Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Image and summary from Goodreads.com:

Obviously, something went terribly wrong. Genetic mutations have festered, reducing human longevity to twenty-five, even less for most women. To prevent extinction, young girls are kidnapped, mated in polygamous marriages with men eager to procreate. Sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery, a recent victim of this breeding farm mentality, has vowed to break loose from its fetters; but finding allies and a safe way out is a challenge she can only hope she will survive. A dystopian fantasy series starter with wings.

This book came with mixed reviews to me. I had heard from some of my students that they really liked it, while others said that it was only "alright." That's sort of how I feel about it too - it had a lot of great qualities, but then some that were only "alright."

For one, while the characters (especially those of the sister wives) were interesting, I felt that they were a little flat. Rhine, the protagonist, is certainly someone who has been put into a very depressing situation; so, I feel a little wrong calling her "excessively morose," but that was how she felt to me. Her constant self-reminders to hate her situation, loathe her father-in-law, and distrust her husband became a bit monotonous. Then again, perhaps this was intended to be a glimpse into what would truly be going on in someone's head who has been kidnapped and forced into a marriage - I suppose I couldn't speak to it from personal experience. (Thankfully!) The other character that left me wanting more was Gabriel, the servant-turned-forbidden love. While we see Rhine's attraction to him, I felt that his character could have been developed more. What are his motivations? Why is he living in this house? There were a lot of questions left unanswered about him that had they been answered, I probably would have been "rooting" for him more.

The plot was exciting and mysterious - I tore through this book! However, again, I was left wanting more. There were a lot of things that almost happened, or questions that were almost answered, but not quite. Perhaps it is because this book was conceived as a trilogy from the start? At the risk of giving away too much, and ruining the book for others, I will leave it at that. I know I am looking forward to reading the sequel, just to see where the story continues.

My only big problem with this book was the world building. My personal preference in dystopian fiction is to get some details and backstory as to WHY the world is the way it is. In this novel, though, that explanation is somewhat missing. People die at extremely young ages from a "virus" that somehow came about because of genetic engineering. (Problem here - and perhaps this is just because I am married to a doctor - but a latent virus that hangs out for differing amounts of time depending on gender seemed a bit strange. Genetic mutation maybe?). The other idea that struck me as strange was the marriages that are formed for breeding purposes. If having as many children as possible is the aim, which it seemed to be, why are they killing off or abandoning the girls who aren't selected for these marriages? Is there some sort of genetic screening to which we were not privy? It just seemed to be at cross purposes. On one hand, you have the wealthy men selecting only the most beautiful and unique girls for marriage - I can accept this. On the other, you have demands that as many children as possible are born to save the human race - while sort of disgusting, I can buy that too. But the two ideas just didn't work together the way I thought they would.

Like I said previously, the narration is this book can seem excessively morose. It is absolutely a pretty bleak world to live in, so I didn't exactly expect a perky narrator either. However, there seemed to be a few details on which the narrator harped, and nothing more. At the same time, I bought into her conflicting emotions about her husband and sister wives. Rhine's voice is compelling in that sense for sure.

One BIG plus of this book is the cover, without a doubt. A few of my girls even said that they chose to read this book for that specific reason! I was drawn in by the art too. The whole wedding ring connected to the bird cage really did speak to the themes of the novel, which I appreciated.

So, overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who, like me, enjoys a good dystopian novel and series and is willing to overlook some flaws in order to appreciate the mystery. There were no real content concerns, as long as readers are comfortable with the fact that these women are married solely for the purpose of breeding - obviously, they will be having sex. The sex occurs 100% off-stage, though, and isn't mentioned more than the necessary allusion to it. This book is a great quick read - just don't think too hard about it.