With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.
Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.
In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered.
Hardcover, 371 pages
Published February 12th 2013 by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers(info grabbed from GoodReads)
I wasn't planning on writing a
review for Sever as I haven't written one for Wither or Fever,
but I could not contain myself. I also take pride in not having spoilers
in my reviews, but today I'm throwing that out the window. I don't care
if anything is spoiled, since I really don't recommend reading this book.
I do want to start with saying that I very much so liked Wither, and I
did initially rate Fever high. However, though I was excited at
the end of Fever as to what Sever would continue in the story, I
was pretty unhappy with the story a majority of the book. The world was
bleak, but instead of being a gripping and exciting read, I thought most of
Fever was filled with a whole lot of nothing important. I was interested
to see how these seemingly not important parts of the book would be made
eye-opening and provide some insight into the mysterious illness or ...
something. I was ultimately disappointed. Sever ended littered with
plot holes and with me sitting there thinking "What the hell did I just
read in those three novels?"
I don't know if I've ever read
anything that had so many unanswered questions. And, I mean, big
questions.
Plot Hole #1: Why were Rhine and
Rowan so important? It is mentioned that their DNA is different -- that
there is a secret within it. Retinal analysis is done on both twins, and
then BAM! a cure is found. A bit of explanation in between those
events would have been nice. The way it was written felt like the writer
was being lazy and had no idea what to put. It felt like words were
missing. There was no connection between the cure and the twins in the
words on the page. There were details leading up to the procedure, but
they were vague at best. These details include their parents were
scientists who probably altered their DNA when they were born. And that's
it.
Plot Hole #2: Why was Rowan blowing
up labs and why was Vaughn (Rhine's father-in-law) paying him to do
so? It seemed to me that this was a cheap plow to bring attention to
Rowan so Rhine could find him and to simultaneously link Rowan to Vaughn.
After Rhine and Rowan are reunited, Rowan's arson escapades are never mentioned
again. It's not like he set fire to one building to get Rhine's
attention; he was literally trekking around the country, giving speeches and
rallies, and ending them with the explosion of large research facility.
And we the reader are supposed to believe he was just doing this... why?
Plot Hole #3: How did Linden
die? Seriously. How? Most people don't have a seizure and
hemorrhage from a bumpy plane landing. Especially when everyone else
involved is unharmed, save for a few bruises. If Linden had some kind of
fragile brain or whatever, why wasn't it mentioned? And his dad is
supposedly a physician, but nothing medical was ever discussed. I can
only choke this up to laziness on the author's part -- there should have been
more research into the medical aspect of this book. I'm not just talking
about Linden's death, but with the "virus" as well. The only
medical information that is revealed is that it is not a virus really, it's
just that's what they call it since they weren't quite sure what it was in the
beginning. There's no further discussion on it. My point being, if
you're going to write a book and have it focus on any medical topic (or
topic outside the author's normal expertise), do some research. It's not
hard to find a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional to talk to about
speculating the possibilities of the future. That's one of the things in
science fiction that is so cool: speculating what could be. This
is where The Chemical Garden Trilogy
really let me down, as it promised so much brain food for me in Wither,
but didn't really provide anything beyond its promises in Fever and Sever.
I was not impressed with the writing
in Sever. I thought it to be filled with all the wrong
words. I was not impressed with the prose or storytelling; I
found the writing choppy and sloppy. I was not overwhelmed with
feelings for any character, potentially least of all Rhine, our main
character. I was not particularly anything throughout the whole third
book and continued to read mostly out of obligation since I already had read
(and own) the first two in the series. I have read a lot of books (I
started blogging after as well) since reading Wither and Fever,
so I think it's likely my tastes have grown and evolved. I can't say that
I would go back to Wither and love it
as much as I did the first read through. What I do know is I would not
recommend the trilogy as a whole to anyone, at this point. I don't really
like saying that, as it is a very harsh thing to say about someone's work but
also because I have already recommended this series to friends before I read Sever.
Final
Thought: "I-don't-even-know" out of 5 toadstools
If I think about this book any
further, I may scream
This review is also posted on GoodReads
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