Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Summary: At age 16, Rhine Ellery has four years to live. Thanks to a botched effort to create a perfect race, all females live to age 20 and males live to age 25. On the cusp of her 17th birthday, Rhine attempts to flee, but what she finds is a society spiraling out of control.
Review: A polygamy novel parading as a dystopian novel.
I don't mind polygamy as a practice as long as all people involved are informed, consenting adults. And since fiction is fiction, I don't mind polygamy in books even if it happens to be unwanted. Wither had polygamy due to a virus that kills people off at very young ages. I didn't understand why the virus killed off men at age 25 and women at age 20. The numbers were so exact and didn't make much sense. A more general range would have been more acceptable. And if certain people are so concerned with continuing the human race, why kill off the unacceptable women? Why not just dump them back on the streets? Is it worth killing them? The dystopian background of the novel is not very well fleshed out and seems like an excuse to have polygamy in a novel.
I wasn't a fan of Rhine. She is so eager to escape yet manages to fall for Linden, who I wasn't a fan of either. He isn't a bad guy, but he still gets his wives by force and has sex with them (even though one is 13). Is it worth causing so much pain to continue the human race when people die so young? And of course she manages to fall for Gabriel. They barely interacted. I found myself eager to finish this book just to get it over with.
Rating:
Recommendation: I would recommend this book to anyone enjoys fiction about polygamy.
I don't mind polygamy as a practice as long as all people involved are informed, consenting adults. And since fiction is fiction, I don't mind polygamy in books even if it happens to be unwanted. Wither had polygamy due to a virus that kills people off at very young ages. I didn't understand why the virus killed off men at age 25 and women at age 20. The numbers were so exact and didn't make much sense. A more general range would have been more acceptable. And if certain people are so concerned with continuing the human race, why kill off the unacceptable women? Why not just dump them back on the streets? Is it worth killing them? The dystopian background of the novel is not very well fleshed out and seems like an excuse to have polygamy in a novel.
I wasn't a fan of Rhine. She is so eager to escape yet manages to fall for Linden, who I wasn't a fan of either. He isn't a bad guy, but he still gets his wives by force and has sex with them (even though one is 13). Is it worth causing so much pain to continue the human race when people die so young? And of course she manages to fall for Gabriel. They barely interacted. I found myself eager to finish this book just to get it over with.
Rating:
Recommendation: I would recommend this book to anyone enjoys fiction about polygamy.
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