Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither (The Chemical Garden #1)
By Lauren DeStefano
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

To Sum It Up: Scientific research efforts have resulted in the eradication of disease in humans. This achievement, however, has come with unforeseen and devastating consequences. Males die at the age of 25. The female life span is even shorter, ending at age 20. Groups called Gatherers routinely kidnap teenage girls and sell them into polygamous marriages with wealthy men in order to produce children. Sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery’s life is shattered when she is captured by Gatherers and forced to be one of Linden Ashby’s brides. Although she now finds herself in luxurious surroundings with a husband who actually cares about her, all Rhine can think about is how to escape this life that she never wanted.

Review: Once again, it was a beautiful cover that reeled me in. I’d heard quite a bit of buzz about Wither, but I wasn’t familiar with its plot at all. Right before I began reading it, I perused the jacket blurb. Whoa. Of the handful of dystopian YA novels that I’ve read, this one definitely had the most outré premise.

My initial shock wore off once I got reading. Wither is actually a very well-written and well-paced novel. It turned out to be a fast read; I kept turning the pages to find out what would happen next. At the same time, though, some aspects of this book's world seemed implausible to me. How is it possible that only North America survived a third world war while the rest of the continents were obliterated? According to the book, it’s because North America possessed “the most advanced technology,” but there’s no further explanation. Then there’s the whole dying at 25/20 thing. They’re just arbitrary numbers when there’s no background information to detail exactly what went wrong with the genetic engineering that wiped out disease but shortened life spans.

I disliked the main character, Rhine. In the beginning, I did feel sorry for her; who wouldn’t? Her incessant complaining about how she needed to escape and return home to her twin brother, Rowan, got to me after a while. In my opinion, she didn’t make much of an effort to get out of there and wasted her energy on moaning about her situation. I think that Rhine’s sister wife, Jenna, would have made a more compelling protagonist. Jenna is shrewd and observant. She’s smart enough to melt into the background, drawing as little attention to herself as possible while taking in everything that goes on around her.

The male characters weren’t much more interesting. I still don’t know what to make of Linden. He appears to be the puppet of his creepy father, Vaughn, but is it possible for Linden to be that ignorant of how his wives ended up with him? As for Gabriel, the servant to whom Rhine grows very close, I don’t see what makes him so special in her eyes. He’s simply there. I couldn’t find any chemistry between those two.

This has been a difficult review to write. As I said before, the writing is really excellent and absorbing. I became invested in the fate of the characters, even though I didn’t like most of them. If the world had been more believable and the characters better developed (and Rhine less whiny!), I would have enjoyed Wither more.

All in All: This is another one of those books that some people will love and others won’t. For me, it’s the quality of the writing that’s convinced me that I should check out the next book in the series, Fever. Plus, I’m a bit curious about what happens to the characters.

Top Ten Tuesday (6): Rewind

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week is Top Ten Tuesday Rewind, where you pick any past topic you want. We chose:

Top Ten Authors We'd Love to Meet

1. Jane Austen: Based on the wicked sense of humor that is displayed in her novels and letters, we imagine that she'd be just as witty in person. We'd have to find out who her favorite on-screen Darcy was and what she thought of Becoming Jane.
2. William Shakespeare: Maybe we'd finally get to know his whole life story. Plus we'd like to hear his opinions on the movie adaptations of his plays.
3. Edgar Allan Poe: What made the mind behind those macabre tales tick?
4. J. K. Rowling: This conversation would probably be one-sided because we'd be speechless with awe. We might muster the courage to ask some questions about the Marauders' time at Hogwarts.
5. George R. R. Martin: It always amazes us how he manages to keep track of all of those characters in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. Naturally, we would have to ask him how the next book is coming along and beg him not to make us wait another 6 years for it.
6. Cassandra Clare: There would be lots of gushing about how obsessed we are with the world of the Shadowhunters in both The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments.
7. Suzanne Collins: Of course we'd tell her how much we love The Hunger Games, but we'd also need to discuss what happened to a certain character.
8. Maria V. Snyder: Her Study series is another one of our favorites. We'd ask her to pretty please write some kind of prequel story for Valek.
9. Laini Taylor: We love the world of Daughter of Smoke and Bone and would be interested to hear what inspired her to create it.
10. Stephenie Meyer: We just want to know if there's ever going to be a sequel to The Host.

