Wither book review

This is the Debut novel of Lauren Destefano, but if you have not read this book i strongly recommend you not to read this review as it will contain spoilers! 

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?

Firstly, starting with the writing style of Lauren Destefano. I love her style so much, its actually ridiculous. This is by far, one of the most well written books i have ever read. From the very first page, i was drawn in by the descriptive and crisp words she would use, in replace of boring and ordinary vocabulary. I also felt that the book was very well paced, although throughout the book we were always in the same place and hardly shown new things, i felt she added minor dramas alongside the main story plot to keep the readers interested.Although the plot was at time predictable, it also kept me on my toes. The main plot may have been slightly obvious(well,to me!) but the author added small dramas to distract and fill in the gaps!

I did like Rhine as a character, but i also got slightly frustrated with her. Firstly, I hate love triangles, and i had a feeling that Rhine would be naive enough to fall for Linden and have feelings for him, as well as Gabriel. This didn't entirely happen, but it was evident that at times she was considering it. I liked that Rhine was strong about her feelings, but at times she would waver and would make me want to pull my hair out. Her character development was good, but i feel there wasn't so much to develop as other characters have in other novels. She was already living alone with her twin brother, making her own money and protecting herself and she always had a good mind set and knew what she believed was right (most of the time). Aside from that i still saw her grow as she developed close relationships with her fellow wives and became and nurturing and kind nature friend to most of the other characters involved. I loved Jenna, and i was very sad when she died! I felt she was easy to relate to and i completely understood all of her actions.Jenna had real depth about her and had true emotions. Cecily really frustrated me. She was very small and selfish. She was constantly crying for attention and had jealousy woven through her actions and emotions, but would suddenly change into a loving friend? Linden was most frustrating of all. He was so oblivious to the world around him, and even though he never intended to hurt his brides, i just wanted to shake him and tell him to open his eyes to the world around him. Yeah, i get it. He was raised to believe differently to the truth, but he had absolutely no concept of real life and the action and consequences caused. Although i did not love all the characters, they balanced each other out very well. In situations, characters would show their frustration with characters and would express their annoyance with them. This made the book bearable and added more drama to the plot.

This book explores serious themes and is not totally unrealistic. Obviously we are aren't all definitely going to die at the age of 20 or 25, but the fact that the girls are stolen and either forced to become a bride, sold into prostitution, or killed, is a realistic event that happens throughout the world. This book helps us delve into our mind and expand our knowledge, teaching us of the horrors that occur throughout the world. Lauren Destefano has done this in a interesting and individual way, adding a serious thought to a fiction, dystopain novel.

I loved the cover of this book soooo much! I think its really beautiful, and the design inside was great too! Even the pages seemed extra crisp! haha, This made me love it even more i think!

Overall, i loved this book! I feel it is a great Dystopian, as these days many Dystopian books are being compared to 'The Hunger Games' and i hardly see any similarities in this. The writing style was great and the character balance was awesome! I would definitely recommend this book and i plan to continue on with this series!

4 smileys :)