.

Spice Level: n/a
Angst Level: n/a
POV: Duel, First Person
Release Date: 01, August 2009
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mookayla's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

This was a re-read for me! My first time reading it, I was in high school at the peak of my Twilight phase, and I gave it 5 stars. I was worried that it wouldn't hold up now that I'm 27 (and somehow still at the peak of my Twilight phase); but it absolutely did! I'm honestly surprised that this series isn't still talked about more. The writing is beautiful and really transports you to the enchanting woods of Mercy Falls. (Most) of the characters are impossible not to love (they could never make me like you @ Shelby). And the story... the story has me so scared because this book was perfect, and I never finished the series, so what do you mean there's MORE?!? 😅 I feel like I also have to mention that some of the things in this book blew my mind due to it being a YA with no TW's (2009 was a different time) 😅 but this is one of the books that made me who I am. It helped shape my interests as a reader and fall more in love with reading. Forever grateful, and if you haven't read it- I highly recommend! ♡ 

Spice:
• Fade-to-Black

If You Liked That, Read This:
• Fruits Basket
• Twilight
• ACOTAR
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gianna89's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.75

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the_trees_speak_latin_'s review

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adventurous funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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_rowantree_'s review

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dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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epeolatrist's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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r_skye's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

It’s definitely not bad just super YA and insta love, but I will be reading the second one so there’s that? Good if you’re looking for a trashy book
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rybass08's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A very stoic book, of love pulling back and forth between two worlds. Heartbreaking and hurtful to read, wanting the change to be permanent so that they can be together forever.
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breannescott's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Is a good introduction into werewolves as a genre. It can be read as a standalone.

It made me cry and had a happy ending. 
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sarah_who_reads's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

 
This is a YA paranormal romance, sort of. One of the main characters, Sam, is a werewolf, but wishes he weren't, and just wants to be human, and the other main character, Grace, is supposed to be a werewolf, but isn't, for a reason that forms a core point of the plot. I will avoid more spoilers, but this is the beginning of why I would say it's only sort of paranormal. Sam and Grace meet in a violent situation when they are young, when Sam is in wolf form. They both become somewhat obsessed (my word, not Stiefvater's) with each other, and when they meet again, several years later, when Sam is in human form, it kicks off a whirlwind romance with an expiration date, Sam's impending change back to werewolf form for the winter always looming. But in the meantime, a classmate of Grace's is attacked by wolves and killed...

There are good things about this book. It's atmospheric - you do feel like it's cold. For most scenes, Sam and Grace do seem like teenagers in love. Sam and Grace both have problematic parents, and that feels like an issue reasonable for YA novels to address. And the audiobook narration held my interest better than a lot of fiction audio does.

But there are also a lot of things that aren't great about this book. I didn't love Sam's songs he wrote for Grace sprinkled throughout; they felt melodramatic and cringey to me, even for a teenager in love. I'm not a fan of instalove or love supposedly based on someone's physical characteristics (his golden eyes!), and stories like this never really seem real to me. Grace's (and all the kids' in the book, actually) complete disregard for her/their parents just because the parents just seemed a bit absent/checked out felt over-the-top and disproportionate and unrealistic. I don't think most kids would behave the way Olivia and Grace did, for example, or anything close to it, in this situation, and their behavior seemed like an issue the author couldn't figure out how to write more realistically, so she just relied on us suspending our disbelief, which I'm willing to do for werewolves but not for the realistic parts of the book. I hated the gratuitous animal death, almost none of which did anything to advance the story in a meaningful way (why? just why?). There are also teenagers who "consent" become werewolves, which might be a bit sketchy, depending on interpretation. But most of all, the way that Sam and Grace meet is pretty creepy, and the way their relationship evolves before they meet in person the second time is even creepier. I don't love the idea of casting it romantically, especially in a YA book. Tread with care if any form of abuse is a trigger for you. Other CWs include, as I mentioned, multiple scenes with gratuitous animal death (including a long scene I had to skip), parental betrayal, attempted murder, some medical/hospital/needles scenes, and some general gore. 
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