People are always wondering when they are going to die and how, but what is you really did know. In this dystopian book Wither, the first book in the Chemical Garden Trilogy, Lauren DeStefano introduces us to 16 year old Rhine Ellery who knows exactly when she is going to die, along with everyone else. Boys live to 25 and girls only till they are 20. This is a result of genetic engineering and trying to find a cure for cancer. In this society girls are valued very highly; men go for beauty over intelligence. Rhine gets taken from her home in Manhattan and is forced to marry Linden who is a house governor. Rhine is trying desperately to find a way out so she can get back to her brother. While this is happening she falls in love with a servant Gabriel.
Rhine is the main character in this story and is told from her perspective. She is chosen to be one of three of Lindens brides. Rhine is very beautiful but also very outspoken, she is not afraid to say what is on her mind. She knows how to lead people on and make people believe what she says is true. The description of all the characters in the setting are very vivid and Lauren DeStefano makes you feel like you are there in the book. In one scene when Rhine is getting ready for the wedding she is described very vividly on page 38, “My eyelids have been painted pink, but it is not the obnoxious pink of the bathroom here. It’s the color between the reds and yellows at sunset. It sparkles as though full of little stars, and recedes into light purples and soft whites. My lips are done to match, and my skin is shimmering.” Lauren uses descriptive adjectives and comparisons that help us picture what Rhine looks like.
Wither starts with a bang that keeps you captivated and wanting to keep reading. Rhine is in a truck with other girls being looked at to be a bride. It is very descriptive and you feel like you are there. Lauren DeStefano captures the emotions very well here. The horror and how scared all the girls are. “I wait. They keep us in the dark for so long that we lose sense of our eyelids. We sleep huddled together like rats, and dream of our bodies swaying. I know when one of the girls reaches a wall. She begins to pound and scream.” You can tell how scared they all are and how they have been living by all descripting Lauren DeStefano uses. Though the book starts with a bang and everything is so vividly described the book only scratches the surface and does not go in depth with the plot and the characters past. You are left confused at some parts in the book.
I agree with Lauren DeStefano when she says in an author video, “I felt like uncertainty is the main theme of the story, it’s the concept that keeps going from beginning to end.” Uncertainty is defiantly one of the themes of Wither. Throughout the book Rhine is always wondering what will happen, if she will die that day or if she will be able to escape. As the reader you are also uncertain about what will happen and are uncertain. The book has a lot of suspense you are always wondering what will happen, if something will happen, or how something will happen, and that is what keeps the reader engaged in the book.
Overall Wither is a faced pace and very interesting book and will keep the readers hooked until they finish, but it only scratches the surface and does not go in depth. I would give Wither a four out of five stars rating. This I is a good book, but if you want to read a dystopian book Hunger Games is better. It goes more in depth with the plot and is very descriptive and keeps the reader hooked. Although Hunger Games is better Wither is not to be over looked by readers.
