Wither
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Series: The Chemical Garden Trilogy (#1)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
How Received: ARC
Release Date: March 22, 2011
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 limted time she has left.
I went into Wither with very high expectations. It had received nothing but glowing reviews from my blogger friends, and with a cover like that - well, they story sure as hell better live up to it.
Not only did it live up to it, but it far surpassed my expectations.
I don't get blown away by books often. I fall in love with them, sure, but it's rare that a book shocks me with how fantastic it is. The writing, the characters, the plot - they all have to be beyond amazing to really blow me away.
Wither blew me away.
I don't even know where to start in this review without sounding like a dithering fangirl. The vain coverwhore part of me wants to let you know that the layout of this book is absolutely gorgeous, from the cover to the back flap to how the chapter titles are done.
But the biblophilic book blogger in me wants to start screaming from the mountain tops about how fantastical everything was. Let's start with our main character, Rhine. I ADORED her. Not in the sense that I would want to be her (oh, Oz, no!) but in the fact that she was this strong female character, aware of the situation she had gotten herself into, aware of how easy it was to fall under the illusion of love. She had her flaws but she was strong and she was fantastic.
As for the other characters: I loved them. All of them. They were amazing characters. Cecily reminded me of some of my friends from high school; I was able to relate to Jenna and her love of books. Even though I hated his frailty, I couldn't help but pity Linden. I adored Rose. Gabriel intrigued me, and I wish we had seen more of him (another reason I can't wait for the next book!). Vaughn scared the cajeebers out of me.
Author Lauren deStefano
And all of them were well developed. Cecily, Rhine, Linden, Gabriel, Jenna. Each of them grew as the story progressed, and it all seemed natural for them to do so.
And the PLOT! The plot is bloody fantastic. I mean, this whole world is beautifully well crafted and described so vividly that you feel as if you're in it yourself. And then you throw in this beautiful plot, this fantastic plot, this plot that kept me on the edge of my seat, unsure of what was going to happen-
I think, Lauren deStefano, you just made my favorites shelf. That shelf is reserved for books that I will never ever get rid of. There are only three series on there - The Hunger Games, the Parasol Protectorates, and the Bloody Jack series. (And my copy of Jane Eyre but that's not important.)
But I may have to make room for the Chemical Garden trilogy.
Overall Rating & Final Comments: 10/10. If you're a fan of dystopian stories - or, for that matter, just well crafted stories that keep you on the edge of your seat - read this.
Challenges Used: 2011 Debut Author Challenge
Wither or The Hunger Games?: People are going to draw comparisons between the two, simply because they're both excellently well written dystopians. And I adore The Hunger Games, I do. But Wither sure as hell gives it a run for its money.
Wither comes out on March 22. Do yourself a favor and run to the bookstore to pick it up. Just make sure you schedule in a few hours to read it; you won't want to put it down. And you can read the first chapter here.
