Book Review: Wither

Wither
The Chemical Garden Trilogy #1
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Pages: 356 Hardcover
Reading Level: YA
Published: March 22nd 2011
Review Source: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Available: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Borders 

Summary: (from goodreads) 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.

So here we have another book that is Dystopian. You have to wander what else can they create for this genre. Well Lauren was able to bring in Wither a whole new idea and what a idea. Wither is centered around polygamy. It is definitely a new take to young adult Dystopian. The culture Lauren has written in this novel is miserable but oh so addicting to read about. The author gave us pain and beauty at the same time. This book from cover to finish is astounding.

We meet Rhine, she is kidnapped and chosen to becomes one of the brides for Linden. We feel Rhine's pain and misery throughout the book and her hopes of escaping and returning to her brother in New York. In this world science altered the duration of how long people live after they made the perfect human. Well now their offspring's are the exact opposite, the females die at the age of 20 and the males at the age of 25. So the males either buys or steals women for brides, while a cure is trying to be made. Rhine is such a strong character, you fall in love with her immediately. So then she meets the other 2 brides that will become her sister brides and begins her new life. Her husband's father is a doctor and well lets just say their only purpose is not to be a bride but more and it takes place in the basement. 

This is enough to wet your appetites to make you go out and buy this book when it is released. You won't be disappointed. The ending will leave you crying because you wished you had the next book in the series to read, THAT GOOD! Now here comes my warning, this book is for the mature YA audience or adults. I don't encourage the book to be read for anyone Middle grade type audience at all. There is references to sex, polygamy, minor pregnancy and death.