Review: Wither, by Lauren DeStefano

So as I told in my last post, that I read this as a snack while breaking from Outlander. And that's about what it was, a snack. I must say I didn't enjoy it much.

I'm going to do a short summary here, NO SPOILERS.

We're following a 16-year-old girl Rhine Ellery, in a world where females live exactly 20 years and males 25 years. Rhine is taken by 'Gatherers', who kidnap teenage girls from streets and sell them to wives for rich men. Many males take multiple wives and keep them locked up in their houses impregnating them in order to have an heir before his death, which happens at his 25th birthday. Weird ha?
So, Rhine gets taken and transported to this mansion with two other girls (13 and 18 years) and they all marry the same 21-year-old guy. And get locked up in the mansion. And be unhappy. And, well you get the idea.

Now to the actual review.

From the start the thing that annoyed me a lot was the pauses in the dialogue. Like person A said something, then a page long memory or description of surroundings before person B answers. This happened too often during the book. And for my liking there weren't enough dialogue.

Then the thing that made me strongly dislike this book: Characters. I know some people like weaker characters some stronger, but please make the characters match the subject of the book.
And for this book, the characters were too weak. No determination, defiance, even feelings showing besides the self-wallowing. And absolutely no development in any character.
Our main character talks a lot about running away and defying the Housemaster, but there is no emotion behind those words, no action to prove it. The same goes with everybody. Even from the 'evil' character there is no strong emotion, though he is described as the evil one.
Also when a character was introduced there weren't many notions about their looks. Only their hair colours. And there weren't any notions during the book. It's always nice to know bits and pieces during the story what characters are like, to build them in my head those things are important. Otherwise they are incomplete and nobody likes a character with just hair colour and name.
Maybe with better characters this book would've been really good.


The thing I liked was the main characters memories. They were irritatingly in mid-sentence, but I liked the stories she shared with just the reader and then those she shared with other characters.

Wrap-up:

Wither (Chemical Garden #1), Lauren DeStefano
★★☆☆☆

Positive: Main charcters stories
Negative: Characters

Taking a break...

Decided to take a break with Outlander, and do a quickie with Lauren DeStefano's Wither. 

 I'm on page 160 of 374 and waiting for something to happen. Like it's almost half of the book and nothing has happened. And no character developtment has happened. Maybe this is one of those books, when everything happens in the last 20 pages and it leaves you craving for the next book.
The thing is, when I read a book, I expect it to tell me more about the characters from the start... But let's see what will happen, 214 pages left and anything can happen.

That's what books have taught me. Never say it's over, before you've turned the last page.

Book shopping!

 I went for a nice browsing trip to a book store, not looking for anything particular, but still hoping to find something. And I did!
I've read Where she went by Gayle Forman last Fall, but never bought it so, why not now.
The next Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine I haven't read, but it's on my to-read list. And there was only one copy of it, and after me, none. :p Love the cover though.
And the last is Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. I have the Fangirl also, but I think both of them are going to have to wait for the 'right time'.

It's weird when sometimes you don't feel like reading some book, because it doesn't feel like the right time to read it. Like I've been putting an Abundance of Katherines and  Will Grayson, Will Grayson away for a quite some time. Every time I take some new book from my self to read, I look at them and think 'it's not the right time to read them'. But fortunately with other books, waiting for the right time has been the best thing. Like when I started the Covenant series by Jennifer L. Armentout. They had been about a year in my Goodreads recommendations, but every time I saw them I didn't feel like reading them, and when I did... Oh boy... I read the whole series, 5 books 2 novellas, in 5 days. And during the exam week!
So waiting for the right time to read some book might feel frustrating, but trust me, it's worth it.

And spending money makes me always hungry, so Grande Soy Chai Tea Latte and Ceasar Salad to go!
The only problem I have come across today is the 'No space in my bookshelf'.

I'm off to reorganize my window sill for more book space!

Currently reading

My current reads are Mark of Athena, by Rick Riordan and Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon.

Though I love Riordan's books, Mark of Athena is progressing slowly. I don't mean that the book is slow, because I've already read a bit over hundred pages and a great deal of thingsd has already happened. But because I read it in Finnish (yeah I'm from Finland) I find it difficult to read. I'm used to reading in English, so reading in Finnish id like reading in foreing language although Finnish is my mother tongue. Weird ha?

I love the character developmets th Percy Jackson series and the Heroes of Olympus series. It amazes me to read, how Riordan has really grown Percy through the books. He started as a naïve 12-year-old and then suddenly he was 16, kick-ass warrior who saved the entire world. Happens to everyone in real life, right...
I actually started to read the Lightning Thief when I was 12, so he has been with me 5 years now.

Outlander, Outlander... what can I say. I've read 194 pages and there have been eventd to cover a full 5 book series, and the funny thing is: in my edition there is 850 pages, and it's just book one! Though the characters are pretty stuck in place, Gabaldon has been able to capture the most intresting things. Like the surroundings or someody's looks. And thinking about reading only adjectives might sound dull, but truth is: it isn't. Loved Outlander this far, although it's slow to read!

I've been meaning to do this for a long time

I used to have a book blog, but when your 13 and an athelete, it wasn't my top prioroty in life, so it got forgotten. Now is a new start and hopefully a bit more succesful.

About me.
I'm 17, born 1998. A girl, student, book lover, reader, book buyer, coffee and tea addict, ex-athlete, movie-soundtrack-fan, sister, swim-school teacher, friend, emotional eater, baker.

I'm many things, but above all, I read. Reading has been always easy for me, I first read the Harry Potter series when I was 7, that time 95% of my friends couldn't read. I read almost anything; classics, young-adult, adult, children's, sci-fi, romance... Anything goes.

If you are not a reader, I don't hate, but you don't know what you miss. ;)

So welcome, I hope you stay with me!