Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Recently, I've developed a bit of a crush on the dystopian genre. All the new ones coming out have been awesome, (such as Matched by Ally Condie and Delirium by Lauren Oliver) and I've found myself picking up all my old favourites (such as the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld and The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins). Even the next book on my to-be-read list is a dystopian, Divergent by Veronica Roth. And if you too haven't jumped on this genre to give it a massive loving bear hug like I have, well, why not?! The only thing is, I think Lauren DeStefano may have ruined all other dystopians for me with her brilliant debut novel, Wither.

(Look at that beautiful cover! After reading Wither I can’t wait to see the cover of Fever)
What if you knew exactly when you would die? Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb -- males only live to age twenty-five and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden′s geniune love for her, and a tenuous trust amoung her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape -- to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden′s eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant she trusts, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.
(Taken from Harper Collins website)

I'd heard many good things about Wither before it had even been released and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Though living in Australia meant I had to wait a little longer, definitely worth the wait!. And now that I've read it I don't think any of the reviews I've read could ever depict acurately the sheer amazingness that is this book. I don't I think I can either but I'm going to do my best.

Wither is a story set in the future in a world where through genetic alterations all the diseases we're accustomed to have been eradicated. In the wake of one generation of perfectly healthy babies came all the generations affected by a virus that causes all the men to die at the age of 25 and all the women to die at 20. Lauren DeStefano has done a beautiful job explaining the intricacies of this world she's created. Not only are we given the impression that this is a future that could actually happen we're horrified by the terrible consequences it has.

The novel is told from the perspective of 16 year old Rhine Ellery, a character I can't get enough of who is practically over-flowing with depth and life. There are many layers to Rhine and we're shown who she is when she faces the challenges of being sold into a marriage with a rich man she's never met before.

There is a full and realistic cast of characters including my favourites of Gabriel and Jenna. The interactions between these characters feels genuine and even those you don't want to you fall in love with simply for their depth.

What I loved most about this book though was Lauren DeStefano's writing style. Wither is written in beautiful prose using imagery and metaphors that bring this compelling story to life.

It's a thought provoking novel that left me longing for more. I now can't wait for the sequel Fever to come out. Waiting for it is going to feel like forever!

Miss DeStefano also tweeted this afternoon (afternoon in Australia at least!) "So there is a character, in book 3, that everyone will just adore. And if you don't, I'll bake you a muffin and serve it to you myself" I really want someone to remind me to remind her of this when book 3 comes out so if I don't actually adore this character we at least get her to come to Australia to serve me that muffin so I can meet her! Because in my opinion Lauren DeStefano is a genius and you should all go read her book!

4/5 Silver Platters!

- Laura

Review: Die For Me by Amy Plum

So you remember last week when you heard screaming, manical giggling and the sounds of a happy dance but could see no source for all the raucous? That was me. Yeah, I'm sorry for all the noise, but getting the news that I could read Amy Plums, Die For Me, early just made me that happy. It's even more impressive you heard me when you consider that I live in Australia and you live... well... I don't know where you live. But I know you heard me. That's how loud and excited I was.

I'd heard about this book a few months ago and as soon as I knew a little about it I couldn't wait to read it! And all that excitement, screaming and the subsequent losing of my voice from said screaming were totally worth it!

In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.

When Kate Mercier’s parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life—and memories—behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.

Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate’s guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he’s a revenant—an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again

 (Taken from Amy Plums website here)

Wow. That's all I could say for days after reading this book whenever anyone asked me what I thought, just, wow. It was amazing, unique and totally uncliched! And as sad as statement as this is, this is becoming remarkably rare in the YA genre. After the recent vampire craze (I'm not saying it's bad, hell, I was definitely a part of it, but am now a little over it) it has become harder to find a non vampire related book that's still paranormal and a great read. Well, this is definitely one of those special books that have you stalking the author wanting the next one faster than they can write it! (No, I'm not stalking you Amy Plum!...yet...)

I loved the concept of revenants in this book. They were something I'd never read about before and can't wait to read about again in the next one!

Die For Me also had a fantastic cast of characters ranging from those who were completely normal humans to the undead revenants. I adored Kate as a protagonist as she was someone I felt I could really relate to as a character and she wasn't one of those heroines out there who has no personality or can't think for herself. No, Kate was a strong lead who I loved all the more for the fact she actually bothered to think things through before diving in head first.

I also loved the boys. Oh those hot, sexy revenants boys. I swoon at the mere thought of Vincent and Jules. These were truly believable characters, if you take out the fact they're undead. Without saying anything that will ruin it for anyone I loved the fact that they'd both lived for a long time and were a little jaded because of it. And I'm sure that after reading this book a few of you will disagree with me when I make this statement, but, I want Vincent as a best friend and Jules as a boyfriend, because I think I may be a little in love with him! It's the whole sexy, french, tortured artist thing I think.

