Linger (Wolves of Mercy Falls, Book 2) [Hardcover]

Maggie Stiefvater (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 13, 2010

The astonishing #1 New York Times bestseller.

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Exclusive: A Q&A with Author Maggie Stiefvater

Q: Shiver and Linger center on werewolves, yet your previous books were fantasy novels focused on the world of faeries. What draws you to the fantasy genre in the first place and what inspired you to switch from faeries to werewolves?

Stiefvater: Oh, I’ve always been addicted to contemporary fantasy--fantasy set in the real world. I’m thinking Diana Wynne Jones was possibly the one who first made me fall in love. But I remember all of these great middle grade books that were magic in the real world . . . The Girl With the Silver Eyes, The Castle in the Attic, The Indian in the Cupboard. All of the Narnia books. Mmmm. Now I’m wanting to re-read! I still have most of my favorites.

I guess I just love that feeling of otherness. Of moreness. That you could turn the corner and bam, something strange would be there. I was never drawn so much to a complete fantasy world. The appeal was slipping something fantastic very cleverly into our world. So werewolves . . . I happened on them by accident, when I was looking for something bittersweet to write about, something about losing your identity. I don’t think you’ll see werewolves from me again after this series. My next books are about other magical things altogether.

Q: What do you enjoy most about writing for young adults (and for those of us adults who can’t resist a good YA read)?

Stiefvater: I love writing for such a passionate audience. They’re not afraid to feel completely, to believe in true love, to want to be incredible people who may possibly also be astronauts or rock stars. Young adults want something more and that, in a nutshell, is what I like to write about.

Q: In Shiver, the narration alternates between Sam and Grace. In Linger, you add two more voices—Isabel and Cole St. Clair. What were the challenges (and joys!) of doing so?

Stiefvater: Oh, it was insane. The hard bit was keeping everyone’s voices straight and consistent of course. They had to sound distinct while still sounding like they belonged in the same book. Each had a distinct vocabulary. Sam, for instance, says “amongst.” The others can’t say amongst. Isabel has her own particular brand of swear words. Cole has his own way of describing the world. Grace sees action in a particular way. The challenge was picking which character narrated each scene; who saw what I needed the reader to see? They were all so different. Of course, that was the joy as well. Hard to get bored that way . . .

Q: At the end of Shiver, Olivia changes—a lot. What do you think she is doing right now?

Stiefvater: Something spoilery that I’m not going to tell you about.

Q: We read your blog and know you love music. If you had to pick one song each to represent Sam, Grace, Isabel, Cole, and Beck– which would you choose?

Stiefvater: First of all, thanks for reading my blog! And yes, I’m crazy about music. Okay. Songs for each character?

Sam: “A Message” by Coldplay. The sound is great, more acoustic than Coldplay’s usual stuff, and the lyrics are very appropriate for Sam.

Grace: “Winter Song” by Ingrid Michaelson & Sara Bareilles. It’s a song about wanting things, but it’s also a peaceful song, which I think speaks to Grace -- she’s very solid in who she is.

Isabel: “You’ll Find A Way” by Santogold. Isabel’s a very . . . noisy character. The mind at war with itself.

Cole: Oh man, Cole is difficult, because he’s so . . . volatile. He changes a lot over the course of the trilogy, but at the end of Linger, I’ll go with “Gutter” by Paper Route.

Beck: Oh Beck, you complicated thing you. Can I have two for him? Can you stop me? He’s many things to many people--most of all to Sam, and a big part of the series is Sam coming to grips with all those sides of him. I’m going to go with Bjork’s “Vökuró” and Gravenhurst’s “Black Holes in the Sand”.

Q: Who would you rather spend a Saturday afternoon with—a faerie or a werewolf?

Stiefvater: A werewolf. Just so long as it was warm and they weren’t a Pearl Jam fan.

