Sever by Lauren DeStefano (Chemical Garden)

     With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

     Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

      In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered.

     The end of Fever prevented me the luxury of relaxing between reading it and this sequel. It's not too often that I read a series where the next book is available right away, so I took this opportunity and was soon back into Rhine's world, quickly reaching the conclusion to this trilogy.

     I have a lot of mixed feelings about this installment in the series. I feel like a majority of the front matter in this book was waiting around. Either they were waiting for Rhine to be released from the hospital, or Rhine was waiting for a good time to leave Reed's place, they're waiting for the opportunity to escape Vaughn, etc. 

     However when we weren't waiting for something to happen, SO MUCH was happening, and there was either a lot of action going on or there was a lot of information being fed to Rhine and the reader. So much information, in fact, that I think Rhine was kept a little too in-the-dark in the first two books, because the entire second half of the book is like an information overload. There's intel about Rhine's genetics, and her brother Rowen's actions in the last year, and Vaughn's true intentions with the twins (the sister wives, and Linden, and the maids, and pretty much anyone he could get his hands on). There was a shocking reveal 250 pages in that doesn't really get explained very well by the end of the book, and then there's suddenly a hostage situation. It was a lot to process very quickly.

     

Things That I Liked:

     I really liked Reed and his eccentricities. He was a really interesting character, and I'm almost sad that we only got to know him in this final installment.

     I liked the added layer of this world/disease that was brought about with Hawaii and all that entails.

     I was confused but delighted by Rhine's and Linden's obvious lingering feelings for each other, and I definitely felt Linden's heartache and hesitation to trust his former-favorite wife.

     I liked that Cecily finally decided to grow up.

     THE ROSE REVEAL. So shocking. So good.

Things That I Didn't Like:

     I was confused about the Hawaii-addition and if it was explained how that whole "situation" was possible, I think I missed it.

     I wish there was more Gabriel. Or at least more worry for Gabriel.

     I wanted Rowen's actions/thought process about his attacks/bombings/trusting-of-certain-people to be explained better. Again, if that did happen, I missed it.

     MORE MADAME (and Jared). Wanted it. Didn't get it.

Overall Impression:

     I was once again captivated by DeStefano's prose, and while I still believe that Fever is the better book in the trilogy, Sever does have a lot going on and a lot to love as a final book in a series. 

     I was a little "eh" about the ending, it seemed to come about a little too easily for me, then again I don't know how else I would have preferred it to go. Almost all of my questions were answered, and reading other reviews tells me that most everyone else who read the series had all of their questions answered to their satisfaction. 

     Overall for the series, this story presents a new and interesting concept, and it provided a really fascinating and complex social situation to work a story around. 

I will be waiting excitedly to get my hands on DeStefano's Internment Chronicles: Perfect Ruin book in October. For more information on that, please visit the book's GoodReads page.

Blonde's Rating: 3.5/5

Amazon's Rating: 4.3/5

GoodReads Rating: 3.9/5

Check out the reviews of the other books in the series, Fever and Wither.

Thanks!

The Blonde

Fever by Lauren DeStefano (Chemical Garden)

Book Review:
The Chemical Garden Series: Wither, Fever, and Sever
by Lauren DeStefano

Fever

     Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but they’re still in danger. Outside, they find a world even more disquieting than the one they ran away from. Determined to get to Manhattan and find Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan, the two press forward, amid threats of being captured again…or worse.

     The road they are on is long and perilous—and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and men die at age twenty-five, time is precious. In this 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.

     When I finished Wither, I didn't know if I was going to continue reading the Chemical Garden series, but i decided that the cover was interesting enough for me to pick it up, and I'm glad I did. I can honestly say that Fever is my favorite book in the trilogy.

     I feel like this book was more "alive" than the last one, and I think that had a lot to do with the constant moving from place to place, the impending danger of being found and caught, and the growing tension of Gabriel's and Rhine's respective illnesses.

     As in her last book, DeStefano has brilliant prose, very lyrical and enthralling. Fever has a lot more of the mystery who/what Rhine is in this dystopic world. The stakes rise as you realize with Rhine that she is slowly dying for seemingly no reason. The people Rhine and Gabriel meet on their way to New York are an enticing mix of good and insane, keeping you wondering when, or if, these two will ever be safe, or just able to get a single good night's un-drugged sleep. At first I was skeptical of the addiction of Maddie, the little malformed child from the carnival-themed scarlet district, but she turned out to be an unobtrusive addition, almost proving more perceptive and intelligent than Rhine, sometimes.

Things That I Liked:

     I really liked the parts of the book that occurred in the Madame's scarlet district. I think these scenes are the most colorful -haha- and the most energetic of the book. Madame is one of the more complex characters in this volume, and her energy is infused into her girls and her twisted carnival. The imagery of the district, as well, really pop compared to the other locations Rhine and Gabriel visit along the way to Manhattan.

     I liked the little mystery of Maddie, her picture book, her mother Lilac/Grace, and her grandmother. I thought it was an interesting twist to give the group something to keep moving for, and I'm glad that it gave them a place to rest for a little while.

     The scenes in the basement after Rhine's brought back to the mansion; they are terribly vivid, and they make my skin crawl with the detail, but I love having a physical reaction to a description, because that's when you know you've got great writing.

Things I Didn't Like:

     I don't know if this first thing is something I didn't like or if I just didn't understand it, but the  part of the book when Rhine was caught up in the idea that she could be dead, or that she could have died a year ago, or any time in between then and now. I thought it was strange that she was wondering and marveling at this fact as she was slowly rotting away, and they didn't come to any sort of conclusive thoughts because -surprise! -she doesn't die at the end of this book.

     Cecily's overall uselessness when she knew Rhine was back "home."

     The fact that Rhine didn't show Gabriel how grateful she was to have him with her, or even tell him. She thinks it a lot, but never lets him know, even when, at a few points, they're both pretty much dying.

Overall Impression:

     I really liked this sequel to the first book, and it leaves you on a note that's impossible to not follow-up on with the third and final installment. There are so many missing pieces of the genetic puzzle that is the living, breathing Rhine that you can't help but long to know why Vaughn is so invested in her and why her brother Rowan is being such a douchebag.

Blonde's Rating: 4/5

Amazon Rating: 4.3/5

Goodreads Rating: 3.9/5

Stay tuned to find out what The Blonde says about Fever's sequel, Sever, and check out Wither's review here.

Thanks!

The Blonde