Lauren DeStefano

What if you knew exactly when you’d die? The first book of The Chemical Garden Trilogy. By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males born with a lifespan of 25 years, and females a lifespan of 20 years—leaving the world in a state of panic. Geneticists seek 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 sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Yet 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 has no way to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. 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?

Wither

Monicap

I LIKED this the first time I read it. A LOT. I remember.

Full review to come. (I gots stuff to say)

Vicky  Nuñez 

It's been so long wince I've enjoyed a book this much. I even had forgotten what it felt like. (Seriously I had, I was surprised because I hadn't even noticed.)

Wither it's not an action packed story, it takes its time with the story, giving it its own pace, slowly enticing us into keep reading.

I loved every grotesque part of the story. One of the main reasons I loved this book so much was because awful things could be happening, things I hated, but they were so horrible they were good in a way. It felt the author was truthful to the story, if you know what I mean.

I only disliked the abruptness of the ending, although it does not end in cliff-hanger(thankfully), it does ends in a somewhat unwanted moment. We want to know what happens afterward. 

Overall, I recommend Wither to EVERYONE, honestly you won't be disappointed, you will be begging for more.

britt

if i had a nickel for every time i’ve read a young adult version of the handmaid’s tale, i’d have two nickels. which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Briar's Reviews

Years ago, back in my high school years, I stared in awe at this beautiful cover in my local bookshop. Due to limited finances, I could never pick the book up. Years passed by, and eventually I came across this book at a local book sale. You can bet your booty I grabbed this book and ran with it! Well, I paid for it first, but you get the gist. 

Wither by Lauren DeStefano is a dystopian novel where the the new generation dies young (due to the perfection of genetics and the limitation of cancer). The boys die at 24 and the girls die at 20, so polygamy marriages are flourishing and the women pop out babies as quick as they can. Now, that may sound like some sort of dream for people, but you have to keep in mind these women are being sold off into these marriages so it's not exactly the ideal situation. This apocalypse is torture, and our lead Rhine thinks there may be a bit of a conspiracy going on... She's probably not wrong.

The first half of this book had me totally hooked and I could not put it down. I was desperately reading my little heart out, needing to know what was happening. Then the second half of the book happened and I sort of lost interest. Some of the logic behind this book was lost to me, and that's probably because I was overthinking it. Everyone needs to reproduce early because they die, so the older generations will take care of the babies? Also, why is no one trying to solve this issue or just... stop perfecting the whole genetics thing? I want more scientific information - it was hard for me (as an overthinker) to believe the context of the story. And that's a dumb statement, because fantasy isn't necessarily logical.

I also felt this book had a bit of a "men are trash" vibes at time. It made me wonder about the thought process of the characters, because they constantly bashed their husband but he didn't seem... that bad? He seemed like a guy in a bad situation and not the villain. There was very obviously a big, bad villain present who they should have been complaining about.

Then there are the chicks - oh my, are they manipulative! Sure, they all want to reproduce and get married but... it seemed odd. None of them saw the negative of this situation except Rhine? Nobody tried to escape or anything? They are just a slice of the population, so I'm sure there are more stories elsewhere. Also, why focus on reproduction? You have four years to live and they don't just want to bone everyone? I feel like that would be more of interest to the men than popping out babies. Unless those men are being controlled...

I am nosy why this series is called The Chemical Garden. Unless I can find the sequels easily at my local charity book stores and sales, I won't be continuing it. I just wasn't attached to this book liked I hope I would be. If I would have grabbed it back in my high school years I definitely would have been emotionally attached. This is the kind of Gothic weird I lived for in high school. Unfortunately, my adult self thinks too much for my own good now.

My biggest positive is that Lauren has one of the most beautiful writing styles and has a miraculous way with words. I was so impressed by how she wrote and that's why I stuck with this book when I was losing interest. She's just so good! So much potential! 

Overall, this book is unique and it's one of those really wicked dystopian novels that will make you think. I can see an audience really loving it, but I'm not in it. 