(Photo by Kate Hummel)

From School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up–The wolves of Mercy Falls return in this sequel to Shiver (Scholastic, 2009), and familiar characters mingle with more recent recruits into the Minnesota werewolf pack. Sam, now cured of his werewolf affliction, is adjusting to year-round life as a human. His girlfriend, Grace, suffers from headaches and other symptoms that may be related to a childhood wolf bite. When her parents discover Sam sleeping in her bed, they ground her and threaten to keep the two apart permanently. Tremendous angst and declarations that parents just don't understand ensue. Meanwhile Isabel, whose brother did not survive the meningitis cure that saved Sam, feels a strong connection with Cole St. Clair, one of the newest members of the pack. In his old life, Cole was the lead singer of a rock band. This volatile bad boy is a welcome foil to Sam, who is sulky this time around. The addition of Isabel and Cole as narrators dilutes the intensity of Grace and Sam's relationship, and the spark between Isabel and Cole remains underdeveloped. The tantalizing possibility of Cole's true identity being exposed also deserves more exploration. The cliff-hanger ending suggests that the author will cover this territory in a future installment. Still, Stiefvater's slow-perk style of crafting suspense builds to a satisfying boil in the final pages. This novel works better as a sequel than as a stand-alone read, but it's still highly recommended for fans of Shiver and the blockbuster supernatural romance genre.Amy Pickett, Ridley High School, Folsom, PA
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Press; 1 edition (July 13, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0545123283
• ISBN-13: 978-0545123280
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (316 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,132 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After a tumultuous past as a history major, calligraphy instructor, wedding musician, technical editor, and equestrian artist, I'm now a full-time writer living in the middle of nowhere, Virginia, with my charmingly straight-laced husband, two kids, four neurotic dogs who fart recreationally, and a 1973 Camaro named Loki.

I'm also an award-winning colored pencil artist, play several musical instruments (most infamously, the bagpipes), and recently acquired a race car.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#63 in Books > Teens

#63 in Books > Teens

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful, elegant, and searing sequel July 14, 2010

By The Compulsive Reader VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

In the last weeks of winter, Sam has stayed human, much to Grace's joy, but the cold still haunts him. Grace is just happy to be with him, even though she knows that their problems are far from resolved. As spring approaches, the new wolves are changing back, even though one of them, Cole, would like nothing more than to lose himself in his wolf form, and Isabel's father is more than willing to help eradicate the wolves in the forest completely. And through it all, Grace is keeping a secret, something that could change everything.

Linger is a beautiful, elegant, and searing sequel. It contains all of the drama and romance of Shiver, but also possesses a new urgency as secrets are kept and tensions rise. Linger opens up Sam and Grace's world to include Cole and Isabel as narrators, and divulges even more about the wolves and how they live. Stiefvater reveals some wonderful character growth for each of the four narrators as well; Sam is still trying to get used to the fact that he is fully human and has a future ahead of him. Grace is feeling the stress of keeping secrets from her parents and Sam and her anger at her parents' constant absences. Sharp-tongued Isabel suffers from guilt at her part in her brother's death, and even though she'd like to stay away from the wolves, she can't help but be drawn to Cole, a sardonic boy who chose to be a wolf to escape the problems in his human life, but is finding that being a wolf is actually making him confront the things he has tried to bury. These issues that force the characters to evolve keep Linger from seeming like a transition from Shiver to the next book, and give it enough drama and tension to keep you rapt, especially during the climactic final scenes when Sam, Grace, Isabel, and Cole realize that the inner workings of lycanthropy may not be quite as they thought.

Stiefvater's writing is breathtakingly beautiful, as precise and affecting as poetry, and Linger is emotional, heartbreaking, and heart-pounding as the stakes are subtly raised for not just the main characters, but for every wolf in Mercy Falls.

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Linger By Maggie Stiefvater July 25, 2010

By W. Burke

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

In Linger, (the sequel to Shiver) the story picks up as life resumes for Grace and her love Sam who appears to have been cured of the werewolf curse. Having made it through the last days of winter and now entering spring, Sam and Grace are on the watch for early shifters especially those newly created like Cole St. Clair.

Cole is restless, dark, damaged. He chose this life; wanted the escape. So why was he in human form and why couldn't he shift back into the wolf? Unfathomable to Sam, who risked death to become perpetually human, Cole tries everything he can think of to make his shift into wolf form permanent. The last thing Sam needs to be worrying about is a loose canon like Cole when his entire life is on the precipice of unthinkable change.

Something is wrong with Grace. A strange illness awakens within her, depleting her body and leaving her weakened and afraid. As she slowly deteriorates, Sam who's been ordered to stay away from her after being discovered in her room one night, fears he's about to lose the only girl he has ever loved.

