Wither by Lauren Destefano

Wither (The Chemical Garden Trilogy) by Lauren Destefano
Release Date: March 22, 2011
Publisher: Simon And Schuster
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 368



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


My Thoughts: First off all, I'll start off by saying there are a lot of books similar to this book releasing this year. Even though it is very different from Delirium and Matched, it still had that feel to it. It's not a bad thing at all, I loved them all! In Wither, we are introduced To Rhine. She's 16 and basically an orphan. She's been living with her twin brother just going about each day and trying to survive. The book starts off with us learning a little about the society in which they live. There is a sickness that effects the new generations and men die at age 25 and women at age 20. She hopes for a cure but it hasn't happened yet for other generations. She than gets kidnapped. It happens so fast we don't know what hit us! We don't learn much about her past until later in the book when she has flashbacks or memories. 

She is stolen and forced into being a wife. But not just any wife, a sister wife; which means she won't be the man's only wife! She is picked out along with Cecily, the 13 year old and Jenna who is 19. She is brought to the house and basically put under lock and key along with the two others. They know they have to get along with each other. She also than learns why she was kidnapped. To replace the previous wife Rose who is already dying. Her new husband is Linden. They get married so quickly she doesn't have much time to form an escape plan so she's stuck there. She also does not take a real liking to Linden for a long time and even than she just tolerates him. I wouldn't say Linden is a bad guy, he was just naive sometimes. We are also introduced to Gabriel. He is one of the servants and Rhine immediately takes a liking to him. Of course, I was in love with Gabriel from minute one.

Basically, Wither is about a girl who is just trying to survive, to find a way out of the lifestyle that has been forced on her. People die, people get hurt, things happen that make me want to scream. For example, the babies! The way Linden's father is! The way she can't seem to get out! It was so heartbreaking knowing her brother was out there, probably driving himself crazy worrying about her.

Wither was amazing! It was beautiful in its own way. The way Destefano wrote this book, it just made the words pop out at you. It was addicting to read. I finished it in a day. There were just so many little details its hard to put it into words and explain how truly magnificent this book really is.  I was satisfied with the ending but since there is another book coming, its hard to say what is going to happen! I can't wait to read it!

Overall: Loved It! Beautiful. Amazing. Brilliant. 

Cover: Love the cover! It is very beautiful! And I love the girls dress and her hair! Simply pretty!

What I'd Give It: