126. Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Fever by Lauren DeStefano
The Chemical Garden Trilogy, 2

Rating: (5/5)

(US) - (Canada) - (Kindle)

Feb. 21, 2012, Simon & Schuster,  341 pgs
Age: 14+

"Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but they’re still in danger. Outside, they find a world even more disquieting than the one they ran away from. Determined to get to Manhattan and find Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan, the two press forward, amid threats of being captured again…or worse.
The road they are on is long and perilous—and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and men die at age twenty-five, time is precious. In this sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price—now that she has more to lose than ever."

Received a review copy from Simon & Schuster Canada.

Totally absorbing.  It has been some time since I read the first book and while the details are dim the images remain bright in my mind.  I found it easy jumping into book two and talk of events in book one quickly brought the details back to mind.  Rhine and Gabriel are the focus characters in this book, though several characters from book one return and a handful of strange and quirky new characters are introduced.  This is what I refer to as the "escape" or "search" part of a trilogy.  The entire book is devoted to the journey of their escape, heading back to Rhine's home, and her search for her brother.  A page-turning plot with surprising events, I was immersed for the entire read.  I especially found the latter half of the book with the experiments and hallucinations very creepy and well written.  My review for book three is standing in the queue and will be posted shortly.