Forever
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publication Date: July 12th, 2011
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Genre: YA/Romance/Paranormal
Synopsis:
then.
When Sam met Grace, he was a wolf and she was a girl. Eventually he found a way to become a boy, and their loved moved from curious distance to the intense closeness of shared lives.
now.
That should have been the end of their story. But Grace was not meant to stay human. Now she is the wolf. And the wolves of Mercy Falls are about to be kill in one final, spectacular hunt.
forever.
Sam would do anything for Grace. But can one boy and one love really change a hostile, predatory world? The past, the present, and the future are about to collide in one pure moment - a moment of death or life, farewell or forever.
My Thoughts: So here is the third and final installment in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series. You can read my review on Shiver here, and Linger here.
If you've read my other reviews, it's no secret that I'm intensely in love with this story. With each installment this love has only grown. This series will rank high in my top favorites for a long time, I can't even put into words the connection I feel with the characters in these books. Maggie Stiefvater has written this, in my opinion, masterpiece that if you are a fan of YA or paranormal at all, you have to read! No question, you just got to read these books. The relationship she has created between Sam and Grace is unrivaled. I can't even think of a love story I love more than this one. I can't even think of a love that seems more like true, real, passionate, and unbridled. I felt my heart break over and over, but it also kept getting put back together with the amazingly detailed affection, that was so gentle yet so intense that takes place between Sam and Grace.
Their relationship has just been one big war, the world just seems to not want them to have their complete happiness that they so deserve. I'm sitting here, reading this book, and I just want to enter it and beat some of the characters up side the head for being so unbelievably dense! I wanted to just enter this world and do everything I could to help them. Sam is trying to adjust to being human again, which is no easy task, and he can barely even decide if he's happy or if he misses galloping through the woods in his wolf form surrounded by his pack. And now Grace and Sam's situation has totally switched! Grace is thrown into this world, which she always felt like she was supposed to be a part of anyway, but what she really wants is for Sam to be there with her, like he was when she imagined it.
The theme of constantly saying goodbye shows up in this book a lot, but Steifvater really hit the nail on the head with that one. It does feel like we're just always saying good bye, it's gut wrenching and heart breaking. My insides were just aching and twisting with all the raw emotion that was spilling off these pages. I tried to read this book a little slower, cause I was just not ready for it to be over. I wasn't ready to say good bye. Just like Sam and Grace always feel the goodbye is impending, I felt the same way about this book as they felt about each other. I wasn't ready for it to end, and now that it's over, I am still not ready. I read the last page over and over, because it was all that was left and I didn't want to close the book and admit that there would be no more Mercy Falls. I read the Author's note at the end, and in the last sentence when she said "So this is good-bye to Mercy Falls" my heart just broke. I probably sound so corny right now. But I'm serious. I just fell completely in love with this world and all the people in it. Maggie Stiefvater just did such an amazing job, I can't even come close to giving it the credit it deserves.
The random poetry and song lyrics placed strategically in this book, really drives that emotional hammer even deeper. Sometimes, an event would be taking place, and Sam would associate it with this line of poetry and it would just hit you, like woah. The poetry would open this doorway and let everything that just transpired stroll right into your heart. There was this one moment, where I was stunned by how beautiful and meaningful and how perfectly the poem fit with what was happening that I had to stop and just consider it and appreciate how wonderful it was. I want to share it with you without going to much into detail of what was happening. The thought that was hanging in the air was of the wolves who lose their human self to wolf form after so long, with no memory of who they were before, and then this poem was added.
"Empty houses don't need windows
'cause no one is looking in.
Why would a house need windows, anyway
If no one's looking out again."
I thought this was just beautiful, so perfectly placed and perfectly suiting. I know I haven't even said anything about what happens in this book yet. But I just don't want to give anything away. The main idea though is that, the end is coming for the pack, and they have to try to save everyone, but that would be pretty much impossible. My stomach was in knots almost throughout the entire book, even now, I finished it about 10 minutes ago, it's still in knots. The ending is, difficult, I was a disappointed. Mostly because, after everything that happened, I just wanted to know that Grace and Sam would get the happiness and life they fought so incredibly hard for. But we don't get to know that, which makes saying good-bye even harder. I guess we get to decide for ourselves, I know what my decision is.
Anyway, I've been blabbering forever about these books. But seriously, go read them, do it for me and for yourself :). I, in even sense of the word, love these books and I am positive this won't be the last time I read them. I'm sure I'll find myself wandering around in Mercy Falls a few more times yet. I look forward to reading more work by Maggie Stiefvater and I wish I had of found her, and these amazing books sooner. I could go on forever about these books, but for now I will stop. If you read this far, thank you! Good-bye for now, Sam & Grace.
