Review: Forever

Forever
By Maggie Stiefvater
Expected publication July 12. 2011 by Scholastic Press

WARNING: There are probably going to be spoilers here, and certainly spoilers for the first two books.

Grace and Sam have fought to stay together. Now they must fight to stay alive.

Linger was a bit of a low point for me, so I was interested to see how this one would go for me. I guess ask and you shall receive - this one featured more of Shelby and her attempts to assert dominance in the pack. The main story here is Tom Culpepper and his single-minded focus on destroying the wolf pack, while the human "members" of the pack attempt to figure out a way to escape. I felt less annoyed with Cole in this one - I was glad he was finally trying to do some good. Isabel annoyed me more in this one - I understand she's got some stuff to be angry about, but mostly it seemed a bit excessive. Also, her fixation on Cole - I guess their mutual fixation on each other - seemed more forced than natural, especially in comparison to Sam and Grace's relationship. I liked the attempts to find a true cure, and I really hope the series stays ended here - we don't need to know if it works for Grace, or the other wolves. We just need to know that they made it this far. I am really excited to read Stiefvater's next novel. I think she's a great storyteller and good at creating believable worlds with interesting characters. I don't think fans of the series will be disappointed in this conclusion to the series - unless they get greedy and want answers to all the questions.

Thanks to the publisher for an advanced reader's copy.