This book was mind-blowing on a whole new level. First of there are two knew plot lines that accompany the original plot lines of Sam and Grace. One of these two, is Isabel who, if you read my review on Shiver, did start growing on me because of her sarcasm mainly. And the second newcomer is someone totally new: Cole. Believe me, he's going to make this book even deeper than it was before he was here.
Maybe first a little bit more about our two original characters Sam and Grace. The end of the first book really had me by the heart. It was emotionally great and I was so happy with the ending! The sweet bond between these two characters goes on in this book. Although I missed some of their earlier spark, it was still there and I still enjoyed it a lot. Sam and Grace are just the two characters to die for.
Did they change a lot? Well, to be honest Grace is still herself and she's still very intuitive, mature and amazing. I did notice a change in Sam mainly because his life is totally different now and he's trying to enjoy it between all the new-forming problems and tasks that are thrown at him. Yet I did think he felt more happy than he has ever before and this gives you a very pleasant feeling about this character. You just get happy because he is.
Other characters that are from Shiver and come back are Grace's parents. I never liked them, not even for a bit. Mainly because they were being the kids and acting stupid. They didn't even care about Grace or asked how she felt and waited until she made dinner. This time around they start acting as "The Parents" and disapprove of Sam. Of course, they got on my nerves immediately and also on those of Grace. Grace will act out on them and tell them she's been building her life alone and that they haven't been around but her parents stay calm and are acting like they're deaf.
They don't want to hear what she's got to say and they just keep saying how bad Sam is. All the while they haven't been around themselves. Let's just say that I'm still not a fan of them. What I did realize during these events is that you really feel the emotions of Grace a lot when her parents are acting like this. It's as if Grace is manipulating you through the book to feel what she feels and that's a great asset to the story. I could crawl into her body and feel how she felt with the situation and I could understand her. Understanding a character is something important in a book, that's how I see it!
Now, the two new plots. First of Isabel! Isabel is the sarcastic one of them all but she's been suffering a lot lately due to certain circumstances. Her parents are also suffering and that's why she feels lost and lonely in the world. I started to love this character more and more all the while she started to develop another personality. She isn't only sarcastic, she's blunt and she'll say what needs to be said. At first you might think she's absolutely horrible and cruel but most of the time she's right. Someone needed to say it and she did it.But I don't think that's all to this character! Sure she acts blunt and all but she's suffering and she gets angry a lot. Mainly I thought that was because she didn't want to act on what she was really feeling: lost and lonely. Isabel tries to prevent that people see her as a weak little girl by hiding her true feelings behind her mask of anger, sarcasm and bluntness. Throughout the book we do get glimpses of the real Isabel, and believe me they're worth waiting for through the story. I hope that we'll get a bigger picture of the real Isabel in the last book of this series!
A character that really influences her in the book and makes her get all hot and cold is the newcomer: Cole. In the beginning, I have to admit, I didn't feel it for him. He was quiet, cruel and it felt as if he just really didn't care about anything. This is the moment when you start realizing he resembles a lot like Isabel. There are so many things to uncover with this character because he's something new and shiny in the book. He's the one you will start investigating and together with the other characters, mostly Isabel, you'll start to uncover and unravel him and see who he really is. He's more than only his cruel, empty smile and I appreciated the search for the real Cole!
As for the plot, it was as good as the first book! Although there was one aspect that was a little predictable when I was nearing the end and reading the last half of the book. Nevertheless, I found this book very well because it builds on to events from the first book. The things Beck did will come to mention but there's also a part that will not be discussed and which I'm eager to find out in the last book, if they'll mention it at all!
They don't only build on the events from the first book, of course there are new problems that will be formed. One of them is the thing I found rather predictable, which isn't a bad thing because I still enjoyed it and was surprised at the end. This meaning that I thought things would have turned out differently but believe me: even the ones who think they know the end because it's predictable, are being left with a surprise!
Another new thing created was the fact that Grace's parents are being difficult of her bond with Sam and another new event that will become a problem just started to create itself when the end was almost there. Which means I'm really eager to read the last book and see if new plot lines will come or old characters will stop hiding themselves! Above that I'm also looking forward to the fact that they have all these new problems and mysteries to solve and I wonder how they are going to manage them. After all, the next book is the last book in the trilogy so it'll either be all solved and a happy ending or all failed and a bad ending. Let's hope for the former!
In comparison to the first book, it's also not very fast paced anymore. The characters take their time to develop themselves more and so do the new events. I can conclude this review with saying that this book just gave me more happy-feelings and made me very curious to the next book (that I'm going to start after I'm done with writing this!). Maggie Stiefvater did a great job again and made sure you wouldn't get bored with the old characters (not that I would get bored, but hey!) by mixing in new plot lines of new characters that need to be unraveled by us readers. I recommend this series because it contains everything you need for a good, sweet read: suspense, mystery, love, friendship, amazing characters and a very strong plot! "I feel the weight of the pack's gaze..."
No comments:
Post a Comment