Synopsis: Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.
The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.
In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever. (Goodreads.com)
I think what most frustrated me about this book is that Rhine was brought full circle, back to where her troubles began. It didn't feel like anything happened in this book at all. It truly seemed like a placeholder to me, to whatever lies ahead for Rhine. Some of the things that happened to her, particularly how she was discovered, felt so obvious to me. Given how evil her father-in-law is, it should have been obvious that she just was not going to get away that easily.
However, there were some truly scary elements in this book that worked to its benefit. The addiction Gabriel faced, the prostitution and the frightening carnival (whose Madame reminded me of The Last Unicorn's Mommy Fortuna), and the death of Rhine's hopes all made for a lot of fear and struggle for survival. Unfortunately, I just wasn't as engaged in their struggles as I had been in Wither. I missed the sister wives, I missed Linden. I know the situation between of all them was not normal or healthy, it had intrigue and energy to it. Watching Gabriel and Rhine escape dire situation after dire situation just started to read like every other YA dystopian book out there.
Of course, and here I back track again, I did find the ending interesting enough to continue on with the final book. I want to see Rhine happy, I truly do. I hope that is coming for her in the final book. I also hope we get to see more of Maddie who was my favorite new character. She is smart and a sweetheart and I liked her story line a lot. A mother's love and sacrifice always gets to me and that is definitely the case with her.
Fever didn't live up to all my hopes but it was not bad. It just read like a middle book, where the action didn't really move the story forward all that much. I feel like there is going to be a lot in store for the third book and I know I want to read it and share in the end of Rhine's journey.
ARC provided by Around the World Tours
