SERIES: The Chemical Garden, Book #2
AUTHOR: Lauren DeStefano
PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
DATE OF PUBLICATION: February 21, 2012
FORMAT: Hardcover, 341 pages
GENRE: Young Adult, Science Fiction/Dystopia
ISBN: 978-1442409071
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.
In the 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.
MY REVIEW:
I received this Advance Reader's Copy for review from the publisher. I did not receive any compensation for my review, and the
views expressed herein are my own.
I started reading Fever
immediately after finishing Wither. I
literally put down Wither, pondered
for a few moments about how it ended, and dove into Fever. I was expecting the adrenaline rush to be carried into this
book. I have to say that I am a little disappointed that I wasn’t as
caught up in the momentum of the story as I was with Wither.
Fever picks up
right where Wither leaves off, with
Rhine and Gabriel trying to find their way to Manhattan to find Rowan. They
both are abducted by Madame Soleski, a lady who runs a carnival that includes a
brothel. She is intelligent and realizes the financial potential of a beauty
like Rhine with her heterochromic
eyes. She keeps both Rhine and Gabriel drugged up so that they cannot escape.
Rather than pimping her out as she does with her other girls, she sets up a
sort of “peep show” where paying customers can watch Rhine and Gabriel
together.
I thought the whole carnival/brothel scene was just very
bizarre, and I actually did not care much for this part of the story. I kept
wondering when we were going to get on with the story! The story picked up a
little bit of excitement when Vaughn tracked them down at the carnival, and
then Rhine and Gabriel managed to escape from both Madame’s and Vaughn’s
clutches but not without taking Maddie who is the daughter of one of Madame’s
girls. With child in tow, they are on the run again to get to Manhattan.
The pace of the book did not pick for me until the last
quarter of the book, when Vaughn tracks Rhine down for the second time. I found
that the parts of the story that lagged were the ones without Vaughn! He is so
deliciously evil that I just love to hate him!
DeStefano did a bang-up job keeping me on the edge of my
seat for the thrilling ride to the end of the book, but I was a little
disappointed with how this second story in the series progressed. I was so excited
for Rhine and Gabriel to begin their new lives and to see their relationship
blossom, but that did not happen. I did not enjoy Fever as much as I did Wither,
but I think that DeStefano got her groove back by the end of Fever. I hope that Vaughn figures
prominently in the final installment of the trilogy, which is due to be
released in April 2013.
MY RATING:
4 stars!! It was really good! You should put it on
your "To Be Read" list. Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada for the opportunity to review this book!
This book qualifies as:
Design by Parajunkee Design
I love these books so much I hate them! Each time I get the new installment, as soon as I start it I finish it, I can not put it down. And then I am left wanting more and waiting for the next!
ReplyDeleteMaycee Greene (Skagway AK)