In this sequel to the excellent Wither, Rhine is making her way away from the glorious Florida mansion in the hopes of finding her twin brother Rowan. Along the way, she finds herself in a run-down brothel somewhere in the Carolinas. There she meets new friends, picks up a little girl, and finds some more crumbs to lead her back to New York. But all the way, it seems like her nefarious father-in-law is just a few steps behind. Reunion and separations, hope and despair, all occur in these pages. More of the chemicals in the garden are revealed and we get more views of what the US is like outside the gilded walls.
Show lessIn this sequel to the excellent Wither, Rhine is making her way away from the glorious Florida mansion in the hopes of finding her twin brother Rowan. Along the way, she finds herself in a run-down brothel somewhere in the Carolinas. There she meets new friends, picks up a little girl, and finds some more crumbs to lead her back to New York. But all the way, it seems like her nefarious father-in-law is just a few steps behind. Reunion and separations, hope and despair, all occur in these pages. More of the chemicals in the garden are revealed and we get more views of what the US is like outside the gilded walls.
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Rhine and Gabriel successfully escaped the mansion that held them both prisoner: Rhine as an unwilling bride and Gabriel as a servant. They thought the hardest part was over, but their hardships are truly just beginning. Rhine is determined to find her twin brother in Manhattan, but on the way, they encounter terrible situation after terrible situation, starting with almost immediately being abducted and forced to work at a brothel where both Rhine and Gabriel must bide their time until they can escape. Through all their misadventures, Rhine is getting more and more sick. Can Rhine and Gabriel cure Rhine of her mystery illness and find Rhine's brother?Fever is an odd book and I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I enjoyed the grittiness and the themes of a darker, more adult nature and the writing in general. Our characters dealt with issues such as prostitution, sexual assault, drug addiction, poverty, and polygamy. This book was much more bleak than the first because, instead of showing how the very privileged rich people lived, it showed the post-apocalyptic real world. The ramifications of war and global warming on our world are explored in detail. The only outside world focus in the previous book was the idealized version that Gabriel and Rhine yearned for in their gilded cage, so it was nice to see how it was really like. The writing drew me in and kept my interest as it did in the first book, but I felt that the novel didn't really go anywhere until the very end.On the other hand, the book was very uneven in more ways than one. The pacing is horrible and the entire book felt very static. The entire first situation is identical to that of the first book: they are stuck in a place where they bide their time and play nice until they can escape. I already read that book. Please move on. The world building is kind of wonky. There is no middle ground in this world at all; there are just super rich people, super poor people, and criminals. That's all. It feels a little simplistic to me. The way women are treated is kind of weird. Since they die a few years younger than men, they should be treated a little better than trash to be killed at a moments notice, especially when the government is encouraging people to procreate to prevent humanity from dying out. The danger aspect is also very uneven. One minute Rhine can't walk down the street without being kidnapped and the next things are fairly normal. If things had been a little less to the extreme one way or the other, I think it would have been better.Fever is a weird feeling book that falls into the snare of the second book in a trilogy. It basically sets up for the next book and not much else. The writing was still delightful and I enjoyed the book in general, but a lot more things got on my nerves here. I am looking forward to the next book, even if Rhine's brother sounds like a controlling tool.
Show lessRhine and Gabriel successfully escaped the mansion that held them both prisoner: Rhine as an unwilling bride and Gabriel as a servant. They thought the hardest part was over, but their hardships are truly just beginning. Rhine is determined to find her twin brother in Manhattan, but on the way, they encounter terrible situation after terrible situation, starting with almost immediately being abducted and forced to work at a brothel where both Rhine and Gabriel must bide their time until they can escape. Through all their misadventures, Rhine is getting more and more sick. Can Rhine and Gabriel cure Rhine of her mystery illness and find Rhine's brother?Fever is an odd book and I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I enjoyed the grittiness and the themes of a darker, more adult nature and the writing in general. Our characters dealt with issues such as prostitution, sexual assault, drug addiction, poverty, and polygamy. This book was much more bleak than the first because, instead of showing how the very privileged rich people lived, it showed the post-apocalyptic real world. The ramifications of war and global warming on our world are explored in detail. The only outside world focus in the previous book was the idealized version that Gabriel and Rhine yearned for in their gilded cage, so it was nice to see how it was really like. The writing drew me in and kept my interest as it did in the first book, but I felt that the novel didn't really go anywhere until the very end.On the other hand, the book was very uneven in more ways than one. The pacing is horrible and the entire book felt very static. The entire first situation is identical to that of the first book: they are stuck in a place where they bide their time and play nice until they can escape. I already read that book. Please move on. The world building is kind of wonky. There is no middle ground in this world at all; there are just super rich people, super poor people, and criminals. That's all. It feels a little simplistic to me. The way women are treated is kind of weird. Since they die a few years younger than men, they should be treated a little better than trash to be killed at a moments notice, especially when the government is encouraging people to procreate to prevent humanity from dying out. The danger aspect is also very uneven. One minute Rhine can't walk down the street without being kidnapped and the next things are fairly normal. If things had been a little less to the extreme one way or the other, I think it would have been better.Fever is a weird feeling book that falls into the snare of the second book in a trilogy. It basically sets up for the next book and not much else. The writing was still delightful and I enjoyed the book in general, but a lot more things got on my nerves here. I am looking forward to the next book, even if Rhine's brother sounds like a controlling tool.
