Scan barcode
jeslyncat's review
5.0
Amazing. There were a lot of things about "Wither" that just didn't measure up--it was a good read, but clearly contrived. "Fever" answers all of these questions, fills in gaps, and provides an exciting storyline. The new characters are all wonderful to get to know, and the story is exciting, you never want to set it down. The end was jaw-dropping and leaves you begging for the final installment.
reddyrat's review
3.0
Most readers have genres they prefer over others. I think it's important to challenge prejudices and misconceptions against certain genres. Find the right book and you may fall in love. I do not like dystopias. I never have. That said, I really enjoyed Wither. The concept of women dying at 20 and men dying at 25 from an incurable virus and its societal consequences was fascinating. But most of all, I loved Rhine and her relationship with her sister wives. I eagerly anticipated Fever. But it was not for me. That's not to say that Fever is a bad book. If you like dystopias, I think you will enjoy Fever very much. Unfortunately, it contains all of the things about dystopias that I dislike and lacked the qualities I liked from Wither.
Fever is dark. 2 AM drowning in solid blackness dark. Wither was a very dark book, but Fever took it down another pitch. Every time you think things for Rhine and Gabriel are going to get better, they get worse. That's not my style. There's a reason I hated The Handmaid's Tale and 1984 when everyone loved it. I don't want to finish a book only to feel like I need to down a pint of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough to cheer up. And that's what this book made me want to do (good thing I didn't have any ice cream in the house). But a lot of people love that kind of thing.
Fever is constant action. Gabriel and Rhine are on the run from evil Governor Vaughn. They get themselves into one mess only to extricate themselves and then get into another mess. You won't get bored with this book, because things change so quickly. I loved the addition of Maddie, a mute little girl who manages to silently save the day numerous times.
Another high point of Fever is the writing. Not necessarily the plotting or characterization, which I have some issues with, but the writing itself. I'm impressed with Lauren. Plot development and good characterization are things that can improve as she develops as a writer, but sheer beauty of words is a more innate talent. Her prose is so descriptive. I could feel, see, smell, and taste the heavy tension and despair throughout the novel. The words were important players in Fever, rather than simple tools to an end, as often is the case with less talented writers.
Onto my plotting and characterization issues. My quibbles about the plot are mostly personal preference. The sister wives and Linden were my favorite parts about Wither. We hardly saw any of these elements in Wither. Instead, it was focused on Gabriel and Rhine, who unfortunately weren't as thrilling to me. I like Rhine. Her inner strength and stubbornness carry her and Gabriel through all their trials. I neither like nor dislike Gabriel. And that is a failing, I think. The romantic lead should be more compelling. He feels like a blank slate. I much preferred Linden in Wither, who may have been a wimp but was more sympathetic. Then there's Governor Vaughn who is cardboard evil. I like my villains with more layers.
Fever has a lot going for it, particularly constant action and strong prose. It follows the stereotypical dark dystopia theme, which is great if you like that kind of thing. Although Fever may not be for me, I still feel invested enough in the story and plot that I look forward to reading the next installment.
Rating: 2.5 / 5
Fever is dark. 2 AM drowning in solid blackness dark. Wither was a very dark book, but Fever took it down another pitch. Every time you think things for Rhine and Gabriel are going to get better, they get worse. That's not my style. There's a reason I hated The Handmaid's Tale and 1984 when everyone loved it. I don't want to finish a book only to feel like I need to down a pint of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough to cheer up. And that's what this book made me want to do (good thing I didn't have any ice cream in the house). But a lot of people love that kind of thing.
Fever is constant action. Gabriel and Rhine are on the run from evil Governor Vaughn. They get themselves into one mess only to extricate themselves and then get into another mess. You won't get bored with this book, because things change so quickly. I loved the addition of Maddie, a mute little girl who manages to silently save the day numerous times.
