Review: Wither

by:  Lauren DeStephano
published by:  Simon and Shuster Children's Publishing
publish date:  March 22, 2011

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.

Despite my not wanting to get sucked into anymore series I somehow got sent an ARC of this book and how can you not read this book?  Look at that cover!  I loved the circle and line graphics and they continued throughout the entire book.  Kudos to whoever came up with that.  It was something different and I like to see things like that. 

This was a really dark story.  It's a dystopian so it's expected to be, but this one seemed to go beyond the usual YA dystopian.  Kidnapping, forced marriages, murder, horrible nasty deaths, human experiments are just some of the issues touched upon in this book.  Also, these girls are 14, 16, 19 years old when they're taken to be brides.  Pretty young ages for the things that entails.  I imagine that will raise some objections in certain areas.

I will say that I did like the book.  I read it in about 2 sittings.  It was one of those books I had a hard time putting down because I just couldn't believe what I was reading.  Parts of it were just so heart breaking and I felt so terrible for the characters.  I loved Rhine and Jenna.  I even liked Linden.  I wished that Rhine would have given Linden more of a chance.  I never really got what she saw in Gabriel other than someone to go with her when she tried to escape.

Bottomline...definitely add it to your To Read list if you like dystopians.  YA readers will more than likely want to check it out too.

Want my copy?  Check back tomorrow I'll be giving it away in the Mid-Winter Giveaway