Two out of five stars.

Ofelia

** spoiler alert **
           
L'idea di base è molto buona, la storia non è sviluppata proprio in maniera perfetta ma a me questo libro è piaciuto.
Dico che non è proprio perfetta perché la maggior parte dei personaggi non sono poi tanto approfonditi, ma soprattutto perché il finale è troppo frettoloso. Lo so che questo sarà molto probabilmente solo il primo libro dell'ennesima trilogia sci-fi per yound adult che ora sembra andare tanto di moda, ma un finale degno di questo nome poteva anche schiaffarcelo in questo libro.
Dei personaggi mi sono piaciute solo Rhime e Jenna, anche se io al posto di Jenna avrei fatto di peggio a Linden. 
Il peggio è senza dubbio Linden, perché il padre sarà anche il cattivo della storia ma almeno sa quello che sta facendo e Cecily ha la scusa di essere una bambina ingenua cresciuta in mezzo al nulla e sicuramente troppo piccola per capire anche solo che significa sposarsi. 
Linden invece ha superato i 20 anni, come può vivere senza sapere neanche che le sue "spose" non solo non lo amano, ma non lo vogliono e sopratutto che non sono venute lì di loro spontanea volontà? tanta ingenuità, e stupidità, in un adulto non è scusabile sopratutto quando fa soffrire altri. L'amore di Rose non lo salva poi neanche un pò. Ama Rose, certo, però il giorno stesso in cui muore ingravida Cecily che ha appena tredici anni, grande amore il suo.


<< Non significa niente, mi ripeto. Lascerò pure che mi definisca sua moglie, tanto una volta che sarò dall’altro lato del
recinto, questo stupido anellino non significherà nulla. Sarò sempre Rhine Ellery. Provo a convincermi con queste riflessioni, ma la verità è che ho già i sudori freddi. Mi sono già incupita. Linden mi fissa negli occhi, e incrocio il suo sguardo. Non diventerò rossa, non sussulterò e non distoglierò i miei occhi: non voglio piegarmi. >>

Kelsey Lynn

YA drivel, but the kind I enjoy, a guilty pleasure. However there are some terrible terrible inaccuracies... Columbus instead if Magellen, the polar ice caos melting and causing snow in a florida that shouldn't exist.
I chose to ignore the few sentences of poor research (which isn't a good thing) and just enjoy the story of a girl figuring out her place in this future world and being torn. I also enjoyed that the 'love triangle' wasn't a passion thing, it was more of a having the freedom to choose and learn about someone. It was a story about finding freedom in a time where you have a duty to society and a very short time, too short to find yourself and do what should be done for the future of humanity.
Silly and unresearched at times, however this book is inspired and has heart. A Handmaids tale for the YA crowd, who should immediately read Handmaids tale for a truly inspired, well researched, haunting piece, after getting this romantic guilty pleasure out of the way.

jess

this book lived up to my expectations, which honestly weren’t that high. the premise sort of intrigued me, but i mostly read it because of a goodreads challenge. basically, in the distant future, young men take several brides in order to make children so that the disease that caused all this in the first place can be stopped. 

what really annoyed me about the book was actually the premise: one man takes several wives. okay, first of all, i actually don’t really have a problem with polyamory. as long as the relationship is between people who can give consent, i really don’t mind it. that wasn’t what squicked me out. it was the fact that the oppressive construct of one man and several wives, as well as the fact that it was because women were born to have babies and thrown around in this novel, that irritated me. yes, i know, it’s just a story, but it bugs me. plus the fact that the novel continued to refer to rhine, cecily and jenna as “sister wives” and linden as “our husband” continually - that kind of got on my nerves as well. 

another thing was the romance. look, i’m not very fond of romance, so maybe this wasn’t the best pick for me, but i didn’t feel that there was much of a connection between any of the characters, apart from the three girls. linden and his wives - i have no desire at all to want them to be together, because it was completely non-consensual, and rhine and gabriel don’t really have much of a connection apart from wanting to escape. 

