Sinner (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #4)

by Maggie Stiefvater

Maggie is one of my all time favorite authors. I've read everything she's ever written (Shiver and The Scorpio Races remain my favorite).

Sinner is different.

The writing is impressive, which isn't the same as saying it's enjoyable. There are lines that I reread several times because the cadence was genius. But the story is almost nonexistent. Each chapter is more like a character study than a piece of a plot. And unfortunately the plot that is present is less than engaging as it involves a classless reality tv show.

I almost wish this wasn't connected to the Mercy Falls series at all, because it feels so different. It really was only nominally about Cole being a werewolf. The rules were totally different and ultimately, turning into a wolf was equated to nothing more than getting high. You could pretty much just replace the word 'wolf' with 'ecstasy' and nothing else would need to change.

The characters of Cole and Isabel were fascinating to me in the original trilogy. In Sinner, it was a bit much dealing with the two of them exclusively. They are both so miserable, but in a way that makes it really challenging to empathize with them. I can't even imagine how insufferable they would be as real people (and they very nearly feel that way thanks to Maggie's skilled writing). Cole and Isabel are so consumed with themselves that people around them are just props, carelessly treated and dismissed afterwards.

I don't know. It feels blasphemous to fault something Maggie has written, but here it is. I can't say I liked Sinner. I felt depressed and irritated through most of it. A lot of it felt, for lack of a better word, pointless and a tad indulgent. And worse, I really just wanted it to be over long before it was.

Brilliant writing. Nothing story. Characters that were probably better off from a distance.

*Sigh*