Wither by Lauren DeStefano

It’s some time in the future and every continent besides North America has been obliterated. Because of a virus brought on by genetic engineering, females only live to be twenty, males twenty-five. This has led people to kidnap young girls and force them into polygamous marriages so they will breed while they can. Sixteen-year old Rhine is one of these young wives, who along with her two sister wives, is married to a very rich young man with a very evil father (who had avoided the virus because he is of the first generation who are all extremely healthy and live to be very old). Rhine’s only desire is to escape and return to her home and her twin brother who she knows will be looking for her.

I really liked this book, it was well written and the story was well plotted and entertaining. The book is the first in a trilogy and I got the sense that a lot of what happened in the book was just setting up for the rest of the series. There seemed to be a lot of foreshadowing and character development going on. But not at the expense of the story though. I read this book in two days because it was a nice easy read but also because it was so interesting I couldn’t put it down.

Wither reminded me a lot of The Hunger Games, maybe because it was a dystopian novel with a female narrator, maybe because of the roles children (and teenagers) were forced to play in this new world but I kept finding myself thinking of Katniss and her struggles. I would think that a person who enjoyed The Hunger Games would probably like Wither as well.

I just have one tiny little complaint. The flow of the story, at times, just didn’t feel perfectly polished somehow. I know this is DeStefano’s first novel and it feels like a first novel. But a first novel of a talented author with many satisfying novels to come. I can’t wait to read the remainder of this trilogy and whatever else DeStefano may write.