Date Published: March 22nd, 2011
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?
Genre: Dystopian Romance
My Review:
Wither is another dystopian romance that have become oh-so-very popular, but Wither is not just another dystopian romance, it is a wonderful, dark, plot-twisting novel. I greatly enjoyed Wither it fulfilled all my expectations and then more, the writing was beautiful and elegant. Lauren Destefano definitely has the magic touch when it comes to writing. But, there were some things that I wasn't too happy with.
For example, the whole idea of polygamy never quite appealed to me. I guess in this situation it was nice to have some other women characters to go with the main character Rhine. Other than them, it's pretty much all guys, for the first book anyways. Another thing that bothered me was that the weather in the book never made sense. Two hurricanes within the span of a weeks while it's so cold you can see your breathe in between the two storms. I don't know about you but, I always thought that hurricanes were a warm weather storm. Just saying. I'm done nit-picking now because this really is a great book.
Rhine actually was a very nice character, I especially like her name. (It was funny because we were just learning about the Rhine River when I Wither) She was strong and well-developed. Though, at times, she kind of got a little annoying with all talk of her home and how she just couldn't wait to see her brother again. I would want to see my brother too if I was kidnapped, but I feel that it was a little overplayed.
Cecily and Jenna, Rhine's sisterwives, I actually liked, Jenna at least. I felt bad for Cecily because their husband, Linden, was always taking advantage of her and not even caring that she was 13 years old and pregnant. In all ways, Cecily was way too young to be in the place that she was, but that's just how it was.
Jenna was different. Both her and Rhine were always looking out for Cecily and advising her about things, helping her. What happens to her is so cruel, it's that doctor's fault. Speak of the devil, Housemaster Vaughn was a deranged scientist bent of wreaking havoc for the sisterwives. All of his actions come to make sense in the last book, but I still don't like him.
Last of all, Gabriel, my favorite. He's so sweet, and I love how him and Rhine fall for each other. He was always such a good listener and then later in the book, he was all she wanted. It's so adorable! Again, with the sappy cliche relationships always get me. And with that, I give this book the rating it rightfully deserves...
Rating: ★★★★★
Happy Reading,
Alivia
