Review of Sever by Lauren DeStefano



Series: The Chemical Garden #3
Genres: Dystopia, Romance 
Pages: 371
Publisher: Simon Schuster
Release Date: 21/02/2012
Find The Author: Website / Twitter
Find The Book: Book Depository / Amazon UK/US

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.


Will contain spoilers for the previous books in the series, Fever and Wither.

When we last left Rhine, she had just been rescued from Housemaster Vaughn by his son, who takes her to his Uncle's home in this book. She recovers there while making plans to (finally) go and find her brother, not knowing that in her absence her brother has started a rebellion against the very labs their parents worked for.

Reading Fever and Sever was both a bit like trying to ride an old rusted bicycle up a very long hill. I was desperate for Rhine to just go and find her brother already, especially as we'd waited THREE BOOKS for this moment. I don't believe she did head off to find him until about 40% into the story, which was pretty frustrating.

Wither, as I will always say, is one of my favourite books but it was like it was written by a different author. The rest of the series is bogged down by cliches, characters killed off for shock value and the inevitable pretty ending where every loose end is tied up in a neat bow. Well, apart from not learning the fate of one character which really annoyed me.

One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to YA heroines is the ones that do nothing, waiting for the next part of the plot to roll round as if they're at a sushi buffet. Rhine is the archetype of this, I don't think there was a single piece of major plot that wasn't handed to her and she seemed to need help from literally everyone, including bloody Vaughn.

I did really start to get frustrated with Rhine during this book. She'd learn something new, something really vital to the whole plot and then just keep it to herself. At no point during the story did she think that telling people what was actually going on would be a good idea, she just... sat there. It must have happened several times and by the end of the book I wanted to chuck her in the sea.

A major death in the book is never really explained. Like I watch 24 Hours In A&E and I know for a bloody fact that that's not science, where on earth did you pull that one from? Then I was like, okay, they're gonna live and we'll all laugh in the morning about how ridiculous it was to nearly die that way but NOPE.

Honestly I couldn't be less impressed. Adding to my frustrations was the literal throw in of Gabriel at some point during the book who continues to lack any semblance of personality and you just get a big giant pile of disappointment. I do think Lauren is an incredibly talented writer but has a lot of growth to do.


Comments

  1. Sorry that you didn't enjoy this book...
    I really hate it when that happens!!

    ReplyDelete

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