Debut author Lauren DeStefano’s book Wither is getting a lot of buzz. It’s in that hottest of YA trends – dystopian fiction – and it has many elements of a bestseller. I was happy to get my hands on a copy.
Sometime in the future, humanity has mastered genetic engineering to a point where disease no longer exists. The first generation of babies born this way is perfectly healthy and long-lived. The second generation is healthy to a point – and then they die in a matter of weeks. Boys live to age 25, and girls to age 20. People are panicked about the human race dying out, so young girls are kidnapped and sold into polygamous marriages with young boys in order to produce babies.
Rhine Ellery is a sixteen year old child bride who is kidnapped and sold into marriage with Linden, the 21 year old son of a man named Vaughn, who belongs to the first generation of long-lived people. Vaughn is very wealthy and obsessed with finding a cure for the condition that kills everyone so young. He conducts experiments on Linden’s wives (three including Rhine) as well as Linden’s children to further his research.
Rhine is not a willing bride. She wants only to escape her prison mansion and rejoin her twin brother Rowan back home (her parents, also of the first long-lived generation, are already dead). The novel describes Rhine’s attempts to escape as well as her relationships with Linden, her two sister-wives, Vaughn, and a servant named Gabriel whom she starts to develop romantic feelings for.
I like my dystopias to be able to give meaning to our world today. Hunger Games does that. Delirium does that. XVI (another book concerned largely with sex) does that. Handmaid’s Tale (which this book is being compared to ad nauseam) does that. Wither doesn’t, and I don’t even think it tries. It has the potential to say a lot about how we view marriage and procreation in our own society, but this potential is never realized. It says a little about the danger of messing with the genetic makeup of embryos, since that’s what caused the early deaths in the first place, but this is only part of the plot’s setup and is not explored further. Social or political or cultural commentary, done in a subtle way, is what gives a dystopia meaning. Without it, the book is just a series of events.
I had a number of other problems as well. Some of the premise just doesn’t make sense – namely, I don’t see the reason for the polygamous marriages. If people are so interested in finding a cure for the disease that kills everyone at such a young age and they need babies for experiments as well as to carry on the human race, why are polygamous marriages the solution? Why not concubines? I understand that marriage is socially accepted in our society, but polygamous marriages are not, and haven’t been for quite some time. It would make a lot more sense to just accumulate a horde of concubines and impregnate as many as possible.
Moreover, this could be done more quickly and efficiently via in vitro – they have the technology. (The explanation given is that such technology caused the problem in the first place, but this explanation is cheap. Engineering the embryos is what caused the problem, not just impregnation via a petri dish.) It seems like the polygamous marriages were an attempt to make the book seedy. It succeeds in that regard, but the consequence is I cannot buy into the premise. That’s a huge strike against a dystopia.
Additionally, a major plot point is that the young girls who are kidnapped but then not chosen to be wives are killed. What, why??? When the motivation of these kidnappings, marriages, and rapes are to produce as many offspring as possible, why on earth are viable girls (and they are girls, not women) killed? Couldn’t they use as many of them as possible? It doesn’t make sense. Actually, there are so many things about Wither that don’t make sense, I can’t possibly cover them all in a single review without trying our readers’ patience.
A few other things that bothered me:
- Why do boys live five years longer? This book is, of course, the first in a series, so I can assume that an explanation is forthcoming in future books. This explanation needs to happen and not just become an unanswered question.
- Rhine refers quite a bit to how her twin brother, Rowan, protected her before she was kidnapped. Why didn’t she learn how to protect herself, instead of relying on her brother, who is the same age as her and therefore not necessarily better equipped to care for them? It would have been awesome if the roles were reversed and Rhine was the protector – then she’d have even more reason to want to escape and reunite with Rowan. I understand that not all female protagonists can be kick-butt girls, so this is my own personal preference rather than a criticism.
- This is not a complete story. Obviously I won’t give away the ending, but if someone had spoiled the ending for me after I had read about half of the book, my reaction would have been “And…? That’s it?” Sequels. I loathe them sometimes. But even books with sequels should tell a complete story. (That’s beginning to be a motto for me.)
I’ve given you a laundry list of complaints about Wither, but I don’t mean to say it’s a bad book. It’s just a mediocre one. I thought the writing was solid and most of the characters well-drawn. I finished the book and didn’t feel like it was a waste of my time, and I was rarely bored. DeStefano can definitely produce an interesting story. But that doesn’t make the book good.
There are plenty of people who disagree with me, and that’s fine. The book currently holds a 4.17 out of 5 rating on goodreads. Even by goodreads standards, where book ratings tend be rather inflated, that’s an impressive score. I’m sure many readers don’t really care about any sort of social commentary and can forgive a lot of nonsensical world-building, so Wither would suit them well. But when a niche genre such as this is flooded with so very many books, readers can and should demand better stuff – stuff that is not only written well, but has a believable premise and something more to say beyond just “This book is trendy.”
Wither will be released March 22. Review copy received from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.
Loved your review, Kim.
very thoughtful review. I've only heard glowing things about this book. it's nice to hear the other side
This is a really good review, and exactly what we may be seeing more of as Hunger Games becomes even more popular when the movies start rolling out.
Yes! Goodreads scores are so inflated. I'm guilty too. . . .
I love this review.
THANK YOU! I haven't read this one, so I can't say if I agree or not, but I'm always wary when everyone is in love with a book like they are with this one.
I always end up disappointed.
excellent review. so nice to see an honest review – what a breath of fresh air.
The first 100 pages of this are up on the publisher's website. I got through about 35 before I gave up. Part of the reason was that it's hard for me to read in that little scribd window, but also, I just lost interest. I'd be willing to give it another shot in traditional book form, though.
Thank you for your review. Your reviews are always so thoughtful. 🙂
I have this one at home now. I'm curious what I'll think of it. Like you, I need to believe in the "society" to really get into a dystopian book. And books in a series without a solid ending each book is a major pet peeve of mine. So we'll see how that goes!
I completely agree with everything you said. I was expecting a fantastic book, but I felt it was only mediocre.