Early Review - Forever (Wolves of Mercy Falls, Book 3) by Maggie Stiefvater (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult

Genre: Paranormal
Size: 400 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: July 12, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-0545259088
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd (final) book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy
Source: ARC from BEA
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the third and final book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Stiefvater.  I was very excited to get an Advanced Reading Copy of this book at Book Expo America.  This book did an excellent job of wrapping up this series. It is a bit slow, like all of the book in the series have been, but if you liked the previous books in the series you will love this one.

As Spring slowly creeps into Mercy Falls, MN things are on the cusp of changing.  Sam still doesn't know if his cure is for real.  Grace is lost in the woods as a wolf, just waiting to change back to a girl.  Cole is still desperately trying to find a cure for their curse.  Meanwhile Isabel's father is out for the wolves' blood; he has a manhunt planned soon for these wolves.  What will happen next is anyone's guess.

As with all the books in this series the writing style is beautiful but slow.  There are long periods of time where Stiefvater is just following the characters around in their day to day life, then suddenly BOOM!, tons of stuff happens.  Then it is back to a slower pace again.  If you have already read the rest of this series you know that's how these books are, and if you like that you will love this book.

This book focuses on Isabel and Cole almost as much as Sam and Grace.  In fact there isn't a ton of romantic tension between Sam and Grace; they love each other and know it.  The other thing that really propels the book forward is their race against time to save the wolves.  They are trying to save the wolves somehow, before Isabel's father hunts them down.  To add to this you have the temperature uncertainty that makes various characters randomly revert to wolf form.

There is a lot of tension in this book and a lot of uncertainty.  Things are tied up nicely in the end.  Although there are a couple things that could have been tied up with more definition...who knows maybe those things will be part of a spin-off series or something.

The characterization in this book is perfect; these are wonderful characters that I really enjoy reading about.  It was torture to watch them go through some parts in this book, but in the end that made the resolution all the sweeter.  The book is hard to put down and incredibly engaging.

There are some additional things I really enjoyed about this book.  I really enjoyed Cole's experimentation with cures, he was a great character and so fun to read about as he dabbled in science.  I also enjoyed that the book takes place in my home state of MN!  I love how spot on Stiefvater is in her description of Minnesota springs.

Overall I absolutely devoured this book.  I loved it to death.  Great resolution to the series, wonderful characters, engaging plot, and beautiful writing.  The pace is a bit slow for me, but that just seems to be Stiefvater's writing style and I have slowly grown to enjoy it.  Definitely read this if you had read the previous books.  I recommend this series if you are looking for a young adult paranormal series that doesn't mind dwelling on the beauty of its surroundings and on the little things that make love tick.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

- 100+ Reading Challenge