"I wait. They keep us in the dark for so long that we lose sense of our eyelids. We sleep huddled together like rats, staring out, and dream of our bodies swaying.
I know when one of the girls reaches a wall. She begins to pound and scream - there's a metal in the sound - but none of us help her. We've gone too long without speaking, and all we do is bury ourselves more into the dark.
The doors open.
The light is frightening. It's the light of the world through the birth canal, and at once the blinding tunnel that comes with death. I recoil into the blankets with the other girls in horror, not wanting to begin or end.
We stumble when they let us out; we've forgotten how to use our legs. How long has it been - days? Hours? The big open sky waits in its usual place.
I stand in line with other girls, and men in gray coats study us.
I've heard of this happening. Where I come from girls have been disappearing for a long time. They disappear from their beds or from the side of the road. It happened to a girl in my neighbourhood. Her whole family disappeared after that, moved away, either to find her or because they knew she would never be returned.
Now it's my turn. I know girls disappear, but any number of things could come after that. Will I become a murdered reject? Sold into prostitution? These things have happened. There's only one other option. I could become a bride."
For my full review of The Chemical Garden's Trilogy click the links bellow
Summary (From Back Cover)
What if you knew exactly when you would die?
Running away from her forced polygamous marriage leads 17-year-old Rhine Ellery straight into a trap: a twisted carnival whose ringmistress desires the beautiful and unusual Rhine as her start attraction. But with Gabriel - her lover and fellow escapee - Rhine remains determined to reach Manhattan, find her twin brother, Rowan, and start a life far from the gilded prisons the have confined her.
The road to freedom is long and perilous - and in a world where women only live to age 20 and men die at 25 - time is very precious. And worse still, Rhine's sinister father-in-law, Vaughn, is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion... by any means necessary.
Review
In Wither you got an idea of that harsh world Rhine is a part of, although with the majority of the book set in the Florida mansion with is locked windows and holographic illusions you don't get to see the whole image. For Rhine leaving the mansion is freedom, but once she and Gabriel have escaped you come too see the full extend of the cruel world outside the gates. Was running away the right decision? After all if she had just placed nice she could have lived the last four years of her life in luxury... but what is luxury worth when you're a prisoner?
First things first I have to say that I feel a little sorry for Gabriel going into this book, he's obviously in love with Rhine and I think she may have started to develop something resembling affection towards Linden. And things don't get better for the poor guy, it's just one thing after another with this book, with the land outside the mansion's gates turning out to be nothing but hell for the couple. But at least Rhine knew what was coming, Gabriel had been told only half truths about the world he now finds himself in.
I really liked the story line with Fever, it's constantly moving forward where as with Wither it was all very much about Rhine's escape. Now outside the gates the evens unravel quickly, with everything developing in an eery way that tells you that nothing is ever going to go right for these characters.
Although being the second book it had some of the classic blunders that sequels have. For instance the way certain character's act in this book were every similar to the character's in the previous book, giving you a serious case of deja vu. Another thing about the writing that frustrated me a little was the amount of times we were told about the musty perfumed smell of the carnival tents and it's tacky ringmistress. You can barely go a page without it being mentioned, and if Rhine had stayed there much longer I don't think I would have been able to cope!
Overall though it's an exciting continuation of the first instalment and shows the reader exactly what this kind of world this dystopai future is capable of. Can't wait to read the third and final book and find out how DeStefano concludes one of my favourite dystopain series.
Official Book Trailer:
If you haven't read my review for the first The Chemical Garden's book Wither that click the link below and give it a gander.
Summary (From Back Cover)
What if you knew exactly when you would die?
In our brave new future, DNA engineering had resulted in a terrible genetic flaw. Women die at the age of 20, men at 25. Young girls are being abducted and forced to breed in a desperate attempt to keep humanity ahead of the disease that threaten to eradicate it.
16-year-old Rhine Ellery is kidnapped and sold as a bride to Linden, a rich young man with a dying wife. Even though he is kind to her, Rhine is desperate to escape her gilded cage - and Linden's cruel father. With the help of Gabriel, a servant she is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in what little time she has left.
Review
I'm currently re-reading this book as I wanted to refresh my memory before I started on the third and final instalment of The Chemical Gardens trilogy. I started last night and I've almost finished. You're thrown straight into the harsh world, that is future America with no apologies or a chance to hide it's forth comings. A dangerous world for women and a concept that feels all to real. The science behind the book makes it feel like this could be a possibility, which in a way makes it all the more heartbreaking.
DeStefano wastes no time getting started, throwing you straight into the story. There's no setting the scene, instead it integrates the back story into the first couple of chapters, dropping little snippets of Rhine's past here and there. Which, makes it a very easy book to get into. When I started reading Wither it had a kind of Beauty and the Beast feel to it, in the sense that there's a young girl locked in a mansion with an a monster of a capture and a handful of warm, loving servants. But as the book goes on and the story begins to unravel you start to connect with the House Governor, Linden, and come to realise the threat is coming from a different source entirely.
Stolen away from her life in New York, Rhine is sold to a rich man named Linden. Along with two other girls, she is forced to marry the rich House Governor. Locked in the Florida mansion, half a world away from her home Rhine becomes close to Lindens first wife, Rose. Rose is at that fatal age of 20.
After Rose passes Linden starts to focus on his new wives. The only relief she has in this world is Gabriel one of the house attendants. The book follows Rhine as she tries to escape from her luxury prison, and Housemaster Vaughn's wicked clutches. But in doing so she discovers things within the mansion she was never meant to see. Will she be able to find away out of this new hell? Or is Linden a kinder man that she thought? Is there a chance she could be happy here? And if so, will she stay long enough to find out?
I'll admit I have a soft spot for Linden. I mean, I don't support buying wives off men in grey coats but at the same time I can think of worse people to be married to. He has a kind heart, and I feel reading this that the real monster in this story is his father, Vaughn. But at the same time I can't blame Rhine for wanting to leave, she has a family that she has to get back to. After all she didn't choose this life.
It's a story full of danger and surprises. A vivid world and written in such a way that you will find it easy to get lost within it's pages. A must read for any lover of dystopian fiction, and even if you're not, it's a great story that will make you wander...
Official book trailer:
