lizpatanders

I fell in love with Wither by Lauren DeStefano when it first came out, much like any other bloggers. Once I heard ARCs of Fever were available, I made an effort to search one out. Fever is different from Wither in a lot of ways, and although I enjoyed reading it, DeStefano’s sophomore novel left me wondering if the Chemical Garden Trilogy has a strong enough premise to stand out amidst a sea of dystopian novels written for teens.Wither is the story of a girl whose existence has been broken living in a beautiful but dangerous place whereas Fever is the story of a girl trying to start anew in a world that is falling apart. The segment of DeStefano’s world that we see in Fever is colder, darker, and more brutal than what we saw in Wither, and so are the images that DeStefano paints. Instead of hearing about Rhine’s eye make-up, we read about the flawed world around her. While I don’t think DeStefano’s writing actually went downhill, sometimes it felt that way because of the change in imagery.The plot of this book is bizarrely paced, and I don’t think it quite worked. DeStefano threw in a big twist towards the end and while it fitted with the story, I got a sense of déjà vu as I read. I could see why she chose it, but when I think about it in comparison to other dystopian books, I’m a little underwhelmed. If dystopian novels start to feel like other books in their genre, then I don’t think they set out what they intend to do, because the reader loses some of the shock value and horror.Fever has left me feeling uncertain. While there were interesting plot points, it left me feeling unsure about whether or not the core premise of this series is original enough to make DeStefano’s books stand out. Sever is a book that I eager to pick up, but it will take some major twists or impeccable world-building to convince me that DeStefano can write exceptional dystopian novels.