Book Review: Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Fever (Chemical Garden #2)
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Pages: 341
Release Date: 16th February 2012
Read In: May 2012

Goodreads - Amazon.co.uk/.com - Book Depository

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 woman 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 this 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.

While there were things that I liked about Wither, there were things I didn’t like. I decided to continue the series because of the dystopia world. I hoped that Fever would be an improvement on the first book.

“What if he’s not there?
What if something goes wrong?
What if Vaughn finds you?
What if …”

My main problem that I had with Wither was the plot, or lack of it. I felt that it was just a lot of the characters sitting around, and I had no sense of what the story was. If a book is all about the emotional turmoil the character is put through, then this would have been fine. Unfortunately this was not the case either. But that was Wither. Fever was a different story all together. There was a story, there was a journey. There was a reason for me to keep reading. I wanted to know what happened next. There were even moments of added tension. I definitely enjoyed Fever more because of this.

Second thing that Fever improved upon was Rhine’s relationship with Gabriel. Well just Gabriel in general. I didn’t understand what Rhine thought of Gabriel in Wither. More of the story was describing her feelings on Linden than of Gabriel. However, Gabriel was the guy she was pinning for. Fortunately, with the added Gabriel time in Fever, I now actually understand what Rhine sees in him. He is so caring and protective without being overbearing. I definitely understand him better now. Looking forward to finding out more about him book 3.

Unfortunately, I still cannot connect with Rhine. It feels like I am walking along behind her, following the events that unfold. I’m not inside her head as much as I want to be. There is rarely an expression of emotion and, when there is, it feels false to me. I want to connect with her but I can’t. She is not making wildly different decision to those I would make, so it shouldn’t be too hard but...

Fever felt a little detached from the events in the first book; like it was its own story. A few tweaks, here and there, and it could have been. Maybe this was just me.

Looking back this review may seem a bit negative. I actually did enjoy this book. It is just these points that creep into my mind as I am reading it. There was a plot, there was mystery, and there was a little action. Fever has stepped it up, slightly. I’m looking forward to Sever, especially with that cliff-hanger. Hopefully the series will go out with a bang. 

Becky