Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Fever
by Lauren DeStefano
Hardcover
Simon & Schuster
February 21, 2012
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Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.

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.

WARNING: I've tried to make my review of Fever as spoiler-free as possible, but as always, read at your own peril!


Fever picks up right where Wither leaves off.  I don't want to give too much away, since this book isn't out yet, but things have just gone from bad to worse for Rhine and Gabriel.

Where Wither was more of a world-building novel, Fever is definitely an adventure.  Rhine is on the run, and getting back to her brother Rowan is about a million time harder than she expected.  And they're being chased.

The good: The world DeStefano has created continues to get more complex, and frankly, a whole lot creepier, since we as readers have to follow Rhine, who has left the lap of luxury and is now tumbling down the rabbit hole into the darker, more dangerous parts.  I loved following Rhine and Gabriel as they traveled and encountered new people (Wither had a pretty set cast of characters, since they never really left the mansion, that is not the case anymore) and it kept me on the edge of my seat, as I never knew what would happen next.

The not-so-good: While I love both Rhine and Gabriel to death, Rhine's strength, which is such an inherent part of her character, sometimes highlighted Gabriel's weakness.  He's been torn from the only life he can really remember, and he's not taking it as well as I had hoped he would.  Closer to the end, though, he starts regaining his footing and finally becomes someone Rhine can lean on again.

The bad:  The sweater.  There was something about the sweater I hated.  I'm sorry, but it had to be said.

The AMAZING:  The ending, guys.  Holy crap.  *hand flailing*  That ending just killed me.  Seriously, I need book three STAT.

In Summary: Fever was a great sophmore novel.  It picked up where Wither left off and ran with it (quite literally at times) and it was quite the adventure.

I can't wait to see what happens in Book 3.

Fever comes out February 21st.

Happy Reading Everyone!