Wither

By: Lauren DeStefano
Genre: Teen Fiction
Stars: 4 out of 5
In our future, we have tried to create the perfectly genetic human beings and in doing so created a virus. This virus kills boys at the age of twenty-five and girls at the age of twenty. No one who is born now can grow old. In this world, sixteen year old Rhine Ellery wants to live her last four years the way she wants to. However that possibility changes when she is captured by the Gatherers and sold to a man to become his bride, along with two other girls. Living a life with a man she feels pity and hatred toward, and having two sister wives is not what Rhine imagined and now it is her goal to escape. But how can you escape from a place that gives you no freedom and a man who controls everything?

This book was on its own display at work and the cover lured me in. I started reading it and enjoyed the story quite a bit but thought there was more to the story line then her finding a way to escape. After figuring out for this first book in “The Chemical Garden Trilogy” it revolved simply around Rhine trying to find a way to escape from the overprotected eyes of her husband’s father and the prison that was her new home, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I am intrigued to find out what will happen in the next installment. Also this book is definitely for older teens and not for the young twelve and thirteen year olds. It has a lot of heavy issues such as polygamy and teen pregnancy. I would recommend it to an older audience.