Another high point of Fever is the writing. Not necessarily the plotting or characterization, which I have some issues with, but the writing itself. I'm impressed with Lauren. Plot development and good characterization are things that can improve as she develops as a writer, but sheer beauty of words is a more innate talent. Her prose is so descriptive. I could feel, see, smell, and taste the heavy tension and despair throughout the novel. The words were important players in Fever, rather than simple tools to an end, as often is the case with less talented writers.
Onto my plotting and characterization issues. My quibbles about the plot are mostly personal preference. The sister wives and Linden were my favorite parts about Wither. We hardly saw any of these elements in Wither. Instead, it was focused on Gabriel and Rhine, who unfortunately weren't as thrilling to me. I like Rhine. Her inner strength and stubbornness carry her and Gabriel through all their trials. I neither like nor dislike Gabriel. And that is a failing, I think. The romantic lead should be more compelling. He feels like a blank slate. I much preferred Linden in Wither, who may have been a wimp but was more sympathetic. Then there's Governor Vaughn who is cardboard evil. I like my villains with more layers.
Fever has a lot going for it, particularly constant action and strong prose. It follows the stereotypical dark dystopia theme, which is great if you like that kind of thing. Although Fever may not be for me, I still feel invested enough in the story and plot that I look forward to reading the next installment.
Rating: 2.5 / 5
dreizehn's review against another edition
3.0
"Things will get worse before they get better. A little more agony before the fever will break."
I believe this quote to be an accurate assessment and theme of this novel. Fever has left me with conflicting thoughts. I wanted to like it, I generally did like it, but I didn't much like much of what happened in the book. How does this make sense? Well, I'll try to explain the best I can without many spoilers.
Fever is a darker, grittier, more troubled look at the dystopian world of The Chemical Garden Trilogy (although I still feel like we know very little about this world). From the very outset, it is unyieldingly bleak. Fever picks up right where Wither left off, with Rhine and Gabriel's escape. But there is no rest for the wicked, and no chance for happiness between the couple before events take a turn down an even darker path. Rhine's escape into "freedom" brings with it the dangers of a hopeless world full of immoral individuals, prostitution, drugs, people who sell and buy flesh alike.
Rhine is left reeling with the consequences of her decisions to bring herself and Gabriel out into this harsh world. However, I feel like she is never touched by the events as much as she should be. Nothing she encounters seems to affect her deeply enough for me to connect with her character. Her obsession with the material luxuries she left behind rubbed me the wrong way. I understand her concerns that she left such a luxorious world for such a gritty one, but every subsequent time she brought up that white sweater, I wanted to slap her silly. It seemed to me like she cared about the things she lost than the people and situations around her.
Most of the meat of the book happened towards the end, as Fever sets us up for the final installment of the trilogy. When you have about 20 pages left, you're not sure how it is going to possibly come to a satisfying end. However, the great cliffhanger DeStefano leaves us with leaves me wanting for the last novel.
Overall, I would recommend this to fans of Wither. It's a different speed of novel, and not a whole lot actually happens in it (a condition I call "middle book syndrome"), but it is interesting all the same. I think you'll want to read this installment and the next if for no other reason than to see how it ends.
I believe this quote to be an accurate assessment and theme of this novel. Fever has left me with conflicting thoughts. I wanted to like it, I generally did like it, but I didn't much like much of what happened in the book. How does this make sense? Well, I'll try to explain the best I can without many spoilers.
Fever is a darker, grittier, more troubled look at the dystopian world of The Chemical Garden Trilogy (although I still feel like we know very little about this world). From the very outset, it is unyieldingly bleak. Fever picks up right where Wither left off, with Rhine and Gabriel's escape. But there is no rest for the wicked, and no chance for happiness between the couple before events take a turn down an even darker path. Rhine's escape into "freedom" brings with it the dangers of a hopeless world full of immoral individuals, prostitution, drugs, people who sell and buy flesh alike.
Rhine is left reeling with the consequences of her decisions to bring herself and Gabriel out into this harsh world. However, I feel like she is never touched by the events as much as she should be. Nothing she encounters seems to affect her deeply enough for me to connect with her character. Her obsession with the material luxuries she left behind rubbed me the wrong way. I understand her concerns that she left such a luxorious world for such a gritty one, but every subsequent time she brought up that white sweater, I wanted to slap her silly. It seemed to me like she cared about the things she lost than the people and situations around her.
Most of the meat of the book happened towards the end, as Fever sets us up for the final installment of the trilogy. When you have about 20 pages left, you're not sure how it is going to possibly come to a satisfying end. However, the great cliffhanger DeStefano leaves us with leaves me wanting for the last novel.
Overall, I would recommend this to fans of Wither. It's a different speed of novel, and not a whole lot actually happens in it (a condition I call "middle book syndrome"), but it is interesting all the same. I think you'll want to read this installment and the next if for no other reason than to see how it ends.
carriestoller's review
3.0
Better than the first! I was on the edge of my seat during several scenes. The writing has definitely improved and I'm eager to see how Sever will play out.
deedralapray's review
5.0
These books are amazing! But they defintely end in cliff-hangers. I immediately down-loaded the next book Sever whn I finished Fever. These are definite page-turners!
justlily's review
3.0
It'd been quite a few years since I read the first book in this series. To it's credit, I had no problem remembering the entire thing as I went through this one. It didn't waste any time on rehashing the story, catching you back up. It just drops you in, which I definitely prefer and appreciate.
However this story itself was very repetitive. They run, someone gets sick, they end up somewhere bad. They run, someone gets sick, they end up somewhere bad. The formula repeats itself over and over until the last few chapters which is when the story actually gets interesting.
I'm very curious to see how this trilogy ties up. I think this one was mostly filler? It feels like the author had a really solid beginning planned and also knew where she wanted it to end, but she was forced to fill in book #2 to make those things happen. So even though this was just okay, I do have high hopes for the finale.
However this story itself was very repetitive. They run, someone gets sick, they end up somewhere bad. They run, someone gets sick, they end up somewhere bad. The formula repeats itself over and over until the last few chapters which is when the story actually gets interesting.
I'm very curious to see how this trilogy ties up. I think this one was mostly filler? It feels like the author had a really solid beginning planned and also knew where she wanted it to end, but she was forced to fill in book #2 to make those things happen. So even though this was just okay, I do have high hopes for the finale.
aaricia96's review
4.0
“Everyone should remember being born. It doesn't seem fair that we only remember dying.”
neveroutofbooks's review
2.0
This series irritates me but I need to know how it ends. So off to the library I go for Sever.
lifeand100books's review
5.0
With all the buzz recently regarding The Hunger Games movie adaptation, I felt that it was definitely appropriate to review what is fast becoming my favorite new dystopian series, The Chemical Garden Trilogy. (as a side note, if you haven't seen The Hunger Games yet, do it!) I'm always interested in new dystopian novels, and the premise plus the awesome cover art drew me into the first book in the series, Wither. Naturally I had to continue on, so when book two, Fever, was published at the end of February I jumped at the chance to continue reading.
We are again thrust into the surreal world created by Lauren DeStefano where a genetic mishap ensures that women live to 20 and men live to 25. We are reunited with Gabriel and Rhine as they make their escape from the mansion and the housemaster Vaughn. Although one would hope that they would finally reach a safe haven after the terror of the first novel, it is not to be. Gabriel and Rhine find themselves trapped in a carnival of sorts that employs a legion of young girls against their will. Just when Rhine thinks that she is beginning to understand her situation and has Gabriel to help her, she is thrown into another period of chaos and terror that shakes her faith in the world in which they live. Their only beacon of hope is Manhattan, where Rhine's twin brother Rowan lives and can offer them shelter from the terrors they endure. The only problem is in getting there. What will happen to Rhine and Gabriel? Will they ever be able to reach safety again?
WOW. Just......WOW. Wither was stellar, leading me to have extremely high expectations for Fever. I can 100% say that I was not disappointed at all. Readers are given new locations and new horrors to deal with in this futuristic society that are just as bad as the ones Rhine and Gabriel left behind at the mansions. I thought that DeStefano did a great job at continuing to bring us a world with multilayered, action packed conflicts. Just when Rhine and Gabriel think that they're on the path to freedom and safety, they're thrust into a world that I think is worse than the one that they escaped from. The carnival that they're trapped in is hands down the creepiest location that we've seen yet in this series. The fact that drugs are used to a. keep Gabriel in check, b. the girls of the carnival subdued to "perform", and c. force Rhine and Gabriel to perform in cages together for the benefit of the crowd is quite sickening. What makes the carnival so scary is the loss of free will. Sure, there are times when others in the camp help aid in their attempts to escape, but the time spent there is frighteningly dark and DeStefano does a fantastic job at really getting this darkness right.
I really like the character development in this novel, but most especially with regard to Gabriel. We only get to see him for small periods of time in Wither, so it was refreshing to learn more of his back story as well as see him grow as a person and a man in Fever. Rhine, too, grows and learns that sometimes in order to protect the people around her, she must give in to those who make her life hell. She becomes less selfish and more selfless in Fever, which greatly added to the respect that I have for her as a character and a heroine. For those of you who are new to the series, I definitely recommend adding it to your to-read pile. Frightening, fascinating, and completely unpredictable, The Chemical Garden Trilogy is definitely a series you need to jump on board with.
Kimberly (Reflections of a Book Addict)
http://wp.me/p18lIL-Ss
We are again thrust into the surreal world created by Lauren DeStefano where a genetic mishap ensures that women live to 20 and men live to 25. We are reunited with Gabriel and Rhine as they make their escape from the mansion and the housemaster Vaughn. Although one would hope that they would finally reach a safe haven after the terror of the first novel, it is not to be. Gabriel and Rhine find themselves trapped in a carnival of sorts that employs a legion of young girls against their will. Just when Rhine thinks that she is beginning to understand her situation and has Gabriel to help her, she is thrown into another period of chaos and terror that shakes her faith in the world in which they live. Their only beacon of hope is Manhattan, where Rhine's twin brother Rowan lives and can offer them shelter from the terrors they endure. The only problem is in getting there. What will happen to Rhine and Gabriel? Will they ever be able to reach safety again?
WOW. Just......WOW. Wither was stellar, leading me to have extremely high expectations for Fever. I can 100% say that I was not disappointed at all. Readers are given new locations and new horrors to deal with in this futuristic society that are just as bad as the ones Rhine and Gabriel left behind at the mansions. I thought that DeStefano did a great job at continuing to bring us a world with multilayered, action packed conflicts. Just when Rhine and Gabriel think that they're on the path to freedom and safety, they're thrust into a world that I think is worse than the one that they escaped from. The carnival that they're trapped in is hands down the creepiest location that we've seen yet in this series. The fact that drugs are used to a. keep Gabriel in check, b. the girls of the carnival subdued to "perform", and c. force Rhine and Gabriel to perform in cages together for the benefit of the crowd is quite sickening. What makes the carnival so scary is the loss of free will. Sure, there are times when others in the camp help aid in their attempts to escape, but the time spent there is frighteningly dark and DeStefano does a fantastic job at really getting this darkness right.
I really like the character development in this novel, but most especially with regard to Gabriel. We only get to see him for small periods of time in Wither, so it was refreshing to learn more of his back story as well as see him grow as a person and a man in Fever. Rhine, too, grows and learns that sometimes in order to protect the people around her, she must give in to those who make her life hell. She becomes less selfish and more selfless in Fever, which greatly added to the respect that I have for her as a character and a heroine. For those of you who are new to the series, I definitely recommend adding it to your to-read pile. Frightening, fascinating, and completely unpredictable, The Chemical Garden Trilogy is definitely a series you need to jump on board with.
Kimberly (Reflections of a Book Addict)
http://wp.me/p18lIL-Ss