i think jenna was the best character, and not just because she’s a bookworm. she kind of knows what’s realistic for her and sticks to that, while rhine can be kind of reckless sometimes. cecily, i hate to say it, annoyed me and the fact that she, the thirteen-year-old was the one to have a child? - yes, that was a little bit squickly as well. see, she was written like a child, not a thirteen-year-old, and i feel like deirdre was written more mature than she was. 

there were also a lot of inaccuracies and implausibilities in the story as well. snow? in florida? the entire west hemisphere was completely obliterated? in fact, the very premise of this book is scientifically inaccurate, because genetics don’t work like that, and diseases don’t work like that, and even i, as a graduate of a grade 10 science course, can guess that. and the fact that the entire western hemisphere was underwater but it takes place in florida - how does that even wor.k? there are a lot of other implausible plot devices used, so much i don’t really want to bother listing them. 

that being said, i was still reading to see what happens, and it interested enough that i’m still going to read the second book which i’ve already borrowed. lauren destefano can also write prose that’s pretty good as well. but it also feels like she decided to just come up with a random idea that worked for what she wanted to write, without really understanding how science and logic played into it and that took a lot away from what i wanted this book to be, instead of what i thought it would be. 

i give this book a 3/10.

Maggie Gordon

Looking at the ratings from all the other reviewers that I follow, I seem to be in a minority in concerns to liking this book. I'll have to write a review on this because I thought it was a very nuanced and powerful dystopia on some very challenging and problematic themes.

Maria Banning

Elizabeth Neill

Katelyn Broad

I found this book to be quite interesting and entertaining but it definitely left me with a ton of questions. I got through this book in about a night and it was a quick, easy and interesting book to read. There were enough twists to keep you interested and the author had a way of making you feel like you're really there. The character development was good for the most part. 
The one thing I didn't like was that we didn't get any answers. Usually at the end of the book, characters get some sort of information that is crucial to the plot but in this book there wasn't much of that at all. Maybe in the next book?

Jo Young

Alexandra Mellas

Originally posted: http://raidingbookshelves.blogspot.co...

Original Language: English
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Country: USA
Publication Date: March 22, 2011
ISBN: 9781442409057
Page Count: 358

Wither is Lauren DeStefano's debut novel and the first in a YA dystopian trilogy. It was published in March this year and I've been waiting for months to get my hands on it. It was everything as wonderful as I had hoped, and much to short for my tastes.

In terms of fitting into the field of YA dystopian novels, Wither definitely makes the cut and sits with the cool kids. The characters are engaging and the plot, though the story stays in the one house, keeps moving. Best of all is the idea that drives the story - in a future where genetic engineering has significantly shortened the human life span.

The characters were interesting. Rhine and Linden were the most developed, obviously, but other characters like Gabriel and Jenna are developed enough to keep the story progressing neatly. Cecily is both annoying and adorable while Rowan will hopefully receive enough development in future books to make him interesting. Meanwhile, Housemaster Vaughn is a fascinating villain - he seemingly wants the best for his son but there is a second and more sinister motive behind his actions.

The plot moves quickly - at times almost too quickly - and creates a sweeping story that easily engages the reader. The interaction between characters, especially the camaraderie between the Sister Wives, and of course between Rhine and Gabriel. Linden can sometimes be a weak link but mostly DeStephano has created a solid world that beguiles the senses.

Wither's sequel, Fever is due for publication in February next year. I look forward to getting my hands on it.

Raiding Bookshelves Rating: Four Stars

Judging by the cover: This cover is so elegant. I love that the model can look so calm and elegant while she's so ragged and on edge.

