Wither

Wither
by Lauren DeStefano

Summary:

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 Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

Review:

First of all, I'd like to say that this cover is absolutely phenomenal. At first it looks busy and cluttered, but when I actually took the time to look at it I realized that it's the perfect cover for the book. I absolutely love it!

Now, onto the content of the book. I absolutely LOVED it. The story was one that I couldn't help but get sucked into, and the characters were so interesting that I wanted to know more about each and every one of them. Rhine's relationship with her brother, with Gabriel, with her sister-wives, with Linden... they are all so complex and while I disagreed with her actions sometimes, I could still see why she did the things she did.

The author also did a fantastic job with keeping things interesting. I couldn't put the book down, because there was always something new to discover.

I have two points that I would like to make, however, that are not necessarily criticism, but just thoughts I had while reading.

1. This reminded me of The Hunger Games. I realize that dystopian fiction is hot right now, but something just struck me as very Hunger Games-esque. However, I do feel that the story was different enough to hold it's own. I am just worried about the sequels and how the story will play out.

2. This book was very very introductory. There are many unanswered questions, and if I didn't know this was going to be a trilogy I would be very disappointed with the way this book ended. However, I am very much looking forward to two more books and I can't wait to see what happens.

Overall: read it. You won't be disappointed!