I am very confused as to what to say about this book (Book 2 in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series). It is a very poetic, lyrical, character-driven, romantic book…about werewolves. On the one hand, I can’t say enough about Stiefvater’s writing which is just simply lovely. However what was lacking in this book for me was a plot. Nothing really happens in this book–it’s all emotional conflict, fighting with the parents, fighting illness (both mental and physical), with a few hints of physical violence here and there. I had thought the previous book was a little light on plot, but not compared to this one.
In many other respects, this book was better than the first book. For example, in Shiver, I felt a few of the side characters weren’t well drawn out whereas in this book, Stiefvater has four POV characters and thoroughly fleshes out each one. While this may sound confusing, it actually worked really well, since two of them were our two old friends, lovebirds Grace and Sam (or should I say lovedogs?). Interestingly it is the two new POV characters–Isabelle and Cole–that really stand out in this book, while our Grace and Sam, take kind of a back seat interest-wise. Isabelle and Cole also each have very distinct voices, where to me Grace and Sam still don’t sound very different from each other. (My favorite character in this book is Cole! He is such a self-centered jerk! Love it!)
As far as the medical thing goes, Stiefvater directly addresses my issue with the previous book through her character Cole which made me very happy. :) He basically says the reasoning in the last book was stupid, which it kind of was. (I’d be specific, but I’m trying not to add spoilers to this review). Instead, Cole figures out a new science logic which I sort of liked better, but the whole pseudo-science thing still makes it hard for me to suspend disbelief. I really really wish she had just made the werewolf thing magical rather than scientific, but oh well.
All in all, it’s a very well-written book, just not for those looking for more action. I’m definitely going to check out the next book in the series, Forever (which just came out this month).