Fever

January 15, 2012
The atmospheric worldbuilding, moral dilemmas and romantic possibilities of Wither (2011) never heat up in this, the second novel in the dystopian Chemical Garden Trilogy. Having recently escaped the compound where she was forced to marry, take on sister wives and ultimately become her evil father-in-law Vaughn's scientific experiment in the name of finding a cure for the virus that kills off men and women at a young age, Rhine, along with former servant and love interest Gabriel, finds herself in trouble again. Plotting another escape from a heartless "First Generation" who runs a brothel out of an abandoned carnival site, continuing to evade Vaughn, picking up a malformed and mute girl and trying to find Rhine's twin brother should be adventurous. And finally being able to communicate freely should bring out the intimacy between Rhine and Gabriel. Instead, the repetitive story, filled with too many similar dream sequences and nearly nonstop illnesses, falls flat, and readers may wonder at times if Rhine and Gabriel even like each other. Their constant running and hiding overshadow the interesting questions about the ethics of science, relationships, sexuality and power raised in the first book. Readers who want to know more about the causes and effects of the mysterious virus will have to wait for the third installment, purposefully set up by another rushed ending. (Dystopian romance. 14 & up)

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April 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-This sequel to Wither (S & S, 2011) is set in a dystopian future where all children die in their 20s, which has caused society to crumble. Soon after escaping from Vaughn's home in Florida, Rhine and Gabriel land in the remains of an old amusement park somewhere in the Carolinas. The park is now a scarlet district where young girls are drugged and forced into prostitution, and the gritty scenes are realistic. With some help, they are able to escape and continue on their journey to find Rhine's twin brother, Rowan. When they arrive in New York, they discover that Rowan has burned down their home and is nowhere to be found. Then Rhine becomes sick, three years before the virus is supposed to take her. Gabriel thinks that this has something to do with the medical tests that Vaughn had been doing on her and his son's other brides. They decide to confront him, but before they can leave, he finds them and takes Rhine back to continue running tests on her in his laboratory. The story is unevenly paced and has little secondary character development, and readers unfamiliar with the first novel will be lost, as they won't understand how this virus started or why the society is in chaos.-Erik Carlson, White Plains Public Library, NY

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2012
Grades 9-12 This sequel to Wither (2011), set in a futuristic society, continues Rhine's first-person account as she flees a forced marriage and, accompanied by faithful servant Gabriel (who also loves her), heads to New York to find her twin brother. The trip is eventful, from a brief (sexless) stint in a prostitution ring that leaves Rhine tending someone else's love child, to being subjected to extensive medical testing by her vengeful father-in-law. A certain lack of energy and a bleak tone drag the plot, even in situations where characters' lives hang in the balance, but DeStefano's rich use of language helps set this dystopian tale apart. Readers will be able to follow Rhine's story without reading the first book in the Chemical Garden Trilogy, but the references to her foreshortened lifespan and the depth of her father-in-law's intentions lose some of their urgency without that background information. Try this with Ilsa J. Bick's Ashes (2011) or, for the prose, Alice Hoffman's Green Angel (2003). HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The publisher's extensive marketing strategy will ramp up buzz with exclusive downloadable content, a video trailer, and wide-ranging promotional efforts.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)