Morgana

** spoiler alert **
           L'idea di base è molto accattivante, però la storia si sviluppa in maniera troppo lenta ed il finale è davvero troppo frettoloso. Mi sono ritrovata a leggere le ultime cinque pagine del libro chiedendomi "insomma, te ne vai o no?". Tra i personaggi salvo Rhine e Jenna, forse Gabriel anche se è difficile giudicarlo visto che da metà libro in poi sparisce del tutto, Vaughn è troppo stereotipato, il classico cattivo cattivissimo senza pietà. Linden è fastidioso oltre ogni dire, ingenuo, stupido e senza una morale, si sposa tre donne che non ama affatto e le sceglie come si scelgono le pesce al mercato, si convince che loro abbiano deciso di diventare le sue spose, continua a pensare a Rose ma poi ogni volta che la nomina se ne pente, ed intanto cerca di portare a letto tutte e tre le nuove moglie ( ma intanto pensava a Rose, eh ).Cecily è probabilmente il personaggio peggiore, per quanto Vaughn e Linden non mi siano piaciuti, le li batte. E' ingenua in maniera fastidiosa, pronta a compiacere chiunque ed usare tutto e tutti per ottenere ciò che vuole, dice che vuole aiutare Rhine, ma in realtà è colpa sua se Jenna muore, e anche se cerca di salvarsi con un gesto nelle ultime due pagine, non può cancellare tutto il casino che ha fatto.

mary

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Although it doesn't particularly have a solid climax, it's an enjoyable read and I can't wait to start book 2.

Wither er en dystopisk bok med en veldig interessant verden. Alle jenter dør når de fyller tjue, alle gutter når de blir tjuefem. Så her styres verden av unge voksne. Handlingen foregår for det meste i Florida, men vi får bare se det Rhine får se -- altså huset og hagen der hun blir tvunget til å bo.
 
Å bli fanget av folk som tar deg med og tvinger deg til å gifte deg med en mann som allerede har andre koner høres ikke særlig hyggelig ut. Rhine må gifte seg med Linden, men han har allerede ei kone fra før (hun er i ferd med å fylle tjue og er altså dødssyk av viruset) og gifter seg med to andre, Jenna og Cecily, samtidig som henne. Det eneste hun tenker på er hvordan hun skal komme seg vekk fra huset, tilbake til Manhattan og tvillingbroren Rowan.
 
Handlingen var ikke så veldig actionfylt, men vi fikk virkelig et innblikk i det livet de hadde. De kjedelige dagene hvor alt er likt, desperasjonen til Rhine, følelsene hennes for Linden og tjeneren Gabriel, rømningsplanene hennes, frykten for det ukjente som foregår i kjelleren. Det kunne bli litt langdrykt av og til, men interessant og skremmende å lese om. Av og til syntes jeg Rhine kunne bli litt vel kald mot Linden og søsterkonene sine, og at hun var ganske egoistisk til tider. Det irriterte meg litt. Men hun var bra skrevet og veldig menneskelig.
 
Det blir interessant å lese neste bok; Fever, etter den slutten som var i Wither.

ashley hopkins

So it took me awhile to finish this and I wasn't to thrilled with most of it because it took so long to get to the point, but reading the ending and the first little bit of Fever I'm excited to read the second book.

Shawna Gavas

This was a difficult book to rate, so I'm going to break it up into "pros" and "cons"

"pros" - Awesome cover! Totally captured the pages within. The story follows the misfortune of 3 girls, Rhine, Jenna and Cecily who are kidnapped by "gatherers" to become the sister wives of a wealthy man named Linden. This is a common practice in our future world based on the fact that the human race is endanged. More babies are needed because the new generations lifespan is 20 years for females and 25 years for males. It kind of reminded me of "A Handmaid's Tale" meets "Flowers in the Attic". I loved each of the characters, the book was beautifully written and kept me reading until the very last page. 

