Who said a sequel can't be better? If so, they clearly haven't read Maggie Stiefvater's Linger, a sequel to her werewolf bestseller, Shiver. This story not only makes me like the first book better, it makes me want to move to Minnesota! Now I have never been to Minnesota, so please excuse the judgment, but it takes quite an author to convince me to move to the tundra!
Where the first book was told from the perspective of Sam, the werewolf, and Grace, the average good girl, Linger is told from four different perspectives: Sam, Grace, their friend Isabel (whose new wolf brother died in the last book), and Cole, a new wolf who was specially chosen to be turned by Beck, Sam's adoptive father. Last season, when it looked like Sam and Beck weren't going to change back into humans anymore, Beck made sure there would be new wolves to take over the pack. Sam's cure worked, though, and he is no longer shifting; he got his wish to permanently stay a human and be with Grace as much as possible.
So when two new wolves surface, Cole and Victor, Sam has to act as pack leader and take care of them. Unfortunately, something is wrong. Cole is shifting into a human too often for such cold weather, and Victor is violently shifting back and forth, without any control over either form. Things continue to go south when Grace's parents, who are no longer thrilled with her relationship with Sam, find the two of them in bed in the middle of the night. Now they don't want Grace to be around Sam, but Grace is growing weaker and sicker each and every day. With no idea what is wrong with her, but a clear idea it has something to do with the wolves, Sam, Isabel, and Cole must come together to help her.
This was a wonderful follow up to the first book. With more characters for the first-person narrative, it can be a bit confusing at times. I sometimes found myself wondering who was talking and had to flip back a few pages to be sure of the narrator, but otherwise I liked hearing from Isabel and Cole. In Shiver, it sometimes got annoying to only hear from Grace and Sam, especially when they spent pages and pages mooning over one another. But Cole is a warped character who wants nothing more than to totally lose his human half. And Isabel is just as interesting. She blames herself for her brother's death, and she has no one she can talk to about it other than Cole. The tenuous relationship struck by these two is one you wish would blossom but are worried that both parties are just too damaged for any real trust to happen. Their sarcasm and troubled pasts keep the story interesting and give the story more impact.
The writing is the same level as the first book, and the material is very tame, even for YA. There is very little mature content if any. The only snag a student might find with this series is its character driven nature. Any action that takes place is secondary to the character development. I find this to be its most redeeming quality, but for a struggling, insecure reader, the lack of packed action might not keep them reading. This is a great book for middle school through high school and beyond, depending on the reading strength of the student. The story clearly sets up for a third installment, but it ends in a mostly satisfying way. I wasn't angry it ended, but I am definitely waiting for the next book!
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