Not quite as riveting as the first novel, Linger has some seeming errors in logic (see spoiler alert below) that I found rather distracting. Those detractors aside, Stiefvater delivers a compelling and sometimes poignant continuation of the storyline and I look forward to the next sequel in the series.

Spoiler Alert: The following paragraph contains information that may giveaway certain details of the stories mystery or suspense...

A few problems: In Shiver Grace is 17 and in chapter 3 reflects on her wolf attack experience 6 years ago, which would have made her 11 at the time of the attack. In Linger, Grace is still 17 but she is supposed to have been originally bitten over a decade ago. Another blaring problem is that in chapter 37 of Shiver, Grace is attacked by the wolf Shelby in her kitchen and bitten on the arm. In Linger Cole hypothesizes that Grace needs to be re-infected with the wolf poison essentially resetting Grace's shifting. However, that would have already occurred with the wolf bite from Shelby if that were true. I'm hopeful that these issues will be "cleaned up" in the next sequel.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars It's hard to beat a perfect first book September 29, 2010

By P. Travis Millet

Format:Hardcover

As spring leisurely breaks winter's strong hold on the small town of Mercy Falls, Sam slowly begins to accept the fact that he is not going to turn back into a wolf. At times he's still unable to believe that he's been given this unexpected gift of constant humanity but with Grace by his side, he's willing to accept it. Alternately, the once unflappable, practical Grace is feeling more and more restless with the arrival of spring. On top of the strange symptoms she's been experiencing, Grace's previously non-involved parents have become increasingly more and more resistant to Sam's steady presence in her life. Which is the last thing either want to deal with as Beck's new wolves begin to return to their human form - full of confusion and uncontrollable instincts; ultimately requiring direction and protection from Sam.

Even though I adore Maggie Stiefvater's books and her unusually beautiful writing, I resisted picking up her latest, LINGER, out of sheer perversity. Really, let me explain. Hands-down, SHIVER had one of the loveliest endings I've read in quite some time and I just wasn't ready to watch life unravel for Sam and Grace as I knew it ultimately would. Eventually I gave in. And I'm glad I did. Maggie Stiefvater is truly an amazingly talented writer. Her words flow so easily from the pages, full of incredible imagery and sensory descriptions so strong I found myself thinking about particular scenes from LINGER - in detail - days after finishing the book. I also quickly fell in love with the additional narrative voices of Isabel Culpeper and Cole, one of Beck's new wolves. Isabel was a stand-out character from Shiver and her straight-forward approach to life could not be more refreshing. Undeniably, Ms. Stiefvater is unparalleled at her craft but I did find myself bothered by a couple of aspects of the novel.

Which leads me to the list of... Things that Bothered Me in Linger:

1. Another Absurdly Talented Musician. I get it that Maggie Stiefvater herself is something of a musical genius (I am not, so I will simply bow down to her prowess) but do we really need yet another dreamy boy with a passion for all things music? And then the fact that Cole and Sam never even once discuss their shared interest in music (highly improbably in my experience with musicians) is incredibly suspect. Can we not just find another interest for our characters? Which leads me to...

2. Cole. While I love me a bad-boy rocker, I have issues with certain aspects of his character. The bad-boy part I'm totally on board with - especially the whole: I'm jaded, where's my next big high? persona. Love that. It's the tortured genius thing I don't really believe. That whole explanation seemed rushed and basically wound up as a convenient plot solution. Hopefully this is addressed more in Forever, because I really, really like Cole - I just don't think he's been fully developed yet.

3. NARKOTIKA. Can someone please explain to me why in heavens name Cole's band is called NARKOTIKA?! And WHY is it always written in caps? I feel like I should be yelling it every time I read it. (Gee, I guess I'm supposed to.)

4. Crappy Parents. Yet again. And this award doesn't just go to Grace's parental units (Hello! Can you not tell your daughter is sick here?). The Culpepers, Cole's smarty-pants family, and even Sam's adopted father, Beck, all seem to be gunning for this coveted title. I know Grace tends to envy Sam's upbringing, but Beck has always seemed a little off to me with his whole "let me bite and create more unstable werewolves" thing.

Harsh, right? I know. But it's not to say that I didn't like LINGER. Really, I did. It just isn't my favorite although guaranteed I'll be tracking down FOREVER (which, HELLO! has a gorgeous new cover) once it's released next year to find out how it all ends for Sam, Grace, Isabel, and Cole.