Shiver By Maggie Stiefvater Redo Review

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Has anyone seen the TV show Dexter? If you haven't, go watch it RIGHT NOW.

Dexter is insane, and (hopefully) everyone knows that.

But the main characters of Shiver put Dexter to shame.
I am fucking serious.
We have Grace, a girl who is obsessed with wolves even though they tried to eat her.
We also have Sam, who is also obsessed with Grace even though he WANTED to eat her.
We have a pack of werewolves who can change in the weather, many having strange moral guidance.
Shelby is obsessed with Sam even though she's way older than him, and basically wants to rape him.
What does this sound like?

GIFSoup
And we get this:

GIFSoup
It looks like a vast difference, but somehow Grace is still a frigging sociopath.

What do we know about Grace?
-She has no sympathy for people who were abused as children.
-She would rather save wolves who ATTACKED her and were accused of killing someone's brother (the boy abused by his father). She doesn't care that he's dead.
-She will stop at nothing to get Sam. Basically:
Grace: "IF I CAN'T HAZ HIM, NO ONE CAN HAZ HIM!"

What do we know about Will:
-He also wants Grace, really, REALLY fucking badly.
-He does not sound like a guy, not even a stereotypical gay guy.

GIFSoup
Yes, Sam makes Will from Will & Grace look as masculine as Bruce Wayne.
-He compares himself to a LEAKY WOMB, A.K.A. FUCKING CHILDBIRTH AND MENSTRUATION AND HOLY SHIT GROSS FEMALE STUFF. Why does that kid even know what a womb is? I don't know whether to go:

GIFSoup
Or:

Should I be concerned that his sex ed talks were a little too deep?
-Oh, and he can't write a single frigging song, no.

Grace's friends may as well be five year olds. Grace doesn't really care about them, they are obstacles in her way. Her friends are also unmemorable, except where one PISSES IN HER PANTS. Apparently lots of teenagers do that.

Grace's parents aren't there for most of the time, at the point to being neglectful. Maybe they helped shape her insanity (even though Jack, child abuse poster boy, also was mean because of his abusive father, but Grace don't care 'bout him, the fucking hypocrite).

This entire book was a wet dream, screaming: "ME WANT TO FUCK YOU FOEVA!"
Please book, if I wanted sex, I'd look at porn. Guess what? I don't, so that gives you the idea of what I want. There was no FUCKING plot.

One frigging star.

This book sucked.



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Shiver By Maggie Stiefvater Review

Before  I  review  this  I  will  tell  you  a  short  true  story:

Most  of  the  books  I  review  I  get  at  the  library  rather  than  buying  them  because  for  one  thing  my  local  Barnes  and  Noble  refuses  to  get  any  copies  of  Oryx  and  Crake  and  I'm  too  lazy  to  have  them  order  it  for  me,  plus  I  like  my  money.  Also,  with  reading  books  that  I  fear  will  be  bad,  I  get  them  at  the  library  in  fear  of  bad  books.  One  book  was  this.  It  had  like  3  holds  on  it  already  with  all  3  copies  checked  out,  3  people  waiting  for  it  to  be  returned.  They  did  have  it  in  large  print  and  nobody  was  interested  in  it,  no  holds,  no  checks  out  of  large  print.  I  wasn't  going  to  wait  so  I  got  it.  Sadly,  large  type  didn't  make  the  book  go  any  faster  and  I  pretty  much  forced  myself  to  read  as  much  as  I  could  through  this  book  and  I  read  it  in  like  3  or  4  days. 

Summary:

Grace  was  kidnapped  by  wolves  when  she  was  11  and  nearly  eaten.  She  meets  a  yellow  eyed  wolf  and  they  fall  in  love.  Gag.  So  the  whole  kidnapping  thing  is  taken  pretty  lightly,  it's  not  a  true  concern.  And  her  dad  left  her  in  a  car  that  became  burning  hot  and  she  survived.  And  she  was  bitten  by  a  werewolf  but  she  doesn't  change.  Sam,  the  werewolf  falls  in  love  with  her  and  wants  them  to  be  together.  Gag.

