Starred review from August 3, 2009
Stiefvater leaves the faeries of Lament
and Ballad
for a lyrical tale of alienated werewolves and first love. For years, Grace has been fascinated by the yellow-eyed wolf that saved her from its pack when she was a child. Sam, bitten by a wolf as a boy, is that wolf. Long obsessed with each other at a distance, they finally meet after a wolf hunt (inspired by the apparent death of a local teen) sends a wounded and temporarily human Sam into Grace's arms. Their young love is facilitated by Grace's hands-off parents (“Once upon a time, I would've leaped at the rare opportunity of curling up with Mom on the couch. But now, it sort of felt like too little, too late,” Grace muses), but threatened by two linked crises: the fact that Sam will soon lose the ability to become human and the instability of a new lycanthrope. Stiefvater skillfully increases the tension throughout; her take on werewolves is interesting and original while her characters are refreshingly willing to use their brains to deal with the challenges they face. Ages 13–up.
March 1, 2010
Grace is an ordinary teenage girl who happens to be obsessed with the wolves inhabiting the woods behind her Minnesota home. Or is she? There's one wolf in particular, the one with the yellow eyes, whom Grace longs to see each winter. When a local boy is killed by the pack and a vigilante wolf hunt ensues, Grace rescues her wolf in his human form, as the wounded boy Sam. Lamia impeccably captures the voice of a young woman falling in love, ratcheting Stiefvater's lyrical story up a notch. Her narration is at once cautious and bold, feeling her way through the intensity of Grace's emotions. As the voice of the werewolf Sam, Ledoux uses a careful, singsong manner to reveal Sam's inner thoughts, though he never quite hits the mark. Still, the audio as a whole is engaging, bringing out the book's sensory and sensual elements. Twilight fans should be thrilled to hear this love story read aloud.
(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)