Amy Plum also has a fantastic style of writing. There was fantastic use of figurative laguage throughout the book and great descriptions that had me smelling the croissants and strolling down the Seine river with Kate in Paris.

I also need to say how much I adore the cover of this book! If I ever got a book published that would be the cover I'd want! I loved the old one with the boat, even more after reading the book, but this one is just gorgeous!

I want to reccommend this book so highly it's ridiculous! I mean so hoghly that should you want to scroll back to the top of this post on how much I love this book, you still wouldn't be high enough! In other words, as soon as it comes out drop whatever you're holding, unless of course your holding a baby or dog or other living creature, and go buy this book! You won't regret it!
You should also go and follow the author, Amy Plum, on twitter. I've talked to her a few times on twitter and she's super sweet and friendly and so nice. Her user name is @IHeartRevenants . Go follow her!

4/5 silver platter!

Laura 

Thank-you, Harper Collins, Amy Plum and NetGalley for letting me read this book!

Tempted By Tuesday: City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare and Red Glove by Holly Black

So, I am well aware that a lot of people out there in the blogosphere do posts which they title 'Waiting on Wednesday' to celebrate new release books which all come out on Wednesdays. This doesn't work for me. Why? Well, I'm Australian. This means that while we have the same date as everyone else for us, these dates are on Tuesdays. Hence the new segment for this blog: Tempted by Tuesday!

And to kick it off, two books I absolutely can not wait for that are coming out Tuesday week. Cassie Clare', City of Fallen Angels  and  Holly Black's Red Glove. With just over a week to go until their release I am literally counting down the days (Only ten more sleeps!) and am like a kid waiting for Santa if Santa was either an arrogant blonde shadowhunter or an awesome curse worker. Actually no, I think I'm more excited than those little kids.

For those un-initiated these books are:

(I know this is the UK edition of Red Glove but it matches the copy of White Cat I have and I assume this is the copy we'll get here in Australia)

The day I found out Miss Clare was planning on writing more Mortal Instruments books was a truly happy day for me. It's one of those days you'll always remember what you were doing, like (if you're that old) the day man walked on the moon, or the day you find out that that video you watched of man walking on the moon was possibly a hoax. I was stalkin-* I mean researching authors (wink,wink) when I stumbled across this tidbit, while literally stumbling as I was walking and reading the website on my phone so not looking where I was going, that Cassandra Clare was going to write not one but, *gasp*, three more Mortal Instruments books!! My squeals could be heard by my friend who lives on the other side of the state and called me to ask what all the noise was about!

Since then I have been collecting all the excerpts and quotes released online by Miss Clare and even entered and won a competition on her blog to win a copy of City of Glass with a chapter of City of Fallen Angels which wasn't available in Australia. And of course when that book arrived I didn't stroke the cover while also murmuring "My pretty...".

As someone who is also a fan of Holly Black you can imagine my excitement when I found out the sequel to the phenomenal White Cat was coming out the same day. Of course this also started an internal dilemma. Which should I read first? I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem though and if you've managed to come up with a solution let me know.

This problem was only made worse of course when I found out a friend of mine knows Miss Black and has already read Red Glove! The jealousy overtook me and I think I may have told her, in a purely joking fashion, that I hate her, too which her response was "You can't hate me, I'm too awesome!". And in that particular instant I had to agree. But what have you authors done to me?!? Driven me to hate those who are my friends? Ahh the jealousy is eating me from the inside out!

As you can see from the ranting, I may possibly be in love with either or both of these two lovely ladies! Therefore I was over mars (saying over the moon is cliche!) when I found out that Cassandra Clare would be coming here to Australia in May! I was a little sad that Holly isn't coming and found myself dreaming about it before waking up and gently weeping over the injustice into my pillow. Okay, I didn't weep. But I did dream it which may mean I need to see a therapist about my obsessions, anyway... I've already booked my place and am searching for my costume. Anyway who is Melbourne and wants to go all the details are here.
 I am tossing up between three solutions on how to decide which to read first:
                      1. Toss a coin.
                      2. Whichever I see first when I walk into the book store.
                      3. Jace Wayland and pure shadowhunter sexiness or Cassel and twisty cons and magic, which am I craving more?

I'm sorry to say this Holly Black, but if I go with option 3, the simple temptation of the Dirty Sexy Alley Scene will probably win me over! (If you haven't read the DSAS it can be found, along with all the other currently released quotes here.)

Laura

*Okay, yes, I stalk authors, I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's only in the least creepy way possible, all I know is blogs, twitters, home addresses, phone numbers, bank accounts and computer passwords so nothing really. Authors, you know those weird phone calls where you pick up there's some screaming and then the phone's hung up? It's me, my international phone call bill is astronomical.