Review of Fever by Lauren Destefano
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 - surroundings 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.
I thought Wither was one of the most beautiful books I'd ever read. Fever is so much better. I don't understand how Lauren Destefano managed to do it but the title was so fitting throughout the book - the writing somehow made me feel like I was locked in a fever, seeing the world through Rhine's eyes and everything I tried to imagine seemed out of focus and dizzy. I felt like this throughout most of the book, with only brief chapters becoming clear when Rhine felt normal too, and that didn't last for very long.
We start our journey at a circus of a sort, although a glorified brothel would be a closer term for it. I found this a little frustrating at first - a couple of minutes of freedom only to be trapped again? But we were at the brothel for a reason - to meet Lilac and her 'malformed' daughter, Maddie. Maddie is a great addition to the story and brings a lot of laughter, despite not saying a word. Rhine, our central character is the same as in Wither and I didn't felt that I learnt anything new about her this time, which didn't bother me. Gabriel didn't really feel 'there' to me, despite having many more scenes, but I didn't really care too much about that either. Rhine's brother was the one that intrigued me. As she's thinking of him and their past, you get a better picture of who he is and I'm not sure I like him very much!
Overall, I didn't feel that Fever suffered from Second Book Syndrome and I loved the story as a whole, I think it moved it onto the third book really well. So well in fact, the first thing I did when I'd finished it was tweet to Lauren and beg her to let me read the third book. Well, it can't hurt to try...
5/5
Great review! I just can't get into these books, though. I made it through Fever but it just wasn't for me. I'm happy you loved them though!
ReplyDelete"I didn't feel that Fever suffered from Second Book Syndrome" --> TOTALLY AGREE. I waited to read Wither until I had a copy of Fever in my hands. So when I finished Wither (LOVED IT), literally the second I closed the book, I picked up Fever and kept going. OH HOW I LOVED DOING THAT!!!
ReplyDeleteI LOVED this book so much. I cannot believe the talent of Lauren DeStefano. She baffles me. She can write something so horrifying yet so beautiful. And her villain is so hated by me, so despicable. Vaughn is just awful.
I really fell hard for Gabriel, myself. But you know what? I find that I'm the only person in the world practically that did! Nobody else that I can find has the same feelings toward him that I did. I felt very emotionally connected to him as a character and very compassionate toward him.
Ultimately, this book was just outstanding and I have no idea how DeStefano can get any better with the next book, but I'm sure she will. So glad you loved it as much as I do. (It kind of breaks my heart a little when I find someone that doesn't like these two books...)
Wow, your comments are like two little mini-reviews! Yeah, I've never liked Gabriel because I can't think of anything about him - his likes and dilikes, why he'd go for a girl like Rhine etc...
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