Sever by Lauren DeStefano-Review

Sever by Lauren DeStefano

As some of you may know.. I have made it a mission to finish up the series that I have been reading.  I end up starting them through the Young Adult Book Club, and then we keep reading new books every month and I wasn't ever going back and finishing the series.  Well now I am!  And this is the last book in the Chemical Garden series.  Here is the goodreads description:

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.

I really thought this was a nice wrap up for a trilogy. It did not end in a bow.. there were still things wrong in the world, but we at least felt satisfied with knowing what happens to the characters. One thing that really drew me to this trilogy is the cover art.  I have found some people to really not like it .. but I think the covers are amazing:

 

I love all the little clues in each picture for the stories.  Just beautiful!

Spoilers to come:

OK... so as you know with the last book I was really disappointed that we left the mansion only to end up back at the mansion.  Well to tell the truth when I picked up this book from the library I couldn't remember for the life of me what exactly happened at the end of Fever.  I looked all over the internet trying to find a summary of the 2nd book.  Wikipedia didn't even have one! (shocker!!).  Sooo I just had to wing it off my memory.  

At the beginning of the book we are starting to find Rhine's brother finally... and forget about Gabriel.  It's like the people in the book don't really care about him.  We'll go find him when everything is all over Rhine decides.  Well he is a boring character anyways.  I feel we never really get to know him. This book I really have grown to love Cecily.  I think she has really matured and found out what the world is really like. Vaughn is still a good villain but now I am not so sure if he really was a villain or not.  Clearly he found the cure for everyone. And yes he went about it in terrible ways, but he did it.  I am not sure if he had just told the truth would the twins have just participated and helped the world?

Now Linden... Linden is a character I love sooooo much.  He is so in the dark .. but yet comes to the light.  I hate (big spoiler don't read ANY further if you haven't read the book).

when he dies.  I was so shocked and surprised, and yes I was surprised when Vaughn dies too.  But Linden I really wanted to see happy.  I wanted to see him and Cecily and their son live happily ever after.  The end of this book was nuts!  

I love how the carnival gets mixed up in the story again.  I thought that was important because I knew that somehow after reading Fever that the carnival had to more then one story.  The twists and turns and the fate that the carnival location brings is amazing.   I do wish we could've learned more about the virus.  Why only the US?  Where was the rest of the world?  Was no one helping?  Why would Hawaiians not even know that the continental US had a virus.  Vaughn said that the people there didn't know.  Too many questions here for me. 

The crystal balls says:

Clouds are covering! A read that lets me down every now and then but peaks out of the clouds!

Fever by Lauren DeStephano Review

 

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

I finally got this book from the library.  I wanted to read it because my Young Adult Book Club picked Wither a few months ago and I am tired of not finishing series.  So I am making more of an effort to finish them.  Here is the goodreads description:

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.

I liked this book. I thought it was a good follow up to Wither. The book kept moving along nicely. New characters, new environments. I love the covers for these two books (Wither and Fever)which is what drew me to these books in the first place.  One thing I like about Fever is that it answers a lot of questions I had from Wither.  My book club discussed all the issues with Wither here if you want to read more about what other people though.  I had such issues with how Rhine talked to Linden and wouldn't tell him what's really going on and she finally does in this book.  THANK YOU!

Spoiler to come:  One thing I didn't like about this book was that we journey all the way to NY and finally get there and then at the end of the book BOOM we are back in the mansion!  WHAT!!! That made it seem like to me that whole journey in this book was a waste of time.  I also feel like I still haven't been able to really get to know Gabriel.  His character really falls flat to me.  I just don't really like him yet.  I love the housemaster though.. Vaughn.  He is a great villain! End spoilers

After reading this book I will for sure move onto book 3. I want to know what happens at the end of Rhine's journey and what happens to the world! Looks like the next book is called Sever and doesn't come out for a whole year!!  Maybe for once in my life I can get my hands on an ARC!!  I can always dream!!

Here is my review of Wither .
Here is my review of Sever.