Friday, March 30, 2012

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Warning this review is for Fever, the second book in the Chemical Garden Trilogy - if you have not read Wither and like to read things in order then stop reading this review now as it contains ***SPOILERS***

Rhine is free from the Mansion, but are she and Gabriel really free?  They stumble from the ocean to safety, but they soon find themselves captured by Madame and her brightly lit carnival of scarlet district girls who sleep away their days so they can make money for Madame at night.  It is a bleak world with no real hope, and Rhine soon realises that she has traded the bars of one prison for another.  Madame sees Rhine as a source of new money, her Goldenrod will make her a fortune - whether Rhine is a willing participant or not.  In Madame's world Gabriel is not an ally, he is a tool that can be used to make sure Rhine obeys, that she doesn't fight what is happening. 

The world that Rhine hoped to find beyond the walls of the Mansion is not what she finds, and it seems as though nothing is going right.  When it seems as though nothing could make things any worse at Madame's, Vaughn appears and Rhine and Gabriel must run again.  Reaching Manhattan and her twin brother Rowan seems like a distant dream, but something pushes at Rhine, tells her to keep going, keep moving.  As the travel closer and closer to her goal, Rhine finds herself seeing things, hearing things, and experiencing vivid dreams and nightmares.  As the sickness gets worse, all she can do is hope that she is not already dying, that she is not going to miss the chance to see her brother one more time.

This is the second book in this series, and I have to say that I enjoyed Fever more than Wither.  While Wither was an excellent concept and was well written for a first novel, it lacked a little of the polish and flair that Fever has.  It may be that because the story is already set in motion that there is less need for description and detail, but it just seems as though DeStefano was more confident in her ability, slightly more skilled with her writing - or maybe she just had a slightly better editor this time who was able to really make the story flow and engross you.  There are secrets starting to surface here, stories behind the stories, and some explanation of what is to come - but it also ends with one heck of a cliff hanger to make you come back for the final book in the series.

If you like this book then try:
  • Wither by Lauren DeStefano
  • The hunger games by Suzanne Collins
  • Matched by Ally Condie
  • Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
  • Eve by Anna Carey
  • The forest of hands and teeth by Carrie Ryan
  • Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

Reviewed by Brilla

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