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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Wither (The Chemical Garden #1) by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Wither
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Type: Young Adult
Genre: Dystopian/Sci-Fi
Tea: Strawberry Parasio, familiar premise with a twist.
Rating: 4 out of 5.

When I first started Wither I was sucked in right away. I had to put it down for a little bit since I had other books I had to read since I was granted reviews, but I was really excited to pick it back up. I had previously read Lauren DeStefano's Perfect Ruin and really enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to finishing this.

The premise of curing cancer, but then shortening the lives of the human race is really interesting. It's an interesting commentary on the "advances" that society makes. Yes there are many great ones, but what are bad consequences and how would it affect us? The deteriorating society is very interesting as well. All that is known by the general population of that United States (or what's left of it) is that there used to be other landmasses, but they were taken over by water. The world building and setting is very interesting and leaves a lot open to learn about it.

Rhine is an intriguing main character and you feel her pain as she gets kidnapped, is separated from her brother and is forced to marry Linden, along with two other girls. These girls live in a glitter covered cage. The Housemaster attempts to trick them into complacency with pretty things, but they're not that easily swayed. Yes they start to enjoy the things they have there, but they always remember this place isn't safe.

Things get a little slow while they're trapped in the house, but you do start to learn more about the characters and their relationships. I really like Gabriel and it's nice to see a male character that doesn't know it all and will listen to a girl. Linden is an interesting character. You feel bad for him since he's so sheltered and has been lied to his whole life, but you almost wonder how he could be so oblivious.

Towards the end of the novel everything starts to fall apart. The wives, the house, the Housemaster, everything.

I'm curious to see how Ms. DeStefano continues the series and to see if she elaborates more upon the questions I found while reading this. Looking forward to reading the next one. 

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