Book Review: Wither (Chemical Garden)

Book Review: Wither (Chemical Garden) by Lauren DeStefano

First sentence: "I wait. They keep us in the dark so long we lose sense of our eyelids."

From the front flap: "What if you knew exactly when you would die? Thanks to modern science, every newborn 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 is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left."

My take: I can't really say I didn't enjoy this book. Some of it left a bad taste in my mouth. Like the pregnancy of a 13 year old sister wife. But it was part of the storyline and the girl genuinely "loved" her husband. Thankfully there were no graphic sex scenes to contend with along the way. I'm no prude, but even I draw the line at reading about sex with children. Overall, the book was a good read. It held my interest through to the end and I will probably eventually read the next one in the trilogy. I believe the release date is 2/21/2012. I am never sure of the time period this takes place but it does take place in the future. Rhine's creepy father-in-law reminds me of Dr. Frankenstein with his experiments. Linden is good to all of his wives and when Rhine tells him no, he doesn't press the issue. There were times when you had to wonder, why not just stay?

If you've reviewed the book, leave a comment here and I'll post a link to your review!

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (December 6, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1442409061
ISBN-13: 978-1442409064

My rating: B