Lisa Reviews: Lauren Destefano's - "Fever"
Wither was honestly one of my favourite reads last year, and one of the toughest books to put down, even when I was starving or when I had spent the entire night up reading it!
It’s been over a year since Rhine was snatched off the road and married off to Linden by his father. Fever starts off right where Wither ended; Rhine has witnessed two of her three sister wives pass away, started a relationship with the servant, and has finally escaped!
After their close escape, the two are on their journey to Rhine’s childhood home in Manhattan to find her twin brother, Rowan. But of course things never go perfectly as planned! Rhine and Gabriel run into this very strange carnival filled with tents. It houses young girls as prostitutes, selling their bodies to men. At this carnival, the couple picks up another traveler on their way out: a mute girl named Maddie, the daughter of one of the girls working at the carnival who wishes to give her child a better life. The three then spend the night in the house of a First Generation couple who are struggling with their own issues.
When they finally arrive at Rhine’s childhood home, they find it burnt down and without much remaining. Unsure of what to do next, Rhine, Gabriel, and Maddie head to the orphanage that has flyers posted all over the neighborhood.
For some reason, Rhine can’t get away from Vaughn. Everywhere the group goes, he seems to be right on their trail and she can’t escape when he shows up in a car and forces her to come back to the mansion. She knows she has no other options; if she doesn’t, Gabriel or Maddie could get hurt, so Rhine gives in and goes with him.
Her life doesn’t go back to the way it was when she arrives; instead she is locked up in the basement and drugged. Rhine has no idea how long she’s been there because she’s drugged so heavily and she only wakes up for a few delirious minutes at a time.
Rhine is scared. She’s worried that she’ll never see Gabriel again, that she’ll never see her brother again, and that she’ll never get out of there. She knows that she’s become another one of Vaughn’s science experiments, and that the chances of her getting out of this basement are low.
The Chemical Garden trilogy is so far out of this world! It’s like nothing I’ve ever read. I absolutely loved Wither, as well as Fever.
After reading the first book, I felt some disappointment and confusion about why the author skimmed over some very serious topics that were introduced, but in this second book I quickly learned that the world Rhine lives in is just that messed up. A lot of things we think of as wrong aren’t all that wrong in the type of world displayed in The Chemical Garden books, but instead are very common.
As before, I adored Rhine; she was smart and kind, even though she’s been through many horrible situations. Besides Rhine, in Fever we also get to her much more about Gabriel, which I was very happy about! He was so sweet, caring, and considerate of Rhine’s entire situation. My heart was broken when Vaughn showed up and snatched Rhine away, for the second time, from a boy who loves her.
If you’ve already read Fever then you know just how explosive the ending was! I still can’t believe everything that happened! Poor Rhine! Finally, it’s about time Cecily stands up and does something! And Linden is starting to open his mind to the idea that his dad isn’t who he thinks he is! That’s so long overdue!
Again, Fever was an AHH-MAZING read! And if I hadn’t already read the third and finally book, I would completely fan girl about it right here!
