Wither

Wither by Lauren DeStefano.  Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, March 22, 2011.
Review copy received from publisher through GalleyGrab.

[from Goodreads]

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 genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among 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 Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

Is is just me or have a read this book before?  Lately I have been feeling like that with the new crop of dystopian novels that are coming out right now.   I think it is time to take a break from this genre and read different genres to just give me a break. 

I don't know why but Wither just didn't really work for me personally.  I have seen plenty of people who have enjoyed it, I just didn't.  I think it mostly has to do with the fact that I didn't really like Rhine.  When I don't like characters it makes it hard for me to enjoy the book, that is just the type of reader I am. 

The book has interesting elements, that essentially everyone from the newer generations have become ticking time bombs and they have limited time.  The father-in-law Vaugh, just creepy to me, anytime he showed up I just got chills down my spine.  I know this book will be popular at my library, I will be purchasing a copy for my teens since this book will never be on my shelves and as a teen librarian that makes me happy.  Just because a book doesn't work for me, doesn't me I won't have teens who will be itching to read this one.  Even if you are finding that you are getting tired of dystopian novels, at least in my experience teens are still enjoying reading them so make sure to keep plenty of different types stocked on your shelves.