Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Wither (The Chemical Garden #1)
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release date: March 22nd 2011
Pages: 358
Genre: YA; dystopian
Source: Won from MaryAnn from Chapter by Chapter - thanks!
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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?Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?


My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I wanted to love this book. I really did - the cover is gorgeous, everyone else seemed to have loved it, the idea sounded intriguing, and Lauren DeStefano is crazy awesome on Twitter. I honestly did not doubt that I would love this book as much as everyone else did. But... I didn't. It wasn't terrible - there are some very good aspects to Wither. But I didn't love it like I wanted to.

First off, the world-building. Emotionally, I found the world Lauren DeStefano created interesting, unique, and horrifying. I like that, unlike most dystopians, we're not up against an oppressive regime, but against nature - or what humanity has done to nature. And somehow, that's even more terrifying. The whole idea of kidnapping girls for polygamous marriages is fascinating, too. So emotionally and entertainment-wise, I did like the world of Wither.

But looking at it rationally, a lot of it just didn't make sense. What is this mysterious disease that's killing males at age 25 and females at age 20? I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that a disease killing off people at such an exact age is scientifically impossible. And the symptoms are strange, too - what does this virus do to people? I kind of doubt something like that could happen. Also, why did the rest of the world get completely destroyed in some kind of war while North America is fine? Again, I doubt it. I hope that this turns out to be false, that there's something out there that people aren't supposed to know about, because otherwise, that would just not be realistic. And on a smaller scale, I did not understand these Housemaster's and Governer's intentions. So you want to experiment with people in order to find a cure? Well then of course kindapping twenty girls, and killing 17 of them without using them for science makes perfect sense! Only 'keeping' three in order for those to reproduce is so much more prolific than just experimenting with those 20 girls, and kidnapping babies to experiment on them, considering there are so many orphans in this world. It makes sense to get these girls for Linden, to have wives so he can do whatever with them, but for Vaughn's research purpose, that's just illogical.

Those factual inaccuracies bugged me, but I probably could have still liked this book if everything else had been great. But it wasn't, at least not for me. The plot is what ruined this book for me, really. Wither starts out great - in the first few chapters, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. But after the first 50 pages or so, I felt like nothing more was happening, until the very end. It just went on and on about nothing, and it got very repetitive. I hate to say it, but I was bored by a large part of Wither, and it took me ages to finish the book because it the plot is so slow. Maybe that's because Wither is the first in the series and is supposed to be the set-up for the next two books, but I couldn't stand the slow and boring plot.

Okay, after all that criticizing, I feel the need to say something positive. And the best thing about Wither, without a doubt, is the writing. Lauren DeStefano's prose is descriptive and meaningful and just plain beautiful. It's so vivid - I felt like I was right there alongside Rhine. Even though I'm not loving this series, I'll probably read Lauren DeStefano's future books because I loved her writing style so much.


Rhine is an okay character. Except for her name, which I love because she's named after the river that's, like, 100 meters away from my house, she doesn't have much going for her. I have to admit there are parts where she's smart and brave, but she still annoyed me a little. I'm not even sure why, but I found her whiny and just didn't really connect with her.

Most of the secondary characters, though, are great! I loved reading about Rhine's relationship with Cecily and Jenna, especially Jenna - she's awesome! Linden is a good character, too, and I liked the complexities of Rhine's relationship with her husband. Vaughn is a believable villain. The only character I didn't like is Gabriel, sadly. I found him kind of boring, and didn't feel the chemistry between him and Rhine. He's a nice guy, but I didn't think there was anything special or interesting about him. Maybe his character will be developed more in the next book, though.


So... yeah. There are things I loved about Wither and things I hated. I'm not sure whether I'll be reading Fever - it might get better, since I felt like Wither was setting up a premise for the rest of the series, so it's possible the plot will move faster and be more interesting in the next books. But I've also heard some not-so-good things about Fever. What do you guys think - should I keep reading this series, or should I give up on it?


How important is the accuracy of little details to you? Do you just want to focus on the story, or do little inaccuracies in the world-building bug you like they bug me?

22 comments:

  1. Yep, my thoughts exactly with Wither. I also wasn't a fan of how the scientists were portrayed as "evil" throughout this book, which doesn't exactly make sense since Rhine's own parents were doctors—I reeeeeallly hate anti-science preaching.

    But the prose is excellent, which is why I picked up Fever. But, umm, let me say now that if you didn't like Wither you probably won't like Fever. Probably. I definitely didn't like it and marked it as one of my least favorite and most disappointing reads of this year. :(

    Thanks for the review, though. You managed to perfectly pinpoint my own feelings on the book.

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    1. Glad I'm not the only one! The anti-science feel to all of it bugged me, too. Hmm... I've heard a lot of people say Fever was worse than Wither, so I'm thinking I might not read it. Maybe I'll just read whatever Lauren DeStefano writes after the Wither series is over, since I did love the writing!

