Fever Featured

This book is pretty fantastic, and by fantastic I mean utterly terrifying and depressing. It's a good follow up to Wither. Even in the portions that are slower plot-wise, which, come to think of it, is really most of the book, the story moves along speedily. There may not be too much actually happening, but the pace remains fast.

Rhine remains a strong character, but she spends most of this book unable, for legitimate reasons, to show too much of that strength. The first portion, she spends drugged (thanks again, Madame). Later, she has other difficulties hampering her ability to act. Thankfully, there is an interlude in the middle where she gets to be more like the Rhine of the first book. I'm pretty sure she'll be back with a vengeance in book three, and I can't wait.

Another thing I really appreciated about this book is that there really wasn't too much of a romance elements to it. In that respect, it reminded me more of The Hunger Games than a lot of the dystopias targeted more to women; Rhine is focused on her survival first and foremost, meaning that romance is not especially important. There was a sort of awkwardness at times between herself and Gabriel, which lent a realistic air to their relations. I mean, think about it. They haven't known each other very well or for all that long, so how do they know how they really feel about each other?

Book three is definitely poised to be stellar. Nothing was resolved in this book, but the players have been moved into position for a real showdown.

my review:
This was... not what I expected. Not that it wasn't good, just that it was completely different from Wither. Again, that's not a bad thing. I liked Wither, and I liked Fever, too.
Some characters are lost, while new ones come in. Rhine and Gabriel are on the run, and they end up at all places they never wanted to be. Their life at the mainsion probably was better, even with Vaugh around. On their way to New York lots of unfortunate events happen, sometimes so unfortunate it seems unthinkable and unrealistic, but since it's dystopia it doesn't really matter :) Some of the characters (Rhine, most of all) developed a lot, and became complete different persons. Also, some of my facourite characters completely disappeared, which made me sad.
The dystopian world where Fever is set is so cruel, with everybody dying so young, after a short life they barely lived. The young girls becoming mothers, and the old people having so much power that it seems unthinkable. The selling of women as if they are nothing, and, above all, the normality of death. When someone dies you are expected to get over it immediately, or at least in a few weeks. Then you should just forget the dead, as if they never were there. This seems unthinkable to me...
The pace of this book was slow sometimes, but not annoyingly slow. I will understand it when people say that they found it slow, because it wasn't full of action or something. It were the small things that happened that mattered to me!
The writing style of Lauren DeStefano is not very special. It's nice but not new. I like to read it, it's easy to read and you can read it without having to repeat full paragraphs. Still, I prefer different writing styles, that are new to me. It doesn't really matter, but the writing style is one of the things that annoys you when it's bad, and you remark when it's good, but when it's normal you don't remark at all.
And now I'm going to talk about the plot *spoiler free*. It was pretty interesting, but I didn't fall in love with it entirely, probably because my favourite characters were not in this book. The thing I loved most about Wither were the love 'triangle', but there was no 'triangle' in Fever. It had been a long time since I'd read a book without a love 'triangle' in it, and it showed me that an author can write a good book without using the love 'triangle' btw, I put triangle in quotations b/c I don't really think there was a real triangle, but there were 2 love interests, so triangle seems like the best word to describe it...
And after looking at the cover, and before reading the blurb, I wanted to read the book. It's beautiful! The cover is worth the book!


You will not be disappointed by the story, characters or romance inside it. A must for all young adults that love dystopia

When I reviewed Wither, I struggled to give it a rating. There was no such struggle this time around. It’s not often that a second book is better than the first, but this is one occasion where it absolutely is. It didn’t read like a middle book to me. The writing is amazing and the visual imagery had me believing I was actually breathing ash in the air right alongside them.

This was a painful book to read. At every turn something went wrong for Rhine and Gabriel. It caused a physical ache in my chest just hoping that something good would happen (you’ll have to read the book to find out if it did).

This one is definitely much darker than the first, but I think it needs to be. Things always get worse before they get better – and I do have hope that things in this world will get better by the end of the series. It’s been alluded to several times, but I can’t imagine going through all of this – becoming so emotionally invested – for naught. And honestly, despite the dark and cruel nature of the story, it was always laced with hope. That’s what kept me going through the book and what has me dying to read the next installment.

Hope. Sometimes that’s all that keeps you going.

I was quickly reminded how much I love the characters, Destefano's writing style, and the chilling world that she has created. I've been eagerly awaiting this book, and it didn't disappoint, and I am just as on the edge of my seat for the 3rd one as I was for this one.
If anyone thought that Rhine's freedom would be easy, they will be deeply disappointed. But I loved following their journey, even during the hard parts, because I love Rhine's undying spirit, her loyalty to finding her brother, and how much she is a fighter.
It was emotional as she realized how much she really missed her sister wives, and even how Linden stayed in her heart. Her feelings for Gabriel are still there, but they still really don't get a chance to bloom because of all of their difficulties. I think, like Rhine, I really appreciate the freedom of choice here--I don't think they are in love, but I'm glad they're able to support each other, see if love blooms. I think that her feelings for Linden grew more than she wanted to admit, and I kinda wish that her and Linden had a chance to figure it out without the weird love triangle (was square I guess with Jenna, and I don't even know what you call it if you figure in Rose...) but I also don't want Cecily to be abandoned. So, if I as the reader can't figure it out and see the obvious answer, then I can only imagine the turmoil in Rhine, and that it really must be easier to try to forget/ignore the feelings for Linden. And that is not even factoring in Silas--but I can't really get too much a read on their dynamic. I def liked his character, and hope to see him again.
Destefano really knows how to torture her characters, and its hard to read, but it is awesome how they grow and change. As well as what their suffering and trials make me feel. I have no idea what is next for them, but I am dying to find out.
What did you think of the book/series, and what do you think about the love [insert shape here]?