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I found this book to be much grimmer than the first book, Wither. In this book, Rhine and Gabriel spend most of their time trying to escape and running from or to some place. It was rather tiring at times, and I often wondered while I was reading, Don't they need to eat more? Seriously, they subsist on almost no food until they get to the orphanage, and even then, Rhine still seems to have an anorexic-like view of any and all food. Not very realistic for teenagers, in my view.Moving on. Rhine's behavior while trapped in the carnival showed me that she can be very scatterbrained and disorganized, without any real planning abilities, even though I saw her as just the opposite in the first book. She seemed to just give in as the power of the drug "angel blood" is forced on her and Gabriel to control them. Her lack of motivation was disappointing, to say the least. The little girl she escapes with proves to be one of the most interesting variables in the whole book.Further events once they escape seem to just delay the inevitable, but they do help to draw a more detailed picture of the world that Rhine comes from - the desperation and depravity that so much of society has sunk to as the hope of its children continues to inexplicably die. The division between those that want to continue looking for a cure and those that don't is clear, but what is not clear for most of the book is what is killing Rhine, who should still have 3 years of life to go. The horrible Vaughn of Wither is like a haunting presence throughout the book, and he has more secrets than even I can fathom.The romance between Rhine and Gabriel is stagnated without the threat of discovery by Rhine's abandoned husband. Between escaping capture, living on the run, and futilely hunting down Rhine's brother, it has little chance to grow much at all. In fact, Rhine seemed to have more chemistry with another boy at the orphanage than she can maintain with Gabriel. Plus, Gabriel knows nothing about the world outside the mansion and is flung reeling into this life of survival that he could not have been prepared for - I can't help but feel sorry for him.The most fascinating scene in the book is hinted at on the cover from the tarot card in Rhine's hand, but unfortunately those elements won't be covered until the final, untitled book in 2013. I look forward to a conclusion that more cleanly wraps up this series.
Show lessI found this book to be much grimmer than the first book, Wither. In this book, Rhine and Gabriel spend most of their time trying to escape and running from or to some place. It was rather tiring at times, and I often wondered while I was reading, Don't they need to eat more? Seriously, they subsist on almost no food until they get to the orphanage, and even then, Rhine still seems to have an anorexic-like view of any and all food. Not very realistic for teenagers, in my view.Moving on. Rhine's behavior while trapped in the carnival showed me that she can be very scatterbrained and disorganized, without any real planning abilities, even though I saw her as just the opposite in the first book. She seemed to just give in as the power of the drug "angel blood" is forced on her and Gabriel to control them. Her lack of motivation was disappointing, to say the least. The little girl she escapes with proves to be one of the most interesting variables in the whole book.Further events once they escape seem to just delay the inevitable, but they do help to draw a more detailed picture of the world that Rhine comes from - the desperation and depravity that so much of society has sunk to as the hope of its children continues to inexplicably die. The division between those that want to continue looking for a cure and those that don't is clear, but what is not clear for most of the book is what is killing Rhine, who should still have 3 years of life to go. The horrible Vaughn of Wither is like a haunting presence throughout the book, and he has more secrets than even I can fathom.The romance between Rhine and Gabriel is stagnated without the threat of discovery by Rhine's abandoned husband. Between escaping capture, living on the run, and futilely hunting down Rhine's brother, it has little chance to grow much at all. In fact, Rhine seemed to have more chemistry with another boy at the orphanage than she can maintain with Gabriel. Plus, Gabriel knows nothing about the world outside the mansion and is flung reeling into this life of survival that he could not have been prepared for - I can't help but feel sorry for him.The most fascinating scene in the book is hinted at on the cover from the tarot card in Rhine's hand, but unfortunately those elements won't be covered until the final, untitled book in 2013. I look forward to a conclusion that more cleanly wraps up this series.
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