Title: Wither
Source: Borrowed from library
The Summary
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By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.
When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life.
But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape–before her time runs out?
(Goodreads)But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape–before her time runs out?
My Opinion
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I am so slow on the bandwagon sometimes! Wither has been on my To Be Read list since it came out this spring, but I just got to it now. First let me tell you, if you're in the same situation drop whatever book you're reading and pick Wither up now!! It was fantastic. I loved the mix of the horrible and beautiful, the realistic and the fantasy. It was a great dystopian that didn't need to involve killing zombies or surviving in the middle of nowhere (not that I don't LOVE those dystopians).
Lauren DeStefano hooked me in chapter one with one of the most chilling parts of the whole book. I mean, there are so many creepy parts throughout, but this was the worst for me because it was executed with a simple sentence. That's what I loved the most about the book. DeStefano writes beautifully, which juxtaposes just right with the violence and terror that is underlying everything in the novel. There was never a part which I felt was dull or extraneous; all the chapters told me something new about the plot, pushing the story along.
Rhine is one of the strongest protagonists I've read in a long time. I never doubted her decisions or that she would make what she wanted happen. I believed in her, rooted for her, screamed with her, just as if I was right along side of her. I also really loved her sister wives, Cecily, Jenna, and for a short time, Rose. Each girl showed a different facet of feelings towards their predicament. And each sister wife showed what Rhine could become if she either gave in or gave up. The sister wives were an interesting aspect of the novel as well. I love that a part of our world which is hidden away or looked down on has become common practice in the light of extinction.
World building was another thing DeStefano had done pat. It was just that far from what we knew that it made it dystopic without being completely alien. It shows that these types of novels don't have to change the society completely to make a dystopian work. It also makes it a lot scarier to think about that this is a possibility. The explanation DeStefano gives to how this society evolved is so simple, and that is why the solution to solve the problem turns out to be so horrific. The result of this "sickness" is hundreds of orphans dying, young girls being plucked from the streets and impregnated, and everyone except first generations are trapped in the endless cycle of life and death in their 20s.
Wither is one book I could not put down, and read it in 2 hours. I can't wait to read Fever, the second book in The Chemical Garden series, which is sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me. Overall, it is an amazing dystopia filled with violence and romance, and the pursuit of freedom. Not to be missed, you should pick it up immediately!
Lauren DeStefano hooked me in chapter one with one of the most chilling parts of the whole book. I mean, there are so many creepy parts throughout, but this was the worst for me because it was executed with a simple sentence. That's what I loved the most about the book. DeStefano writes beautifully, which juxtaposes just right with the violence and terror that is underlying everything in the novel. There was never a part which I felt was dull or extraneous; all the chapters told me something new about the plot, pushing the story along.
Rhine is one of the strongest protagonists I've read in a long time. I never doubted her decisions or that she would make what she wanted happen. I believed in her, rooted for her, screamed with her, just as if I was right along side of her. I also really loved her sister wives, Cecily, Jenna, and for a short time, Rose. Each girl showed a different facet of feelings towards their predicament. And each sister wife showed what Rhine could become if she either gave in or gave up. The sister wives were an interesting aspect of the novel as well. I love that a part of our world which is hidden away or looked down on has become common practice in the light of extinction.
World building was another thing DeStefano had done pat. It was just that far from what we knew that it made it dystopic without being completely alien. It shows that these types of novels don't have to change the society completely to make a dystopian work. It also makes it a lot scarier to think about that this is a possibility. The explanation DeStefano gives to how this society evolved is so simple, and that is why the solution to solve the problem turns out to be so horrific. The result of this "sickness" is hundreds of orphans dying, young girls being plucked from the streets and impregnated, and everyone except first generations are trapped in the endless cycle of life and death in their 20s.
Wither is one book I could not put down, and read it in 2 hours. I can't wait to read Fever, the second book in The Chemical Garden series, which is sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me. Overall, it is an amazing dystopia filled with violence and romance, and the pursuit of freedom. Not to be missed, you should pick it up immediately!
Extras
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Book Trailer for Wither
Final Rating
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Book Cover: 5/5
Book Title: 4/5
Plot: 9/10
Characters: 10/10
Writing: 10/10
Ending: 8.5/10
Overall: 46.5/50: A-
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