Sever (The Chemical Garden, #3)

Sever by Lauren DeStefano
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Again, this is unexpected, dark, and twisted. I'm still a bit surprised about the events that occurred with several characters, and surprise is usually good in terms of holding my attention, even if it's bad in terms of storyline.

The writing is still gorgeous, with good imagery and vivid characters, but some things that occurred felt either very abrupt, out of character, and/or out of the blue. I think this suffered some issues in the world building department, which left me feeling a bit unsatisfied by the finale. I mean, I still liked the book and loved the series overall, but I'm not sure how to feel about this one. I raced right through it, because there's tons of drama and intrigue, but I'm not sure if I enjoyed the racing. I think some of the ideas presented in this book needed more room to breathe.

But overall, it was an interesting read, and I'd recommend the series to most dystopian addicts.

Book 237 read in 2018

Pages: 371

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Fever by Lauren DeStefano
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is such a twisty, bizarre story, a bit . . . psychotropic.Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every second of it, even if there were some stretches that felt a bit slow (helpful hint: they aren't that slow when you listen to the audiobook at 3 speed, but honestly, I was never bored with this).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this isn't standard, which is probably why it held my attention so well. I would have liked a bit more to happen in book 2, but I'm also not unhappy with the weird journey we took. It was definitely unexpected, which is at the very least, refreshing.

Book 236 read in 2018

Pages: 341

Wither (The Chemical Garden, #1) by Lauren DeStefano

Wither by Lauren DeStefano
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I bought this book when it first came out, and then for some reason, I waited 7 years to get around to reading it. That's how stupid I am, because once I picked this up, I could not put it down. I read it straight through and tuned out the whole rest of the world until I finished.

This is a mess, and I loved it. This is a dystopian YA, and while I've read a lot of books in this genre, and there are obviously some similarities in this world to some other dystopian worlds I've read about, I still founds this one to be . . . unexpected.

It's definitely dark, twisty, and occasionally uncomfortable. So, of course, I love that.

Plus, it has a love triangle, which quite frankly is an aspect of YA that I almost always enjoy. Because, come on! A girl needs choices. She can't just fall for the first broody male on the scene. Give me two, or even three options, as far as I'm concerned. Let's stop pretending that the whole world falls in love with the first person they ever kiss, because let's face it. That's the exception, not the rule.

Book 231 read in 2018

Pages: 358

---

The Seeds of Wither by Lauren DeStefano (Novella 1.5)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a short novella that comes between books 1 and 2. It's not as exciting as I hoped, but I don't regret having read it.

Book 233 read in 2018

Pages: 77