Wither

Goodreads Bit:  By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children. When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

My Thoughts:

-    I LOVE the geometric shapes and lines!  It is really cool!

-    The story is a bit disturbing.  I'd be scared to death to live in that mansion.  The book was SO good, but kinda creepy.  

-    It is a very somber book.  The emotions I went through during this wasn't happy.  It was sad, scared, angry, sweet, anxious, and bunch of other emotions, but never happy.  

-    The ending is good!  It is the first in the series, but it isn't a HUGE cliffhanger.  There are a few things left to wonder about, but overall, it is a satisfying ending.

-    Linden is so clueless!!  I wanted to hate his character, but I know a few guys just like him.  They let everyone make decisions for them and they are oblivious to their lack of control.  They can't make decisions for themselves.  It made Linden really believable to me, and I feel sorry for him.  

-    I would have liked to see more Gabriel.  I think Rhine and his relationship wasn't developed enough.  I really didn't a good feel of Gabriel's character.  I know he likes boats and is nice, but that is all.  

-    The book was really different, and I enjoyed the new ideas and everything, but I'm a little hesitant to continue the series.  I'll have to see other reviews before I decide for sure.