Review - Sever (The Chemical Garden #3) by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Sever

Author: Lauren Destefano

Series: 3rd (Wither, Fever)

Pages: 371

Published:  February 12th 2013 by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers 

ISBN: 9781442409095

Source: Personal Copy

 

Description: 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. 

I Give This ...

For the most part, this series has been an enjoyable read.  So, I was looking forward to this book.  But, I'm always nervous when it comes to the last book in a series.  I wasn't exactly disappointed with this book.  It just a couple different routes than I expected.

After all that has happened, it seems crazy to me that Linden still doesn't believe that his father might be the bad guy.  It's like he honestly things its all one big misunderstanding or that Rhine was entirely coherent.   I get the fact that it's his father, but I think its taking the bond a little too far.   But, it many ways he is putting Rhine and Cecily above his father.   At the same time, I don't think he every had the upper hand.

I found Reed to be an interesting addition to this story.  Especially because he's Linden's uncle.  A far cry from the type of man that Vaughn is.   He's probably the only person besides Rhine to stand up to Vaughn.  Oddly enough Vaughn also respects that.  He may threaten, but I wondered if he was slightly afraid of Reed.  He has ties to the underground resistance which helps Rhine locate Rowan.

I was surprised at the directions this book took.  We ended up visiting past locations and learning some shocking truths.   Oddly enough so many things that have occurred are tied to Rhine and Rowan right from the very beginning.  But what was truly shocking to me was that once Rhine learns the truth about her past its like she gives up all she has been fighting for.  I expected way more fight from her and that was disappointing.  

So the ending was far cry from what I was expecting.  But, I can't picture how this would have worked to get any sort of happy ending.  While this had a lot of heartache in it, there was also a feeling of hope at the end.  So, I decided to take it as it was.  In the end, I enjoyed the story even if I felt Rhine wasn't entirely true to herself.  

  

Review - Fever (The Chemical Garden #2) by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Fever

Author: Laruen Destefano

Series: 2nd (Wither)

Pages: 368

Published: February 21st 2012 by Simon & Schuster

ISBN: 9781442409071

Source: Around The World Tours

Description: 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.  

I Give This ...

 

I actually struggled with what to rate this.  I just didn't enjoy it as much as Wither, but there was still a lot of spark to this book.  I think it went in a direction I wasn't expecting.

Rhine and Gabriel don't make it very far before being ensnared in a twisted version of a brothel with an absolutely crazy "madame".  Turns out the madame thinks she can get customers to pay lots of money for Rhine.  Thankfully, it's a look but not touch sort of thing.  It was interesting reading about their experiences her.  Gabriel is kept so high on drugs (I think they called it Angel's Blood) that he can't even think straight.  Rhine is desperately trying to find a way to escape.  But, it doesn't take long for their past to catch up to them (I knew then what takes Rhine until the end of the book to figure out).

In their escape, they rescue one of the other girl's child and take her with them.  Their journey to New York isn't pleasant for anybody.  Gabriel goes through major withdrawals, the child has a broken arm (and she's mute), and Rhine must relive painful memories along the way.  Nothing seems to go right for them, so I was hoping when they got to New York things would begin to look up.

But, Rowan is gone and their family home is in tatters.   Which gives a different picture of the type of person Rowan really is than the one that Rhine gives us.  With no were else to go, they follow the clue in the book the child has carried with her the entire way.  I thought maybe my initial thoughts were wrong and that Gabriel and Rhine might find some sort of peace here.  But, then Vaughn shows up and drags Rhine back to the mansion.

 And this point, I think we realize what sort of monster Vaughn really is.  I think I knew it all along, but the things he does to Rhine is really atrocious.  And all in the name of science and finding a cure.  I really think he's gone completely mad.  Thankfully Linden discovers what's really going on.  Although, I'm not sure that he fully understands what his father is capable of.

I think my lack of enjoyment in this book as that it's such a downer.  They escape one crappy situation to wind up in another.  The characters don't feel the same (but one spends part of the book on drugs and another trying to come off of them).  It just didn't feel like the same story to me.  I did still enjoy it and of course want to finish the series.  I'm curious what happens next. 

Wither (Chemical Garden #1) by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Wither

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Series: 1st in Chemical Garden

Pages: 356

Published: March 22, 2011 by Simon & Schuster

ISBN: 9781442409057

Source: ARC from Around The World Tours

Description: 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 Give This ...

 

For the most part I really enjoyed this book.  It's a stunning work of dystopian fiction that I think lots of readers will enjoy.  

I like the world that has been created. The sense of terror and urgency is very prominent throughout the book.  The idea of a genetic malfunction seems very plausible.  I liked the idea of a perfect generation that spawns the future catastrophic generations.  The separation between financial classes is so  pronounced and it adds to the despair in the story.   With all people except the first generation dieing at the ages of 20 or 25, there are too many children left without parents and homes.  It a situation that something big is going to happen soon.

I enjoyed Rhine overall.  Her background makes her different that the typical teenagers her age.  She was raised by her first generation parents who were working hard to find a cure of the genetic mutation.  When they were killed, her twin brother and her manage to live on their own.  Her brother is constantly worried that Rhine will attract unwanted attention.  When she's lured into a trap, kidnapped, and forced into a marriage with a very rich House Governor who also has 3 other wives (one is dies soon after she marries him).  She's constantly looking for a way out though.  She never accepts that this is the way things have to be, even though she knows she's lucky to be wear she is.

The one thing that made the story feel off for me was that I never really felt like Rhine really hated Linden.  I felt like she was misdirecting her hatred for his father.  Linden's father was downright creepy and deserving of the hate.  He would stop at nothing to find a cure, even as far a kidnapping girls and telling his son a different story.  While Linden may have been oblivious to all of this, I felt like he wasn't deserving of the hatred that was directed at him.  I'm not saying that Rhine should have given in to the lifestyle.  I just think Linden wasn't the bad guy here.  I did like her relationship with Gabriel.  He was a really sweet guy, but completely understood what was at stake.

I'm curious to wear the story will go next.  The idea is an interesting concept and I hope a cure if found before Rhine reaches 20!