Sever by Lauren DeStefano

Summary:
Time is running out for Rhine in this conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Chemical Garden Trilogy.

With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered. (from GoodReads)

Review:
When I first started this trilogy, I was blown away by Wither, but merely enjoyed Fever. Now that I've finished the series I can say that overall this is one of my favorites. In the conclusion, the story came together perfectly and I loved the ending.

Sever addressed a lot of the questions that readers may have from the first two books. We finally get to meet Rhine's twin brother Rowan which is especially important because Rhine has been searching for him since the beginning. I loved seeing them interact and even though they have been away for a year their sibling bond is still evident.

Cecily, Linden and Linden's uncle Reed play really big parts in the book. I loved getting to know them better. Cecily has really developed from a shallow and naive little girl to a caring and warm mother and friend to Rhine. Linden has always been an interesting option for Rhine in terms of love interest but I enjoyed their friendship as well. Reed is nothing like his brother Vaughn and it was neat seeing another "first generation" character. This time Rhine is searching for Gabriel too and unfortunately he is barely in this book. I would have liked to see more of him!

Out of the entire series Vaughn, Linden's evil father, is definitely the most interesting. He took Rhine away from her brother and forced her to marry Linden, performed experiments on unwilling participants (including Rhine) and yet the reader is still able to sympathize with him. It's obvious that he loves his son very much and wants to find a cure to save him. That obviously doesn't excuse his atrocious behavior, but it makes it easier to understand his motives.

My only criticism is that the beginning of Sever is a little slow and I wish we were given more information on the Chemical Gardens, for which the trilogy is named. However, I think fans of these books will be satisfied with the ending and the ultimate direction of the story.

Rating: 9 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from the library.

2013/Simon & Schuster/374 pages.

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Summary:
Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.
Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever. (from GoodReads)

Review:
Fever and I have an interesting relationship. I didn't like it at first, then I liked it. I also think it wasn't as good as Wither, but I'm excited to see what happens next in Sever.

As I just said, I did not like the beginning of Fever at all. The creepy carnival and the character of Madame could have been really interesting, but I just couldn't get into it. I also felt like I was missing out on details - at one point I actually flipped back to see if I skipped a page or something. With the beginning portion of Fever, I felt like things weren't explained. For example, a new character Jared is introduced out of nowhere without any information. So that really dampened my initial impression of the book.

But when Rhine and Gabriel eventually leave the carnival, things start getting better. I don't want to spoil what happens but it's interesting seeing where they go and how the world has changed from the one we currently live in. I do wish Gabriel would have a little more character development. It's like he's just tagging along with Rhine for the heck of it.

Even though the ending half was better, there was one specific thing I didn't like: there were a lot of hallucinations and altered consciousness. There is a solid ten pages of Rhine detailing these to the reader and I thought it was a little much. It didn't really do anything for the story and actually got a little boring.

Even though Fever was nowhere as good as Wither (I also think the cover can be an indication of this - I liked Wither's ten times better), I'm still looking forward to Sever because Fever leaves off on a giant cliffhanger! Who would have guessed? I am curious to see how everything ends because in this world, girls' life expectancy is 20 years and Rhine is 17. I'm wondering if there will be a happy ending? We shall see.

Rating: 7 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from library.

2012/Simon & Schuster/341 pages.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Summary:
What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left. (from GoodReads)

Review:

I literally just finished Wither about five minutes ago and it was AWESOME! I knew I had to review it right away because it was just so good I couldn't wait. If Wither is not already on your TBR list, I insist that you add it soon because you will not be disappointed.

I (obviously) love dsytopian literature and I was very intrigued by the bleak and harsh world of Wither. It was less dystopian based on government control and more on a genetic experiment gone bad. The scientists in the future have modified the human genome to eradicate all illnesses and diseases. Unfortunately, all children born after the first successful generation are perfectly healthy - until early adulthood. Without fail, women at the age of twenty and men at twenty-five suddenly get sick and die. No one knows why and no one can stop it.

In order to keep the human population intact, young girls are often kidnapped and sold to wealthy men who need wives to produce children. This is what happens to Rhine at the opening of Wither. She is chosen, along with her sister wives Cecily and Jenna, to marry twenty-one year old Linden Ashby and that's how the story begins.

What I really loved about Wither was the wide array of characters, both good and bad. Though our storyteller, Rhine, wasn't perfect, she was fully developed in that all her actions made sense. I could definitely sympathize with her plight - she truly missed her old life and would do anything to return to it. There are the leading men, Linden and Gabriel, who are both interesting and really care about Rhine, and it's almost an unexpected love triangle. I liked that the Linden, Rhine's husband, was actually a good guy. I think Lauren DeStefano could have easily made him be a real enemy and it wouldn't have had the same effect. As for an actual real enemy - that would be Vaughn, Linden's father. As a scientist of the first generation, he's old but healthy and is almost maniacal in his attempts to find a cure for the disease. I wish the reader could have seen more of him, but perhaps his viciousness is better in small doses.

I loved the plot and even though most of the novel takes place inside the huge mansion, there's never a dull moment. Wither really takes dytopias to a new level and is definitely one of my favorites in the genre. It was quick read and now I'm itching to read the sequel. I honestly cannot praise this book enough and you should really see for yourself the sheer awesomeness of this debut!

Release Date: March 22, 2011

Rating: 10 out of 10!

FTC: read on Pulse It.

2011/Simon & Schuster/356 pages.