What topic did you choose for your Top Ten this week? Leave your link, and we'll check it out! Thanks for stopping by!

Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1)
By Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

To Sum It Up: In this futuristic take on Cinderella, the title character is a cyborg who lives with her human stepmother and stepsisters in New Beijing. Cinder’s occupation as a mechanic leads her to cross paths with the handsome Prince Kai, who brings his malfunctioning android to Cinder for repair. Cinder doesn’t have much time to dwell on her brush with royalty, though. Soon after her encounter with Kai, her beloved stepsister, Peony, contracts the plague that is ravaging Earth. Cinder’s stepmother, Adri, blames Cinder for Peony’s fate and volunteers Cinder as a test subject for plague research. When lab testing reveals that she is no ordinary cyborg, Cinder’s mysterious and forgotten past becomes crucial to saving Earth from more than just the plague.

Review: In addition to being a book nerd, I’m a huge computer geek. I mean, I had way too much fun tweaking the HTML and CSS of this blog’s template. Given my enthusiasm for all things technological, the premise of Cinder really appealed to me. It’s such an imaginative twist on a classic fairytale. I loved the technology of this world and how seamlessly it was weaved into the story. I loved that Cinder was a tech whiz whose skills were so well known that Prince Kai sought her help. It was great to see a tech-savvy female protagonist; I don’t recall encountering any others in my literary adventures so far.

Cinder was an interesting heroine. How could she not be, being a cyborg with a past that she can’t fully remember and all? I liked her determination and resilience. I thought that her best scenes were with her android friend, Iko, and Prince Kai. Iko and Cinder exchange the funniest snippets of dialogue in the book. As for Kai, the steadily budding attraction between him and Cinder is very sweet. I loved Kai; he’s charming, smart, and protective of his people. He isn’t afraid to stand up to the sinister Lunar queen, Levana, or her lackeys. The best part is that he manages to be all of these things without coming across as ridiculously perfect. My request for future books in this series: more Kai, please.

For all of its originality, though, Cinder has a few shortcomings. Cinder’s secret becomes pretty obvious early on in the book. The multiple plotlines (Cinder’s mysterious past, the plague, threat of a Lunar invasion, and let’s not forget the ball, either) sometimes feel as though they’re competing with one another for the reader’s attention rather than coming together as a whole. Then there's the ending. Even for a cliffhanger, it really leaves the reader dangling. I would have liked a little more closure than that. Oh well- it looks like I have no choice but to wait for the sequel.

All in All: The uniqueness of the main character is what drew my attention to this book, and it was worth checking out. I borrowed this from the library, and although I wasn’t wowed enough to want my own copy, I’ll definitely continue with the series.

Stacking the Shelves (4)

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It's an opportunity for everyone to share the books which we've added to our shelves.
Ally's catching up on some reading, so it's just my small book haul this week:

Borrowed:
Shakespeare's Scribe by Gary Blackwood
Shakespeare's Spy by Gary Blackwood
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev
Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Red Glove by Holly Black

I really enjoyed The Shakespeare Stealer, so I'm looking forward to reading the sequels. I had hoped to get both the second and third books in The Curse Workers series, but alas, the library only had the second book on the shelf.

What did you add to your shelves this week?

Review: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Leviathan (Leviathan #1)
By Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Simon Pulse

To Sum It Up: In a world where Darwinists and Clankers compete in a war that will decide the supremacy of animals or machines, Deryn Sharp and Prince Aleksander are caught right in the middle.

