by Lauren DeStefano
pub: 3/22/2011
From Goodreads:
What if you knew exactly when you would die?Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.
When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden’s genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.
But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden’s eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.
What I thought:
Wow.
That about sums it up doesn’t it? Wither was amazing… yet utterly horrifying. I swear, I held my breath for the entire 358 pages (ha! And I didn’t pass out… that should so be some sort of record right?) Fine! I felt like I held my breath the entire time!
Lauren DeStefano created a dystopian nightmare, in the form of a beautifully written novel. Can you imagine being stolen, forced to marry and then BREED? *shudder*
Rhine continuously broke my heart with the stories of her youth, then having her horrifyingly short ‘adult’ life stolen from her… and not only by her sadistic father-in-law, but by a horrendous genetic disease that causes you to die at 20!
I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Linden… in all his ignorance, but I’m Team Gabriel ALL THE WAY.
I cannot wait for the second installment of The Chemical Garden Trilogy… Where do Rhine & Gabriel go? Does Rhine find her brother? What kind of state will he be in IF she finds him? Will her and Gabriel get to be together?
I have this really foreboding feeling that something bad is going to happen to Gabriel…
Book loving, zombie freak, stiletto wearing, twitter whore, coffee addicted Brunette with a purse fetish.
Collector of flamingo paraphernalia & zombie keepsakes… Frequenter of thrift stores... cRaFtY bitch... and I match my eye-shadow to my outfit - everyday.