#ReadingLife - No. 2

 Book 2 of 2022 is Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, the first book in her Wolves of Mercy Falls series. 

My first introduction to Stiefvater's work was her Raven Cycle series, and book two of the follow up Dreamer Trilogy, Mister Impossible, is coming up soon on my TBR. I love her authorial voice; it's so immediately and distinctly recognizable. She has a dry sense of humor that keeps the prose from getting too heavy, but then she'll lay down the most gorgeous, unique metaphor that hits you like a sucker punch out of nowhere. Anyone who wants to learn how to balance clean and effective lines of narrative with bursts of lush indulgence needs to study her work, because it's a master class. 

This series was written years before the Raven Cycle, and it definitely reads like earlier work while she was still in the process of refining her style. A little more YA standard in some respects than her later work, but still with those bursts of absolute genius descriptions, and with dark moments dropped with little fanfare, and therefore lots of impact. 

She offers a unique take on werewolves - a lore in which wolves are human during the summer/warm months, and it's the cold/winter that brings on the shift. I'm reading another werewolf book now, as well, and I always enjoy seeing the ways different authors bring lycanthropy to life. 

Because it's YA, the characters feel things deeply and dramatically. Teenagers always sense that their worlds are falling apart in situations like this, the sharp sting of new love driving their emotions. The last few chapters ratchet up the tension at a steady pace, POVs swapping on each one, and ends with a surprise that meant I immediately downloaded the next. 

Not my favorite Stiefvater, but still solid, sweet, and boasting a new spin on wolf lore.