Sever (The Chemical Garden #3) by Lauren DeStefano

* * * 3/4

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.

In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered.

I remember Fever felt like such a head trip I wondered how easily I’d fall back into this dysfunctional and creepy world. I didn’t have a problem at all.  No longer a runaway, Linden, unsurprisingly welcomes Rhine back into the fold even if he’s a bit cold or distant towards her. The guy really is too good to be true. He’s angry at her for leaving, confused by their friendship, yet tries to protect her from his overbearing father. Cecily, her sister-wife is also happy to have Rhine back in their lives. They do make an odd family and it gets even more bizarre once they meet up with Linden’s uncle, Reed. Where Housemaster Vaughn is a manipulative, untrustworthy control freak, Reed expresses more personality and prefers you not get in his way.

I really wasn’t sure how the story was going to develop. I was surprised by what I thought was a lack of urgency on Rhine’s part to get out there and find her brother.  It just felt as if she’d lost some of her spark. May be it’s because she’s recovering from Vaughn’s induced illness, maybe she just genuinely wanted to make peace with Lindley and Cecily, who knows, but something just felt off about her staying in place.  But what really bothered me was how many seemingly unrelated events were connected. It seemed almost too convenient.  

I guess I was expecting complications throughout the book because that’s what I remembered about Fever. Rhine and Gabriel were either on the run, caught and held captive or in hiding. So when things in Sever moved at a less frenzied pace, I just felt antsy and cautiously waited for something to jump out at me from the corner. That didn’t quite happen. That being said, I still enjoyed reading Sever. I think one of the best parts of it is Rhine’s eye-opening discovery of who her parents really were.  That turns her on her head and shifts her beliefs.

The Chemical Garden Trilogy has been such a pleasure to experience. Lauren DeStefano has laid out an incredibly detailed description of a world gone desperate. So desperate that it would gamble with its children’s futures leading to such disastrous consequences.  Sever brings to end a very long and hard-fought year for Rhine.  It’s definitely worth the read.  And if you’re into dystopian novels with a sense of the dramatic, or even enjoyed The Masque Of The Red Death like I very much did, then this entire series is perfect for you!

~ Bel

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

* * * 1/2

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion. But danger is never far behind.

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago – surrounding that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan , to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous – and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion … by any means necessary.

In this sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price – now that she has more to lose than ever.

I was so eager to read Fever that I’d forgotten how disturbing this story can be. It took me a good three chapters to get over it and allow myself to get sucked in. Where Wither took place within the secure and insulated confines of the mansion, Fever finds our heroes on the run exposed to a damaged, volatile and unsympathetic world.

Rhine and Gabriel are instantly dragged into a sinister environment in the scarlet district run by Madame, where apparently Rhine will be the new attraction in this circus-like brothel. Rhine plays along to buy time for herself and Gabriel employing the same tactic she used with Lindley – getting Madame to be comfortable with her and earning her trust. However, Madame is a very unstable character who gives Rhine plenty of the "heebie-jeebies". There were a few times when I thought things would get so wretched. Thankfully, DeStefano sidestepped a potentially terrifying scenario but she didn’t eliminate it entirely. Rhine and Gabriel eventually make their escape but not before a couple of close encounters with some unsavory people.

  

When they finally reach their destination, Rhine is destroyed to find that the home she left – that she held firm in her memory to keep her strong – is no longer the way she remembered it. And … her brother isn’t there. Scouring the streets for some clue, they end up boarding at a foster home. It’s tight quarters but it’s nice that Rhine and Gabriel have some semblance of security.

As Rhine broods over the way things have changed, Gabriel is taking it in for the first time. It's gutting to hear Rhine describe the world as it used to be through her memories and what her parents had shared with her.

Fever has some disturbing and uncomfortable moments that had me on edge but this is the world they live in. Each turn of the page like a hesitating look around the corner to see what's lurking on the other side. Even with the disappointments they've experienced, Rhine and Gabriel manage to keep their humanity intact. By the end of the book, you see how wickedly DeStefano has twisted and spun the story leading to a surprising cliffhanger!

~ Bel