Book Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Hello everyone! Today I finished reading Wither by Lauren DeStefano. Here is my review and I hope you enjoy:

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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: Everyone wonders what will happen after you die, but most don't ask how will I die? In Rhine's world people die extremely young because of the horrible virus that every new generation child was born with because of a chemical all first generations had to take, for it would take about all diseases for their child, which it did, but it also made them genetic time bombs. Rhine lived in Manhattan, NY with her twin brother, Rowan, but one day she was taking away from all of that and sold to a House Governor named Linden. Linden was a wealthy, sweet, innocent 21 year old man that just wanted love and not to be alone in the mansion his father was making him live in for his whole short, sad life. Rhine was a amazing, intelligent, and extremely sneaky main character to read about, but when I was reading the novel I truly felt bad for Linden because to him he thought Rhine loved him, but it was the complete opposite. All Rhine wanted in the world was to have her brother back and to continue living in their parents house. When Rhine was married to Linden, he was also marraging to other brides, Jenna and Cicely. Jenna was a fantastic character to read about because of her completely utter hatered for their husband and the dark loss that he took away from her. Cicely, who was only 13-years-old at the beginning of the novel, truly surprised me at the end of the novel, because throughout the whole novel she seemed like a horrible little child, who seemed like she could never get her way. I truly enjoyed the history of the novel and the writing style was fantastic.

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Rating: 4/5 Stars!

Pub. Date: March 2011

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Format: Hardcover , 358pp
Chapters: 27
Age Range: Young Adult

Book Trailer: