Review: Fever - Lauren DeStefano

 Title: Fever (The Chemical Garden Trilogy #2)

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Release Date: February 21st 2012

Publisher: Simon and Schuster's

Pages: 341

Source: Bought (Kindle) 

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.

I loved Wither. I truly did, and it's such a shame to ruin such a beautiful series. This is one of those that have a MAGNIFICENT cover outside, yet the inside just freaking sucks. Bad.

I went about reading this hoping that the main characters will be better. Was I right? A BIG NO. Sorry to say it, but Rhine and Gabriel both have the personality of a brick. Seriously. If you tell me to describe her in three words it would be this - boring, stupid and selfish. ARGH. Rhine basically made me rip my hair out (and I like my hair, thank you very much!). Now, the love interest (it's a love triangle. But hey, people are stupid to think she won't end up with her 'true love' Gabriel at the end) Gabriel is probably the weakest and lifeless male character I've EVER encountered. Half the time I felt like DeStefano wanted him to come across as brooding, angsty, 'strong' man but I thought he acted like a girl on her period; either angry or unconcious. Let's face it. Rhine is the stronger of the two, and that's saying a LOT. 

You see, the book has to be heavy on the romance for me even like it, so FEVER is such a frigging disappointment. But I WILL read the last one, just for Linden and Cecily. And at least this book has a kick-ass villain. One of the things that made Wither so memorable, was the science stuff - the genetic engeering, and stuff like that. In Fever, there's like NONE of that.

The only reason why I wanted to continue this was for my love for Linden. The boy she left behind. And wouldn't you like to know - he literally appeared for like 5 minutes, and it didn't go well. You know what? I would have loved this story if it centered around Linden, and one of the sister wives, Cecily. At least they have personalities.

The first quarter of the book was intense! The carnival scenes were my favourite, and I felt so sorry for Lilac and Maddy (oh god is that even the child's name? I can't remember)! But when Rhine and Gabriel left Madame's, that's then the book's downfall began. They just kept making mistake after mistake. And I hated how after in this book, we STILL don't know where her brother is. 

The curse of the second book in a series strikes again. I felt like this book is just a bridge between the first and the last book. NOTHING HAPPENS. Also, you've been warned. Cliffhanger. I definitely won't be recommending this. I basically just scanned the last half of the book. And it felt like a chore!