Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Publication Date: March 22, 2011

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Books for Young Readers

Genre: YA/Dystopia/Romance

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Synopsis:

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?

My Thoughts: This book sat on my shelf for far far too long! I think it was one of the first books I ever won in a blog hop and I have always wanted to read it, but I'm sure you understand how so many other books get in the way. But now that I have finally picked it up and given it a read I am so mad at myself for putting it off for so long. This book surprised me, in the greatest way a book can. I did not expect to love it as much as I did, and I love when a book unexpectedly yanks you right in.

As far as Dystopians go I tend to be quite a fan. This one is definitely keeping to that routine. I went into this book with no idea whatsoever what it was about. I like doing that every now and then. If you pick up a book that you have heard of but don't really know the synopsis of, do something fun and don't read the synopsis, it's fun! So that made the book even more interesting and fun for me because I had no idea what to expect and this book constantly surprised me and kept me on the edge of me seat.

Rhine is a young lady who was kidnapped and forced to be one of three brides to a rich young man named Linden. In this world Women only live until they are 20 and men live until they are 25. So men usually have many brides so they can reproduce lots while trying to work on a cure for this infection that is killing everyone off at such a young age. But being a bride and a baby maker to a cruel, kidnapping, controlling man is the very last thing Rhine wants to do. Luckily Rhine does make friends with the other two wives, each one of them completely different and unique in their own ways and individual back stories.

Even though Rhine is given a life of luxury and protection  to enjoy for the rest of her few years, it is not what she wanted. She is prepared to do what needs to be done to find a way out. The longer she is there the more dark and terrifying things she discovers. She thought things were already pretty darn terrible and devastating, but under the surface is much more darkness than she anticipated.

Will Rhine be able to find a way out? Or will she be forced to perpetuate the cure that Linden's family is looking for so desperately. With only a few short years left and some incredibly tough decisions ahead she has to move quickly. I adored Rhine's character. She was incredibly selfless and could see the good things in even the worst of people and always found a silver lining for the most terrible situations and that is definitely something to be admired.

I really enjoyed this book, I read through it fairly quickly and I immediately went online to order the next in the series :). I would absolutely recommend it to others, especially any dystopian fans !