The Chemical Garden Trilogy: Wither

"The world seems so clean if you only look up." Wither. Chapter 25, page 333.

Dystopian literature is all the rage right now, (think The Hunger Games), which I am a huge fan of incidentally. Dystopia is the opposite of utopia, which is an ideal state. In the dystopian novels I have read, the society in which the story is set is always trying to create a better or perfect society. Of course there is no such thing and by attempting to create this form of utopia they end up creating an awful world full dystopia. 

I recently read Wither, book one of The Chemical Garden Trilogy by Lauren DeStefano and it falls into this dystopian category. (Possible SPOILER ALERT but I tried not to "spoil" too much, but keep that in mind as you read or not.) To give the set up of the story, in an effort to create a world without illness by altering genetics but this meddling causes people's life span to shorten drastically, women die at 20 and men at 25. So, of course, world goes awry. There are many more orphans, girls get kidnapped and/or married off at ridiculously young ages, and marriages are usually polygamous.

So I'll go head and say the shock factor of teenaged sister-wives really got me when I first started reading Wither. I mean, really? Ew. But I kept reading because I had heard good things about the book. The main character is Rhine Ellery, age sixteen. At first, I didn't really understand her and motives but the author did a good job of giving me just enough to keep me intrigued at integral moments. I also felt it was a sign of good story telling that in the beginning I hated Governor Linden but by the end I understood he was a victim as well, though not to the same extent. I was almost feeling sorry for him, almost. I will say that I liked the way the book ended. I knew Wither is part of a series. but yet DeStefano was able to conclude the book where I felt satisfied and also wanting more. Which is good for me because book two Fever came out earlier this year and the front cover of book three Sever was revealed earlier this week and the book comes out February 2013.

(by the way, aren't all these covers just beautifully amazing?!)

My final thoughts: I give the book a 4/5. I really liked the story Wither provided. It is considered YA (young adult) but because of some of the overtones I'd recommend this book to older teens/adults but I would definitely recommend it to those interested in this dystopian type genre.

Here's the book trailer for Wither: 

Thoughts? Leave me a comment. I HEART comments!