Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither (Chemical Garden Trilogy, #1)

by Lauren DeStefano

A Handmaid’s Tale for a new generation…

Sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery has only four years left to live when she is kidnapped by the Gatherers and forced into a polygamous marriage. Now she has one purpose: to escape, find her twin brother, and go home – before her time runs out forever.

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 she trusts, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

Reviewed by bookishzelda on

4 of 5 stars

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Intriguing was the word that kept popping into my head when I was reading this book. Lauren DeStefano did an excellent job of making the gears in my head turn the entire way through Wither. I have read many books in the dystopia genre and I feel like the world that was created here is believable. People trying to mess with genetics to create the perfect child...haven't we heard this before in the news. Lauren DeStefano's writing is beautiful and haunting in this book. I easily got lost in the book and it's premise. I feel like most dystopia novels the characters are trying to escape from a situation like this, but here we find the characters knee deep in it right off the bat. I wasn't sure if I would like the whole sister wives idea in this book but honestly it seemed normal while you were reading. Like everyone does that these days.

Rhine, what a great main character. She's strong and has her wits about her. She doesn't give up on her ultimate goal, even when she finds herself getting comfortable in her new life. Rhine's sister wives Jenna and Cecily were the perfect compliment characters. Jenna was so easy to love and Cecily, well you get used to Cecily.

The romance was a little flat for me. I couldn't connect with Gabriel. Even Rhine herself mentions that she isn't sure what the outcome will be between them. I found myself extremely sympathetic to and liking Linden. He was such a weak person in the beginning and you could see how Rhine was making him stronger. It almost seemed that he was standing up to his father about certain request that wouldn't be fulfilled previously. Of course in the mansion there is not much that can go on when someone is always watching.

Vaughn definitely had the creepy factor and who knows what was really going on in his basement. He had the whole mad scientist aura about him and it seemed that many people alluded to how dangerous he was. You almost feel like Rhine could have a happy life at the mansion but you never knew what Vaughn would really be up to. Could Linden's love be enough protection.

All in all, I was extremely intrigued by the book. We find out pieces of what happened to the world through Rhine's memories. Like pieces of a puzzle fitting together. I'm excited to see how things evolve.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 18 January, 2012: Finished reading
  • 18 January, 2012: Reviewed