Author: Lauren DeStefano
Published: March 22nd 2011 by Simon & Schuster for Young Readers
My rating:
Summary:
In a brave new future, DNA engineering has resulted in a terrible genetic flaw. Women die at the young age of 20, men at 25. Young girls are being abducted in attempts to keep humanity ahead of the disease that threatens to eradicate it.
16 year old Rhine Ellery is kidnapped and sold as a bride to the son of a cruel scientist who desperately pries Rhine's friend's cold dead bodies open in a failing attempt to find a cure in the cold sterile basement of the mansion Rhine is trapped inside of.
All Rhine dreams of escaping that cruel place with it's endless hallways and it's lies that hide behind the beauty of the place, and find her way back across the country back to her twin brother and her home, as unsafe as it might be.
But no matter how far Rhine runs, all ways lead back to husband she does not love with his three wives and murderous father.
Will Rhine be able to find a way to escape or will she need to learn to love her captor in the little time she has left to live?
My Thoughts:
In Wither, Rhine's character appealed to me - her stubbornness and persistence. I also like Jenna, one of her sister wives, and despite her annoying bossiness I grew a liking towards Cecily, her other sister wife too.
You only get introduced to Rowan, Rhine's twin brother through memories and dreams, but even still, I like him too.
Gabriel is a servant working at the mansion who Rhine develops feelings towards, although I found his character rather flat and two dimensional. Maybe that's just because I didn't get to see much of him, or maybe it's because I vote for Linden (Rhine's husband) to be with her.
About that, I find that Linden is a very troubled guy. His love and loss over Rose, his first wife, clouds his feelings toward Rhine and at times it's hard to determine whether he truly loves her (Rhine), or if he wants to be with her purely for the fact that she looks a lot like Rose.
Despite that, the friendship that develops over the space of the novel between the sister wives and Rhine is the realest relationship for me in Wither. The bond that they have by the end of the book is unbreakable, despite their hatred of each other in the beginning.
Overall this book is incredibly creepy. The story, the writing style (it's exquisite) - everything about it is disturbing, but that made me love it all the more. I found it nearly impossible to put down, but not just because it's a page turner, but because I found myself feeling Rhine's every emotion - hating who she hated, and missing who she missed.
Each character had their likable traits (except Linden's father - he was one of the creepiest villains ever) and if you read carefully, there are lyrics to life in there.
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Lauren DeStefano:
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Books in The Chemical Garden trilogy:
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