Genre: YA Dystopian
Rating: A
For: ARC sent for review (released March 22)
From: Publisher (Simon and Schuster)
This is one of those books that just showed up at my door, and I could tell right away that it would be one to add to the "for sure" pile. Awesome looking cover, and a crazy dystopian premise.
This is a story about a girl who gets kidnapped to be part of a polygamous marriage in order to save the race. In this world, girls die when they are 20 and boys when they are 25, due to the fact that their parents chemically engineered themselves to erase all disease and bad stuff which then backfired on their offspring.
It turns out that even though they (the three girls chosen) are held prisoner by their new master/husband, the conditions in which they live are actually very lavish and luxurious. And compared to the conditions they were living in before, this is a welcome escape almost... especially for some of them.
Rhine, however, just wants to get back to her brother and refuses to buy into the game. However, she didn't count on ending up with feelings for her new young husband... or for the house servant for that matter. And she especially didn't count on become so close to her sister wives that she wants to help them, be with them and stick by them. All that being said, there's strange things going on in this house and she desperately wants to escape.
I thought this was a fascinating, page turning story. A sort of YA Handmaid's Tale....which, if you can imagine, is quite chilling, so be warned, it's dark... one of the darkest dystopians I've read. These girls go through some major trauma and are forced to grow up way WAY too fast. But Rhine, our main character, has some spunk and spirit that is fun to read and it's interesting to see where that takes her.
Bottom line: I really enjoyed it a lot. This is the first in a trilogy called The Chemical Garden trilogy, and of course, I'll be reading more.
Other Reviews:
Good Books and Good Wine
Presenting Lenore
Bookfoolery and Babble
Bookshelves of Doom
Sounds interesting!
ReplyDeleteI keep seeing this one about but hadn't actually seen a full description of WHAT it's about. Wow. It sounds like it'd be really, really interesting! I will for sure check it out! THanks :)
ReplyDeleteI've been wondering about this one. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. Maybe I'll give it a try!
ReplyDeleteI loved this one so much! I am about to write a review on it.
ReplyDeleteDang it! I just need to bump this one up the line and read it already.
ReplyDeleteI have this book and need to read it. Thanks for this post; a good reminder. I have not read your review because I need to read the book first. :)
ReplyDeleteI have this one on my shelves and I am so excited to read it because of all of the good reviews I have seen. I let my sister read it already and she really enjoyed it so I can't wait to read it myself.
ReplyDeleteJust finished this in the wee hours of the morning. Really enjoyed too.
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