Published: February 21, 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster BYR
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 341 pages
Source: Amazon.com
Series: The Chemical Garden, Book Two
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.
I read WITHER in early February and loved it. You would expect the same from the sequel, right?
Wrong.
The "Sophomore Slump" got to Lauren DeStefano. FEVER disappointed me on extreme levels.
First, the writing style. WITHER had one of the best writing style's in a young adult book ever. When I started reading this, I noticed that writing style had changed so much -- and not in a good way. It was awkward and did not flow together at all. I had to go back a couple times and re-read a sentence because it didn't process correctly in my brain. The writing style was the major downfall of the story.
Next, the characters. Rhine, the main character, NEVER -- and I mean never -- takes care of herself. When in WITHER, I thought she was so strong and I was glad that she looked for others. But she never thinks or cares for herself -- any. And of course, we don't learn anything else about Gabriel. He's almost like Gale from THE HUNGER GAMES -- he's just sort of there. And as always, Vaughn is crazy, ludacris, ignorant, did I mention crazy stalker.
Then, we have the ending. The ending. Out of 341 pages, the last -- and I seriously mean last -- paragraph is really the only thing that makes me want to read book three. Why does this always happen?
Overall, FEVER let me down. But due to very last paragraph, I will be picking up book three.
My Rating:
