Fever: A Close-Up Review

"Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever." (from Goodreads)

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

I had very mixed feelings about Wither, so I was a bit hesitant approaching its sequel, Fever. However, I ended up liking this one more than its predecessor (although not without some reservations still.)

Characters:

Rhine: I'd had trouble connecting with her in the first book, but I suppose I must have acclimatized to her voice, because in Fever it didn't cause me the same difficulty. She's still distant in a way, and overly dramatic at times, but by then I was used to it and just recognized it as Rhine's unique tone. Rhine's impulsivity and acting without thinking haven't changed from the first book either, and it lands her in some pretty sticky situations.

Gabriel: he still didn't do much for me in this one. Sure, he's a nice guy and very devoted to Rhine (kind of blindly, actually), but he just doesn't impress me. In the end, I can basically take him or leave him and not really care either way.

Cecily: in contrast to Gabriel, I find her character fascinating. She presents an innocent facade, but she's very crafty and entirely underestimated by everyone. Cecily's trying to help both sides and most of all make sure that she and her baby are safe and taken care of. I think she does care about Rhine, but she wants to help in a way that doesn't jeopardize her own relationship with Linden. Make no doubt about this: Cecily is looking out for number one. I enjoyed seeing Rhine realize that she can't count on Cecily's loyalty.

Linden: where are you in this one??? The brief glimpses we get just aren't enough. Yet the few interactions we do see between Rhine and him are certainly illuminating, exposing truths that need to be aired. Linden is right on the mark when he states that the relationship he has with each wife is completely different in nature, demonstrating an insightful grasp of the situation. All in all, I think Rhine could stand to learn a thing or two from Linden, rather than dismissing him as a puppet controlled by his father. It's true, he has been rather wilfully blind, choosing to believe whatever Vaughn tells him, but I think the next book will provide the opportunity for him to prove himself (should he rise to the challenge). In some ways he's still like a child; I think he has the potential to do a lot of good if he can gather up the courage to stand against his father and society's expectations.

New characters: many of the new characters we're introduced to are distinctly drawn, and I enjoyed meeting some fresh faces. Madame was horrid, very unlikeable but certainly more interesting than Vaughn. She's extremely selfish, mercenary and ruthless, and her brand of "evil" feels a bit more real than Vaughn's does. Madame is just in it for herself, to make money, and that simple motivation gives rise to a character who really makes herself present on the page.

Maddie, in complete contrast to Madame, provided a younger, "child" character which gave Rhine a chance for her motherly instincts to develop, and a chance for her to care for someone. Maddie's smart but wary and timid, her personality and reactions really reflecting the dystopian world DeStefano has created.


Plot/premise:

While I didn't feel like Rhine really made significant advances in this book (in terms of getting closer to reaching her goals), at least she moved around more than in Wither. I enjoyed being exposed to some different settings in this world and meeting new characters. The abandoned carnival was a really interesting backdrop for part of the story — sort of like a microcosm of society. I'm hoping the characters from the carnival appear again in book 3.

I really enjoyed the twist involving Rhine's symptoms of illness (spoiler, highlight to read: I liked that the June beans from book 1 were tied in). However, overall I had difficulty swallowing some of the scientific explanations for what's happening. They come across as lacking a solid knowledge foundation about concepts of illness, with words like "chemical dependency" and "bacterial resistance" getting thrown around haphazardly and without making much sense. (What do bacteria have to do with, anyway? The whole premise of this world is founded on a VIRUS.) I still have a lot of questions about Vaughn's reasoning behind his experiments as well as the specific methods he uses. More spoilers: I still don't fully understand how the June beans were being used by Vaughn. To build up Rhine's immunity to the virus? If so, why would they be addictive? And how can you administer replicated symptoms of a virus to someone anyhow?? Symptoms are external signs of disease. You can inject someone with something that causes symptoms, but not with the signs themselves.

Also, there's one revelation towards the end which, while in line with standard dystopian fiction, is rather unoriginal and convenient. Furthermore, it makes the reader question the events of Fever in retrospect and wonder how they could possibly have happened given this new piece of information. (Spoiler: if Vaughn had implanted Rhine with a tracker, why did it take him SO LONG to capture her again?)

The action is concentrated more in the first part of the book, and then slows down in the second. Unfortunately I think Fever does suffer from "middle book syndrome" a bit, in lacking direction and a internal story arc that hangs together. By the end you may feel like most of what happened was pointless, and that the book is merely serving as a stepping stone to the final one in the trilogy. But the very last page is a good one, providing a hook that sets up perfectly for the third book.

Writing style: If you liked the writing style in Wither, you'll probably like it in Fever as well. Even if you didn't particularly like the writing style of Wither, you might find, as I did, that you become used to it. Rhine maintains the same voice, and the carnival setting in particular comes to life with DeStefano's description.

Final verdict: 3.5 shooting stars. Intriguing characters, but the scientific impracticalities annoyed me. Although I still have too many criticisms to bump it to 4 stars, I did prefer it to Wither.

Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC from the publisher for review.

Wither: In A Nutshell (A Cornucopia of Dystopia Review)

Imagine you live in a world where death comes early. If you're a man, you're lucky – you'll live to 25. If you're a woman, you'll only live to 20.


Imagine that people are becoming desperate to keep the human race going by any means necessary. Genetic experimentation is rampant and men have several wives. Gatherers haunt the streets looking for young girls to capture and marry off.

Imagine you are one of those girls, trapped in a life you never wanted.

Now meet Rhine. She doesn't have to imagine any of this. Why?

Because she's living it.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

My reaction: Honestly, I had a very mixed reaction to Wither. The premise really stands out amongst the dystopian YA fare, partly because it is just so bizarre. The closest comparisons I could make are to the adult dystopian reads The Handmaid's Tale and to a lesser extent Brave New World. I found Rhine's life as a sister wife, both imprisoned and pampered, incredibly unsettling at first; DeStefano does a marvelous job of portraying life in a "gilded cage." The atmosphere of this world is disturbing and frankly kind of creeped me out (intentionally, I'm sure.) Dystopian novels aren't meant to be happy reads, obviously, but the majority of Wither was surprisingly depressing. I think this was partly because the morbid and bleak mood instilled by the nature of the world wasn't leavened by much action through most of the storyline.

The dilemma DeStefano poses with this world is not answered easily, and I welcomed the shades of grey introduced; there is no easy, simplistic message driven home to the reader, but rather just more thought-provoking questions asked. Lauren DeStefano's "point," if any, is delightfully ambiguous. The society she's created is caught between a rock and a hard place: the pro-naturalism side wants to let the human race die out, and the pro-science side is willing to go to any lengths to find a genetic cure for the virus. It's difficult to know which group to cheer for.

I did find the writing style very distancing; Rhine speaks about the events unfolding in an almost clinical, detached way. Perhaps this was intentional, to give the reader a sense of how closed-off she was from others and even from herself, but it had the effect of making it much harder to form a connection with her. Even when she did experience strong emotion, it was described in an almost 3rd-person style (despite the fact that it's written in 1st-person present).

Also, I had some issues with the last few pages. While I liked the unexpected resolution to the climax, I still thought it was too quick and easy. *Big* spoilery details, highlight to read: I thought the use of Cecily in aiding Linden and Rhine's escape was a nice twist and made Cecily's character more complex. And I really enjoyed the idea of holograms providing a way of confusing the inhabitants and keeping them trapped. However, the escape did feel simple and it's hard to believe they would be able to just slip away like that without getting caught.

Best aspect: The creativity and development of the "sister wives" premise. The dynamic between Rhine, Jenna and Cecily that develops is complex, as is each of their relationships with their husband Linden. This also added a bit of a twist to the stereotypical love triangle set-up. Although I wasn't that keen on Rhine, Linden and Cecily both caught my attention as complex and sometimes unpredictable characters. Cecily starts out as a stereotypical whiny brat, but her situation becomes all the more complicated when she becomes pregnant. Her youth and immaturity contrast sharply with her role as an expecting mother. Linden, meanwhile, is frustratingly naive about how the society operates and his father's role in everything, yet he has no problem having a sexual relationship with more than one woman. To make his character even more difficult to pinpoint, he actually seems to care about at least two of his wives. Much as the reader might want to label him as another one of the 'bad guys,' DeStefano makes that impossible.

Another aspect I enjoyed was the way DeStefano's evocative imagery paints a vivid picture in the reader's mind. Her symbolism is handled subtly, with a deft hand.

If I could change something... I wanted to like Rhine more than I actually did. The servants supposedly all like her, but I didn't find her to be that sympathetic a heroine. Certainly her situation is deplorable, but I didn't warm to her voice and she struck me as being a lot of dramatic talk but little action (spoiler, highlight to read: she continually claimed she was going to try to escape but then often passed up chances. Linden takes her into the city on more than one occasion – why doesn't she try to make a run for it then? Why doesn't she try harder to figure out the security system at the mansion? This results in almost the entire book taking place at the mansion, which limits opportunities for exciting action.)

Also, a few of the characters came off as rather flat. Gabriel's character just didn't come alive for me; he seemed too perfect and boring. (Spoilery bit: Rhine may have fallen for him, but I didn't. Their romance happens rather quickly, and I wasn't feeling any chemistry between them, so the relationship seemed forced.) The children who work at the mansion, serving the wives, all seemed to have the same sweet and eager-to-please personality, with no unique qualities to distinguish one from the other. I also thought that villainous Vaughn wasn't fleshed-out enough to separate him from stereotype. Seeing more interaction between him and his son would have brought him to life a bit more.

Hopes for the sequel? I'm thinking we're going to be seeing something of Rhine's twin brother in this next one, so I'm hoping we get a better understanding of their relationship. I'd also like to see the bigger, holistic picture in terms of how the world got to this point. And I wouldn't mind some more Linden, too!

Quote:




He smiles at me, and I can't read what it means. I think, for just a second there, he looked up and saw heterochromatic me. Not a dead girl. Not even a ghost.


He brings his hand to my face, and I feel his fingertips brushing my jaw, his fingers uncurling like something coming to bloom. He looks serious and soft. He's closer than he was a second ago, and I feel myself being pulled into his gravity, and for some reason I feel like I want to trust him. I'm in his house-building hands, and I want to trust him. My lower lip goes slack, waiting for his to catch it.
 

Final verdict: 3.5 shooting stars. I kind of have a love-hate relationship with this book. The premise is original and complex, and the atmosphere feels just wrong enough to unsettle the reader, but the characters aren't the easiest to root for, and I did have a few issues with the plot.

Author's website: www.laurendestefano.com 

Disclaimer: I received Wither from the publisher for review.