Wither by Lauren Destefano

Wither By Lauren Destefano is the first novel in "The Chemical Garden Trilogy" and was published in 2011 and has 538 pages in the English edition. 

I love Dystopian novels that reflect aspects of todays life, In the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, we see a world where everyone is deemed to be pretty. In Wither on the other hand, we have a society that wanted to be so amazing that everyone in that generation took medication to become healthy and perfect human beings. The first generation after the ones that were injected died when they were either 20 for girls or 25 for boys. 

Rhines parents were part of the generation who took the medication. Rhine is our main character, she lives in a world with her twin brother where girls are baited and kidnapped to become wives for men to bare children so that the world can continue. Rhine and Rowen live in the basement of there house trying to escape the fate of people in there generation. 

Rhine arrives at a house, and is forced to be a wife to Linden. A rich man whose first wife is 20 and is dying so his father makes him marry Rhine, and two other girls.

This book shows the struggle of Rhine, she wants to escape from her fate in the house, bu is scared of what Lindens father can do to her. Vaughn has dead bodies in the house basement and he's doing experiments on them.  

I loved this book, I read it very quickly. I feel like I ignored my new kitten a little just to be able to read it, but luckily she left me alone as long as I read it to her! I loved the struggle that Rhine faces every day while she tries to escape and live in the wives floor of her prison. 

The book has a love triangle between Rhine, Linden and a slave called Gabriel, it was designed so that you would support Gabriel, but to be honest I was rooting for Linden! Even though Rhine was being kept there against her will, Linden was a sweetheart to his wives and I think that he doesn't deserve the treatment that Rhine gives him. Also Rhine knows that her relationship with Gabriel is dangerous and may get him killed yet she carries it on.

To be honest, even though I loved this book, I hated Rhine. She was annoying, and her values were horrible. I found myself wishing that she would give up on her "Freedom" and just to give up and stay with Linden and be a good wife! 

Thanks for reading my review!

Victoria Hammond
19

Guest Blog Monthly

 Vykie (Victoria) Hammond is a lovely friend of mine (twitter @vykcentricity) who has agreed to be my first guest blog! This section will continue every month on the 13th! If you'd like to be featured, send me an email bookishbloggish@live.co.uk

Lyra's Oxford by Phillip Pullman, a side story for the His Dark Materials trilogy, is an enchanting short story that stands alone from its mother-tale while still delving deep into its own history and laying the foundations for a future. The simplicity of a small chapter, that Pullman so often weaves together to create something much grander, Lyra's Oxford shows us a moment beyond the end, or what we took as the end. In this novella, Lyra is confronted with her own naivety, her absolute trust in what some say simply because of who they are, and as in the trilogy this changes her slightly and allows her to grow. Lyra's world will always change, much as ours does, and her story, full of cleverness and the absurdity of youth, will always grow and never truly end. Pullman portrays that perfectly, by writing a short story that ends, yet doesn't. He leaves us questions that are not desperate, they are not a cliff-hanger, they are simply an acknowledgement of all that continues, even after nobody knows it does.

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

Hi this is Bookish Bloggish and this is the review for Blood magic by Tessa Gratton, Published in England by double day and has 405 pages. This is Gratton's début novel and the beginning of a series.

The book is layed out with three different perspectives. Silla, Nick and Josephine whose diary entries are plastered through out the novel

The story centres around two young people called Nick and Silla. Nick recently moved to Yalaylah  with his father and step mother after his grandfather died. Silla is Grieving over her mother and fathers death which has been classed as her father murdering her mother then taking his own life.

Silla and Nicks lives are soon entwined when The Deacon, a mysterious man that is mentioned several times through out the novel sends Silla a book of spells that has been written by her father, and while trying out a spell on her parents graves, she turns a dead life from red back to green. Nick while walking through the cemetery see’s the magic and it reminds him of his mother who used to cast magic spell of her own.

The book centres around Nick, Silla and her brother finding out about magic and learning what they can do and gradually learning how to cast spells of there own. It shows how a teenager may grieve for her parents by clutching onto an idea that seemed to have been important to her father, and she is convinced that her father did not kill her mother.

The characters in this novel are strong, Silla is very convincing as a grieving teenager, but can be slightly annoying in the beginning of the novel, I found my self hoping to come to a Nick part. Nick on the other hand was strong in other respects, he struggles with his stepmother and gives her a nickname that he seems to fit her, namely Lilith.

Tessa Gratton does a fantastic job on her début novel, its not perfect but for a first attempt was pretty good. Her writing flowed and had a magnificent pace making it hard to put the book down. I loved how in the end the characters find the diary, and use it to help themselves over come obstacles in their way.

Although one annoying thing about the book was the multiple names for the characters. I personally was confused in some places as Lilith for example is known as four different things through out the novel, including Lilith, Mary and Josephine.

The cover for this book is amazing, In England we have the white edition which slightly upset me as the black american edition was even better then the edition I brought. I truly can not wait for the next book!