Review: Sever by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Sever
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Series: The Chemical Garden #3
Publication: February 12th 2013 by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Genre: Young Adul ~ Dystopian
Format: Paperback, 371 pages
Cover Rating: 5/5
Overal Rating: 4/5

With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered.

~My thoughts:

I'm a huge fan of Wither. It'll always be close to my heart because it was one of my first dystopian books that I read and loved. I must say that the second and previous book, Fever, wasn't as good as the first one. But it seems to me that whatever lacked in Fever, (I say whatever because I can't quite put my finger to what exactly was lacking) Lauren DeStefano absolutely made up for it with Sever.

I was dying to get my hands on this book because I wanted to see how it all would go on. It started out with Rhine still being in the hospital, about to be released. Things are kind of awkward with her and Linden but even so he helps her get a place to stay with his uncle Reed. Once there, Rhine starts trying to figure out, once she's ready to go, how to find Gabriel and her brother Rowan.

I love Lauren DeStefano's writing. I really do. And even more than that I love Rhine's voice. There's something different about it than other YA heroines. She has that thing that makes for an awesome one. This series is definitely different than other dystopians because mostly they have a lot of action like The Hunger Games or Divergent, and no I'm not comparing, I'm just saying, and to me it seems that with hasn't got much of that. But it really doesn't have to. I like it the way it is.

My favorite character is Linden. He has grown up quite a bit in this book. He's always been kind of a pushover and let's face it, naive to what was going out in the world. He has a hard time with what Rhine told him about his father but slowly he comes to terms with what she said was the truth. He struggles a lot with it and on top of that something terrible happens which is so sad for him (and Cecily). My heart really ached for him. Speaking of Cecily... I've never been her biggest fan because in my eyes she was such a spoiler brat. But she also has grown up a lot. Also went through a lot. Poor girl. So now I kind of like her. One of my new favorite characters is Linden's uncle Reed. He is SO different from his brother Vaughn. It's unbelievable they're related. I liked him a lot, yes. He was so kind to Rhine and even Cecily in the end. 

Now, Lauren DeStefano did say that Sever was going to be a kick to the heart. But, damn, it's so much worse than that! This book left my heart broken into a thousand, no, a million broken pieces in all sizes and shapes. I don't think I'll ever be able to pick them all up again. I am not kidding. I cried. And I never ever cry with books but I did with Sever so it says a lot. Even now I have a hard time with it. I can't quite believe what happened yet. It's so sad and that person and the people around didn't deserve what happened. 

Another thing I'm not quite happy about is how Gabriel wasn't in it until the end. It's weird, I actually missed him. I also wasn't his biggest fan but books can get weird feelings out of you, I have noticed. So, yeah, I wished I'd seen more of him but what I've seen was pretty darn cute at least.

The end, I thought it was all very well written and done. Finally a book that gives clossure at least. And leaves a little bit open for suggestions. Overall it was actually so surprising. Many twists I didn't expect. But I aprrove of this end.

I don't know how to sum Sever up. I liked the book, I even thought it was amazing up until the terrible, terrible thing happened. But I feel it's not fair to rate a book solely on that so I have it an amazing 4 stars. After all I went through this book so damn fast. And it actually brought up emotions in me that I could barely control. Thank you, Lauren, for this amazing series but damn you for what happened! You know what I'm talking about! 

Overall an emotional but brilliant and amazing conclusion to The Chemical Garden trilogy. Lauren DeStefano is an amazing storyteller and she'll make Rhine's story always be with me. Bravo!

~Quotes:

He looks at me, and I don't know what he sees. I used to think it was Rose. But she's not here with us now, in this room. It's just him and me, and the books. I feel like our lives are in those books. I feel like all the words on the pages are for us.

It's quiet for a while, and then Rowan says; "We could talk now. We're alone out here. No walls." "There are always walls." I say.

When we're alive, life consumes us. But when we die, all of the color and the motion is gone so quickly, it's as though it can no longer stand to be wasted on us.

~About the author:

Lauren DeStefano was born in New Haven, Connecticut and has never traveled far from the east coast. She received a BA in English from Albertus Magnus College, and has been writing since childhood. She made her authorial debut by writing on the back of children's menus at restaurants and filling up the notepads in her mom's purse. Her very first manuscript was written on a yellow legal pad with red pen, and it was about a haunted shed that ate small children.

Now that she is all grown up (for the most part), she writes fiction for young adults. Her failed career aspirations include: world's worst receptionist, coffee house barista, sympathetic tax collector, and English tutor. When she isn't writing, she's screaming obscenities at her Nintendo DS, freaking her cats out with the laser pen, or rescuing thrift store finds and reconstructing them into killer new outfits.

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