Deryn yearns to be in the air. She wants to be in the British Air Force, flying on beasties and serving her country. There is one small problem, though. Deryn is a girl, and girls are not allowed in the air force. Forced to disguise herself as a young boy, Deryn lands herself a spot on the Leviathan, a famous giant whale airship. The Leviathan is Britain's prized possession; not only is it a brilliant ship, but it can also support an entire ecosystem, and Dylan, as Deryn now goes by, is more than proud to be a part of it. From hiding her secret, to training as a midshipman on the Leviathan, to fraternizing with Clankers, Deryn has a lot on her plate, especially with the war coming.

Prince Aleksander has led a pretty charmed life, up until now that is. Alek's father, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, married a commoner, leaving Alek illegitimate in the eyes of his family and making Alek's claim to the throne almost nonexistent. When Alek's parents are murdered by whom he suspects to be his own people, Alek is forced to go on the run from his own country. Hated by the Darwinists for being a Clanker and chased from his own Clanker country by his own people, Alek is left with a small walker, a Clanker battle machine, as a home and a small band of loyal crewmen as his family.

When Alek and Deryn meet, not only do both change each other’s lives forever, but they also might just be able to change the tide of the war.

Review: Leviathan was a beautifully written book with elegantly crafted illustrations. Yes, illustrations. There is at least one in every chapter of this stunning book! It was like a nice little present every chapter; I looked forward to each new picture, and I wouldn't be lying if I said the illustrations added to my enjoyment of the book. Besides the amazing pictures found in Leviathan, the story itself was something else. Scott Westerfeld wrote a whole entire world when he wrote this book. Leviathan is my first steampunk novel, so I thought the whole idea was fascinating and captivating. Westerfeld describes the genetically engineered animals and Clanker machinery vividly. And if you don't get the whole picture Westerfeld is trying to get across, all you have to do is look at the illustrations on the next page, which capture the scene perfectly. Westerfeld also incorporated factual, historic events into the story. Leviathan most undoubtedly is taking place during World War I. I found it extremely fun to connect real life events with their fictional counterparts. And reading Leviathan while I was taking A. P. World History didn't hurt either.

Although I could gush about the setting of the novel forever, I would really like to move on to the main characters. I loved Alek and Deryn! They were both great protagonists, and I found myself connecting to both of them for different reasons. Usually, in books with different POVs, I tend to pick a favorite and then get annoyed whenever the story isn't focused on that person. In Leviathan's case, this did not happen. I loved both of them, Deryn and Alek, equally. I kept hopping back and forth between who I liked more until I finally came to the understanding that I loved them both.

Deryn is amazing! She does whatever she has to do to reach her goals and if that means masquerading as a boy, so be it. I just thought she was so cool! She got a place on board the Leviathan and she's always swinging about, right in front of the face of danger.

Alek was also pretty cool. I felt terribly bad for him and admired him for holding it together like he did. He's not some stuck-up prince. He really cares about the well-being of his men. Alek is a fighter and isn't afraid to go after what he wants. Awww I want Deryn and Alek to get together! They deserve each other! Sorry, I'll try to stop gushing. The minor characters were also lovable. Oh well, at least I tried ;) I was intrigued by Alek's loyal crew of men and fascinated by Deryn's shipmates and beasties.

Another thing I loved about Leviathan was all the action! Leviathan was set during the Great War, and so Westerfeld set the scene! It was really cool, and almost every action scene had my blood pumping. Deryn was fearless; she swung from ropes thousands of feet in the air. Alek expertly piloted clunky battle machines, stunning even the best master of mechanics!

In the end, I really loved Leviathan. The book was very refreshing, and it has opened my mind to other steampunk novels. I'm not lying when I say that I'm itching to get my hands on the sequel and will gladly read the third book after that.

All in All: Leviathan is an amazing story. The plot and characters are refreshing and unique. Sadly, I do not own my own copy. I had to borrow Leviathan from the library, but I will be sure to save up to get the whole trilogy! ;)