Publication Date: February 21, 2012Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Series: The Chemical Garden #2
Young Adult
Pages: 341
Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Romance
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.*Pre-ordered novel from Amazon*
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.
Emotions, emotions, emotions. Feels, feels, feels. Lauren DeStefano really knows how to get a hold of me and never let go until the final page. Fever takes Wither to the next level and leaves me shivering, exhilarated, and overall exasperated. After the events of the first book we follow Rhine and Gilbert on their escape from Housemaster Vaughn and the demons that lurk in the world as the two tread back to Manhattan to fine Rhine's brother, Rowan. And when I say demons, I am true to the nonreligious word. This dystopian world is one hell of a scary place.
Rhine as a character was beautifully constructed yet again in the second installment of the Chemical Garden Trilogy and I couldn't have asked to read the point of view of any other character in this novel. She's strong, pursuing, and brave. From one hell to the next, through endeavor after endeavor, she pulls through again and again with nothing stopping her until she finally gets to her destination. With multiple roadblocks and Vaughn high on their heels, Rhine uses memories and trinkets, words and dreams to get her through the mess that the world has become and with Gilbert by her side, facing hell together and regretting bringing him down with her, we see the flaws that congregate Rhine, that with strength comes weakness.
The vivid world that DeStefano paints for the reader is breathtaking. Her vocabulary and sentence structure, the descriptive language and imagery present really brought this book to life for the characters to walk, run, and stumble through. I couldn't have asked for a better sequel, because Fever really was a nice piece of cake. Aside from the fluorescent pink hardcover under the jacket, the writing style was purely intoxicating. I loved it.
Final Summation: For those who enjoyed Wither or need a dark dystopian with characters to root for, the Chemical Garden Trilogy and this second installment to it is something that should be checked out and purchased pronto. I am excitedly waiting the final book and how Rhine's story is going to play out now with such a gripping ending that DeStefano gave.
First Line: We run, with water in our shoes and the smell of the ocean clinging to our frozen skin.
Story: XS
Cover: S
