Wednesday Reads: Wither

I've been wanting to read Wither by Lauren Destefano (Amazon) for a while. I didn't even know what it was about, despite reading the description multiple times. But based solely on the cover, I knew I wanted to read it. And I finally did. Worth it!

Synopsis:

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left.

First Line: "I wait. They keep us in the dark for so long that we lose sense of our eyelids. We sleep huddled together like rats, staring out, and dream of our bodies swaying."

Brownie Points: Rhine's relationship with her sister wives is slow, real, perfect. Also, the way Destefano treats the topic of polygamy is well done. Not at all in your face, condemning, or promoting it. It is what it is. World building at its best.

Recommendation: If you enjoy Dystopian, a strong, quiet, subtle character and story line, dark but hopeful, you'll love this.

Would I represent it? Yes!

Happy reading!