Review: Wither (The Chemical Garden Trilogy #1) By: Lauren DeStefano

Title: Wither (The Chemical Garden Trilogy #1)

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Published: March 22nd, 2011

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!

Goodreads Summary:

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?

My Thoughts:

I won this book awhile ago and I had finally gotten around to reading it, and I guess I never paid attention to reviews about the series or the summary because this one completely and totally surprised me, how much I enjoyed it surprised me even more. When I was sitting here thinking about what I was going to say about this book I was remembering how much action this book lacked, in the sense of danger and adventure, adrenaline pumping situations. There really was none but, I loved it nonetheless. In my opinion that's what makes a great book and a great writer, it doesn't matter what if it's action packed, keeping the reader gripped to the edge of their seat it's about weaving a tale so mesmerizing that you get lost in the story and forget everything else around Lauren DeStefano definitely did that for me and she has become an author that I know I will enjoy reading anything that she writes. 

Rhine Ellery is sixteen years old, which should be the beginning of an amazing life but, it's not because of the advances scientists had made with the human genes they have created a predicament that they haven't been able to overcome. Females only live until they are 20 years old and males live to be 25 years old. She is kidnapped and sold as a bride to a very rich man for his son. she is not his only bride there are two other girls sold with her one younger, and one older, and one younger. Being forced in a polygamist marriage was not how Rhine was planning to spend her last years of her life being married to man she didn't love, she wanted to be with her twin brother. It is quickly seen that she becomes a favorite of her new husband, with two different colored eyes, she is more special to him then all the rest. With family drama, and evil father in law, and finding a family in her sister wives that she never thought she would Rhine, just wants to escape and see her brother again before her time runs out. 

Rhine is what really made this book for me, she was strong throughout the whole entire book, she never gave up on her desire to escape and get back to her brother. I loved the way she interacted with her husband Linden, although it's clear she doesn't love him she does begin to care immensely for him. She knows it's not all his fault that she is part of this life now and she doesn't want to hurt him when secrets begin to come to light and there is many things about her evil father in law that he doesn't know. Seeing how Rhine interacts with Linden really shows what kind of person she is. She was stronger than I ever thought that I could be if I was put in this situation. She cares for both of her sister wives and becomes a mother figure to the younger one. She was just one of those characters that made the entire book, it focused primarily around her and her relationships with her new family without connecting and enjoying her as character you would not be able to enjoy this book. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, as a dystopian read it didn't have the overbearing details that dystopians tend to have, no long descriptions of the new government, etc. I think that was part of what I enjoyed the most you weren't bogged down by long explanations about the world the details came out as the story went along. I am hoping to start the next book soon! Have you guys read this one? Do you enjoy dystopians?