Why  I  Didn't  Like  This  Book:
1.  The  Intersecting  Chapters.  I  can  handle  books  where  the  narrators  switch  or  else  I  wouldn't  read  Alex  Sanchez.  But  this  seemed  like  only  Grace  should  narrate  it,  no  matter  how  boring  she  is.  Sam  wasn't  much  of  a  character  and  I  didn't  like  him,  his  narrating  wasn't  good  except  for  when  he  broke  chickens,  which  wasn't  much. 
2.  Anti-Feminist?  There's  a  misogynistic  rapper,  I  forgot  his  name  who  has  a  song  which  tells  where  he  raped  his  neighbor,  a  hot  woman  who  he  watched  strip  and  says  it  isn't  his  fault,  she  should  have  gotten  curtains  up.  Grace  uses  this  when  she  learns  Sam  as  a  wolf  watched  her  strip  too,  and  that  scene  really  pissed  me  off.  Also,  it's  admitted  that  they're  both  unhealthily  obsessed  with  each  other  but  they  don't  do  anything  to  make  it  a  normal  relationship,  a  very  bad  sign.  Let's  not  even  go to  Shelby,  she  was  too  awful.
3.  The  Sex  Scene.  There  wasn't  much  detail  into  it,  thankfully  because  Judy  Blume  sex  scenes  I  can  handle,  Stiefvater's  I  can't.  Also,  I  thought  they  didn't  use  protection  because  there  were  no  details  on  it,  the  sex  wasn't  planned,  and  I  can't  see  Grace  or  Sam  as  carrying  around  condoms  or  taking  the  pill.  In  other  words  in  the  next  chapter  when  it  mentioned  them  using  protection  I  could  hardly  believe  it  because  Grace  and  Sam  seem  like  they'd  do  it  without  protection.
4.  Heterosexist  Scene  in  the  Candy  Store?  I  only  liked  the  candy  descriptions  in  that  scene,  nothing  else.  The  cashier  bugged  me  and  the  way  she  thought  Grace  and  Sam  were  "so  cute"  made  me  want  to  gag,  the  love  at  first  sight  sucked,  and  I  could  imagine  two  gay men  or  two  lesbians  walking  in  and  doing  that and  it  turns  out  she's  a  fundamentalist  Christian  and  yells  that  they  need  to  get  out,  that  wouldn't  surprise  me  at  all.
5.  Don't  Explain  Anything  About  the  Full  Moon  Until  You're  Way  Into  The  Book.  That  just  made  me  mad.
6.  Grace  Had  No  Brain.  She  didn't  see  Jack  in  the  car?

What  I  Sort  of  Liked:
1.  There  Were  A  Few  Funny  Lines.
2.  I  Liked  Beck.  He  had  the  MOST  character  of  anyone  in  the  book.
3.  Meningitis.

This  book  is  not  "sexy",  "cool",  or  "great".  It  sucked  and  just  barely  gets  two  stars  because  near  the  end  of  the  book  it  started  to  speed  up.  I  am  not  reading  the  rest  of  the  series.

I  Instead  Recommend:
The  Abused  Werewolf  Rescue  Group  by  Catherine  Jinks
Cycle  of  the  Werewolf  by  Stephen  King

The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group by Catherine Jinks Review

Sorry  the  cover's  got  the  Kindle  thing  on  it,  I  got  the  picture  directly  from  Amazon. . . 

Ah,  I  remember  when  I  read  The  Reformed  Vampire  Support  Group. . .  It  was so  much  better  than  Twilight  or  The  House  of  Night;  OK  maybe  because  it  was  funny  and  not  all  serious  and  basically  had  no  romance  (usually  when  there's  no  romance  I  like  it).  So  when  I  saw  the  sequel  I  got  it  as  soon  as  I  could  at  the  library.

Summary:

An  immediate  thing  to  point  out  is  that  this  book,  like  The  Reformed  Vampire  Support  Group,  takes  place  in  Australia,  which  is  a  pretty  good  change  from  the  regular  stuff  I  read  that's  always  in  America  or  Britian.  Other  than  this  series  I've  only  read  one  other  book  that  takes  place  in  Australia,  Stolen  by  Lucy  Christopher.  In  Stolen  it  mainly  takes  place  in  the  outback,  which  really  helped  me  when  I  read  this  book.   

Toby  is  a  normal  thirteen  year  old  going  through  puberty,  discovering  his  sexuality,  and  does  normal  stuff  like  hang  out  with  his  friends.  However, one  day  he's  found  in  a  dingo  pit  (yep,  definitely  takes  place  in  Australia)  and  can't  remember  why.  A  Catholic  priest  named  Father  Ramon  and  a  twenty  something  year  old  guy  named  Reuben  come  to  him  and  tell  him  that  he's  a  werewolf.  His  Mom  believes  none  of  it  while  he  tries  to  trick  Reuben  thinking  it's  a  lie. 

(Minor  spolier)

 And  then  he  has  a  little  bump  with  the  "police". . .

(I'm  going  to  have  to  stop  here  so  I  don't  give  away  too  much  because  it's  a  reat  read).

So,  I  give  it  a  good  4.5  stars.  The  ending  rocked  and  put  all  other  werewolf  books  to  shame!  I  liked  it  even  more  than  Stephen  King's  gory  Cycle  of  the  Werewolf,  which  is  saying  a  lot!  I  even  liked  it  more  than  The  Reformed  Vampire  Support  Group!    

Yes. . .