"cons" - Much of the dystopic future just does not make sense. My largest question being, if the average lifespan is now 20-25 years why on earth would you want to have children only for them to become orphans at a very young age?? We hear early on in the book what a pain and inconvience these orphans are. Begging for food, stealing. Why knowingly produce more? Secondly, considering the entire point of the marriages is to procreate, why does Linden not demand consumation of his marriage to Rhine?? And seriously.....Linden is the most oblivious person in the world. Strange how he doesn't really know what goes on in the basement of his own home....or how these sister wives came into his possession....takes every word his father says at face value...ugh...

Overall though, I just plained loved the book. Even with the faults. Hoping the sequel gets ironed out a bit but I'm really looking forward to it!!!

Marissa Scudlo

Great book, every girl should read this!!!

Jeni Enjaian

A lot of things in this book made me feel uncomfortable, especially the age of one of the "sister wives," the way Linden treated all of his "wives," and the whole situation in general. On top of that, so many of the plot points, the "virus," and the background given to explain this dystopian world, made no sense.
I almost gave this book two stars because I didn't absolutely HATE it. However, this book has so much fundamentally wrong with it that I could not rate it any higher than one star.

Anastaciya

I've wasted my time reading this. Not going to waste any more of my time trying to explain why it's bad 🙈

Samantha

Where to start. 
The book had so much potential to be great, but I honestly just feel like it fell short. The characters just seemed flat, and I didn't really find myself connecting to anyone at all. 
Rhine was boring, as was Linden. Cecily, my GOD she was just annoying. she was a brat the ENTIRE book, and even when Rhine wants to get mad at her, all she does is give in to her whining. The only character that didn't irk me at any point was Jenna
the love between (view spoiler)[ Rhine and Gabriel  (hide spoiler)] has absolutely no depth whatsoever and just seemed like it was there in a failed attempt to add drama.
While I understand this is a work of fiction, it is science-fiction, so I feel it should still be somewhat believable.
When going over the history, it is mentioned that the polar ice caps have melted and that all the continents were gone besides north America. this poses two problems for me:
1) missing polar ice caps would cause the world to be warmer, not colder.... so why in the world is it SNOWING in florida?????? and i'm talking it says it's snowing heavily. it's RARE for florida to even get snow flurries now, so it wouldn't be possible for it to snow heavily once the ice caps are melted.
2) if the polar ice caps melted, the ocean level would rise, which would put much of florida (where the story takes place) and new York (where rhine is from and wants to go back to) UNDERWATER. so unless this is a dystopian Little Mermaid, this wouldn't really be possible. 
---and as a spoiler for book two: (view spoiler)[ South Carolina is already below sea level, which means it would definitely be underwater....and this is where a portion of book 2 takes place  (hide spoiler)] 

The whole point of this is that they all die young, so they need to make the human race last, I guess. but if the women they're kidnapping are so important, why do they just kill the ones that the rich men don't buy? it makes no sense to me. 
then there's the virus that kills them.... it just magically pops up at age 20 and 25 (for females and males respectively) and kills them pretty quickly - only symptom being coughing up blood? 
so you're saying someone is perfectly, 100% healthy and lively, but then just BOOM becomes sick immediately after the birthday of the age they're supposed to die? That just seems completely farfetched, considering the premise is that they had "perfected the human race" in the generation prior to them. 
If the previous generation was flawless, why would their children suddenly fall ill and die with no rhyme or reason? and if they were able to cure cancer and all other serious diseases, why oh why is it so hard to figure this one out?
maybe i'm just nitpicking too much, but it really just seems way too illogical and not very well thought out.

Zoe Smolen

I was torn between giving this book three stars or four, so I was generous and rounded up. I'll be honest, I couldn't put this book down. I'm pretty sure I read it in less than three hours, with the only time I put it down being so I could walk to the library and finish it there in the air conditioning. However, I didn't really like Rhine that much, or her relationship with Gabriel. I get that being sold to a man to be his wife, would kind of suck, but really like what does she see in Gabriel? But, since I couldn't put it down, something captivated me. That and DeStefano writes amazing prose with was impossible to lift my eyes from. I will definitely be reading Fever.