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Book Review of Wither (Chemical Garden, Bk 1)

Wither (Chemical Garden, Bk 1)
mreneerouser avatar reviewed on + 127 more book reviews


On the first few pages of Wither, the author revealed to me, kidnapping.

On the next few pages of Wither, the author revealed to me, kidnapping and sleeping gas.

Further, in the pages of Wither, the author revealed to me, kidnapping, sleeping gas, and indentured servitude.

Deeper into the pages of Wither, the author revealed to me, kidnapping, sleeping gas, indentured servitude, and Polygamy.

Not even reaching ¼ of the way through the pages of Wither, the author revealed to me, kidnapping, sleeping gas, indentured servitude, Polygamy, and rape.

Somewhere in the pages of Wither, the author revealed to me, kidnapping, sleeping gas, indentured servitude, polygamy, rape, and terminal genetic disorders.

I cannot believe I was still reading this book, when the author revealed to me, kidnapping, sleeping gas, indentured servitude, polygamy, rape, terminal genetic disorders, and pregnancy.

Yes, the list of social issues came to me like the 12 Days of Christmas song. Morbid? Yes. Twisted? Yes. Nevertheless, I did not write this book full of social issues. So dont shoot the reviewer!

Dont fret! The book handled the social issues with extreme care and effortlessly wove the issues into the newly created dystopian world that was explained in its entirety. NOT!

Ive watched someone I love die from Huntingtons disease, a terminal neurodegenerative genetic disorder. To see that issue, and other very serious issues handled so lightheartedly that the issues were practically glossed over, was disheartening.

I swear it was like the author had a central idea girl wants to escape back to her brother and needs the help of her new love interest to complete her plan and worked around that idea by throwing everything AND the kitchen sink into the book.

I am in no way a prude (look at my other books to see that I can, and will read everything- shocking, terrifying, gory, sexually explicit- you name it, Ill read it) but the irresponsible way this book was presented to the reader stopped me from continuing.

The characters did not help the story at all (ok, there really is no story, this is a YA romance wannabe). The characters were so flat and boring that I did not care one bit what happened to them.

If I sound annoyed. I am. This book is going to be a huge success and IMHO it should not be. There are so many wonderful YA books out there that do not have the right publicity and thats sad.
1.5 stars out of 5. Why not 1 star? Because it brought out my emotions and I guess that is worth a half of a star!