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  2. Oh no! I LOVED Wither and Fever. I love the whole dystopian world, how genetic engineering created super-resistant humans led to offspring with a shortened lifespan. I mean, viruses are engineered into genetic code all the time now - what happens if something goes wrong and the genes self-destruct? I found the scientific part of it made perfect sense. I thought the environmental disaster in the rest of the world brought in global warming well. I know there's no clear reason given in it, but some islands are being flooded now while other islands are fine.

    I loved the housemaster system, how procreation is forced. And Rhine's voice was amazing.

    It's too bad you didn't really like it! I guess it's a hit or miss with people. Most people have extreme reactions to it, on either side.

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    1. I do like the idea of science/genetic engineering backfiring, but some of the details didn't make sense to me. Maybe some of the stuff will be explained later on in the series, since the characters aren't sure what's going on, either. I can see how this is a hit-or-miss kind of book - the slow pace will either work for you or just won't!

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    2. I loved the slower pace - such a treat in a dystopian, usually they're all action without much time for character development. I think the pace reflected life in the manor.

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    3. Right, that makes sense. I usually like a slow pace for contemporary, too, so I really don't know what my problem is... I just didn't love it in Wither.

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    4. Wither is a strange book - I really loved Rhine and I kinda like Linden, although he needs to open his eyes and see what's going on. Of course, on the other hand, when you know you've only got those years ahead of you, I think people just want to have a good time, not make waves. etc. I think that's what the pace suggests - after Rhine makes peace in a way with where she is and begins to see Linden's good side, she begins to give in to the luxury life style and begins to see the sister wives as family.

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    5. The more I think about it, the more I see that the slow pace does make sense with the story. But it still made me not like this book as much as I would have liked to.

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  3. I liked Wither but I didn't love it. Fever was WAY better in my opinion and more than made up for its lackluster predecessor. There was a lot more action for one thing and Rhine seemed to develop more.

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    1. Hmm... I've heard not-so-good things about Fever, but this is making me want to give it a try. If there's more action and more development of Rhine's character, I think I'd like Fever more than Wither. Not sure yet whether I'll read it...

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  4. I thought about that too, this mysterious disease. I like the idea she had going about but its like...What's going on, we need more detail. I didn't read Fever, but I'm planning on reading it soon enough. Great review.

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  5. The only thing that I can say is that I enjoyed Fever slightly more than Wither. Although, it definitely made less sense and was just a random bunch of events, the pace of the novel was much better than Wither. Not to mention, it had a way better cliffhanger.

    However, Rhine and Gabriel irritated me. Their relationship didn't develop much throughout Wither nor Fever. It makes their relationship seem fake and lack depth. Maybe Sever will be better.

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    1. Maybe I'll give Fever a try, then! The not-making-sense will bug me, I'm sure, but if it's faster-paced, it'll at least keep me interested :)

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  6. Bummer! I loved Wither, but I definitely do see your points... I kind of just pushed them to side because I was really interested in the story and I actually did get wrapped up in it! I agree with the whole disease aspect. Killing at a specific age? Pretty impossible. And the fact that North America is the only surviving continent at all.. I'm also hoping there's more that we don't know! I actually didn't like Fever as much as I liked Wither, but it is quite different in my opinion so maybe that will be a better read for you! :)

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  7. A story has to make sense or it's not worth my time. If I find myself getting annoyed or frustrated I don't continue.

    I loved your honest review.

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  8. My thoughts pretty much mirror yours, but I still did really like this book. Nothing really happens and the characters were okay and there's still no explanation on how females only live to 20 and males to 25 even after Fever. Fever felt like a fill-in book for book 3 so it wasn't that good either. I have a feeling book 3 is going to be better than both and will probably give us some answers, so if you feel like going through Fever, I think you should continue on.
    Great revuew:)

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    1. Hmm... I think I'm going to wait to see what people think of Sever, to see if the series is worth it in the end, and then I'll decide whether or not to read Fever and Sever :)

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  9. Well... Another dystopian. don't know if I can handle more of them really... But it's even popular in Poland : o We have translation... Yay.

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  10. I didn't love this book but i did like it. I loved the originalty and the character but for me i have to say that the one thing that lead me to not liking it was that it was slow paced for me.

    Great honest review! =D

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  11. I have Fever but I don't have Wither. I hope I like it like the other readers. The cover for Fever was beautiful and the book was HOT PINK! Totally after my own heart. I just hope it lives up to the covers for me.

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  12. I absolutely love Wither. It is one of my all time favorites! Thanks for the review!

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  13. You are right about the virus: I was left with a lot of questions and I hope that 'Fever' will answer them.. Most of those things didn't make any sense, but I still liked it :p I tried to look past those things and I found a wonderful story. Jenna was my favorite character! It's a shame that you liked it, but didn't love it :)

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