Book Review: Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Fever
The Chemical Garden #2
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Dystopian
Release Date February 21st 2012
Review Source: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Available: Amazon
Review: Wither (book 1)

Summary: (from goodreads) Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind. 

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever.

Fever was one of the books this year I was looking forward to reading as soon as I acquired a copy. If you read my Wither review (click link above) and know this series, then you can guess I'm a huge fan of Lauren DeStefano's work. The excitement started as soon as they released the cover for Fever. What a cover it was. I can't make up my mind which one I love more, if the Fever or Wither cover. They are works of art, they can be framed and use as wall art. You know what else I ADORE about this series? It uses a flow chart to highlight certain areas and fonts. I don't think Ive read any other book that uses this technique. If the cover doesn't pull you in then their flow chart design will. 

As far as sequels go Fever didn't fall short. Lauren's writing is as poetic as ever and the details are so livid. I will even admit I had 2 nights of nightmares that this story brought. Now I say nightmares because I was somehow part of the heart-aching story, not because the story itself was bad. On the contrary the nightmares are proof of great story-telling. Fever gets you immersed in such a way, its hard to step out of the the world Lauren has created. The pace of the events that take place are very well-balanced. Now some new scenarios or events were a bit tough for me, but the story needed it to flow. I think my one but, was just that I wanted Rhine to have more fight. In my opinion if she would have in the beginning or at the end, I would have given this review 5 trees. Maybe what I'm asking for could not work or fit well with the story, but I saw my self imaging at times her doing the opposite of what was written. Make sense?

Fever continues right where Wither left off. You have Rhine and Gabriel on the run. They escaped and hope to be able to find Rhine's twin brother Rowan. This journey will take them from Florida all the way to the streets of Manhattan, NY. Too bad in this world, you just can't grab a cab or train and bam your there. Fever deals with Rhine outside in the real world and this opens up so many dangerous situations and extreme dilemmas. How bad you ask do they have it at times, well its makes Rhine question her escaping the mansion and her husband. We meet new characters such as Maddie the malformed child, Maddie's mother Lilac, Madame, Silas and a few more secondary characters. So will everything that Rhine and Gabriel have put on the line to find Rowan and live a peaceful free life, pay out in the end? Will they finally be able to begin a new life with each other before the dreaded disease takes their lives. Has a cure been found? Fever will answer and create new questions for everyone. Then don't think you got off easy with the ending again, be prepared for another WHOA ending. 

Fever is a great title for this book, because now I admit it has given me a fever that only the next book in the series can cure. Not familiar with the series or Lauren, then listen to me when I say you will thank me if you do get familiarized.