Saturday, May 4, 2013

Wither by Lauren Destefano


Hi everyone! The twentieth book is Wither by Lauren Destefano! This novel was extremely intriguing for me, instead of the usual end of the world plot line, it had a certain twist to it. In this novel, males lived to the age of 25, and females lived to the age of 20. When they reach those age limits a virus would set in, and slowly, or sometimes rapidly, kill them. The First Generations, those who are able to live well into their eighties, are trying to find an antidote. While they are trying to find this antidote, the First Generations, who are wealthy as heck, send out Gatherers to find potential brides for their sons. It is common for the sons to have multiple wives at one time. The theory behind this, was to keep the offspring coming in hopes that the antidote would be found, and the First Generations could watch their grandchildren grow to old age. The story centers around three wives, their husband, their father-in-law, and a little dose of romance. Jenna, the oldest wives, has the most resentment towards Linden, the husband, because of what happened to her sisters. Rhine, the middle wife, wants to find her way back to her twin brother, but also knows how to play to the game, so she plays the affectionate, but yet resistant wife card. And finally Cecily, the youngest of the three wives, who is excited to bear as many children as Linden wants, and to take advantages of all the luxuries provided. 

About the Author: 
Lauren Destefano

  • Has a Bachelor's Degree in English from Albertus Magnus College.
  • Enjoys to thrift shop, play on her Nintendo, and playing with her cats in her free time.
Awards/Nominations:
  • Nominated for ALA Teens' Top Ten in 2012.
What to Expect in This Book:
  • Polygamous marriage
  • Disease
  • Survival 
  • Dystopia
  • Holograms
Rating:
  • Four out five stars
    • I highly enjoyed this book. It was a quick read, but what really stood out to me was the futuristic characteristics that this book had. Those specific scenes in the novel really made me wonder if these holograms and such could actually become a realistic thing in the near future. The characters were strong, and developed through the progression of the novel. 

6 comments:

  1. like you said you can actually believe something like this could happen in the near future. I hated Linden! Poor Cecily, it's a grim thing when you think about a little girl in a situation like that! That is what tugged at my heart most in this series!

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    1. Oh I know! However, Cecily was always more then willing to bear his children. She knew what she was getting in to when she kept opening her arms to him so much. I really need to pick up the other books in the series to find out how it ends!

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    2. Yeah, but she's a kid and she doesn't fully understand these things. Whatever it his reasons Linden knew that! I really liked the other books, you should definitely pick them up and don't forget to post the the reviews for them!

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    3. Of course Linden knew, but think about how he himself grew up. Think about how the women grew up. Linden grew up in an extremely wealthy family, and was raised with the notion that it was proper and necessary for the success of society to have multiple wives...young and old...to bear several children each. The females grew up with the idea that they were necessary to bear these children to keep the society strong, and if they were going to bear many children then their goal was to be paired with a wealthy man. Once I can get my hands on them I will read them, and post the reviews!

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  2. I'm really glad that you enjoyed this one, Meredith! I loved this entire trilogy and I hope that you will too. :) Great review!

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