Wither by Lauren DeStefano-Review

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

I read Wither this month because it is the book club pick for my Young Adult Book Club and I liked it!  Here is the goodreads description:

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children. When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

This book has some great discussion going on in my book club!! I do like Wither and I will read the next book in the series. There are some holes in the story but the characters were interesting enough for me to continue. I'll be interested to see if Rhine finds her brother, what happens to Cicily, and what will become of Gabriel and Rhine. I wonder what will happen with Rhine's eyes? I feel like eventually that will be a big part of the story. How do you guys feel about boys living 5 years longer then girls? I didn't really understand that. I felt that the book tried to make science into a bad thing. Was it so wrong to dissect Rose's body? I suppose if she didn't donate it to science... but in these circumstances I don't think it's wrong. Now Vaughn giving Linden the fake ashes was wrong that's for sure. What about Rose's baby????? Did Vaughn store some of the virus from Rose and then give it to Jenna??

 Rhine... I thought she was an interesting character. I was surprised it took a whole year for her to leave. A WHOLE YEAR! That is a long long time. And then all she did was walk out the gate? And there was no plan for the gate? Really she thought one of the wives scan cards were going to work to get to the outer gate? And her Gabriel barely knew each other! I haven't been in a hurricane so I didn't think her trying to escape during one was that big of a stretch. She just thought everyone would be busy and that would be a good time to go. I guess not being in the situation myself I can't really say why it took a year. Maybe she just needed to work up the courage? I have to agree with the time passage in this book. I couldn't believe that it had been a year at the end of the book. But I suppose it had to be at least 6 months since Cicily had a baby. I do like Rhine... I mean I thought she did care about the people in the house with her.. but if I were her I would've left much sooner.

This book just stirs up a lot of debates!  What did you think of it?

 Here is my review on Fever 
Here is my review on  Sever