Sever by Lauren DeStefano (The Chemical Garden #3)

Genres: Young Adult, Sci-fi, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Romance
Publication Date: February 12th 2013
POV: Female - First-person, Present tense
My Rating: Did Not Finish

_______________

With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered.

_______________

I enjoyed Wither enough to keep going with the series. It made me a bit uncomfortable, but I was curious about Rhine and Gabriel's fate. So I read Fever and enjoyed it more. There was little or no Linden, several locales, and much more romance developed between Rhine and Gabriel and it was totally adorable. It had so much more progress in Rhine's life overall, compared to Wither, which was stagnant in comparison. Of course it was all undone with one move by Vaughn in the end. But with only one book left in the series, and with so much left to accomplished, I figured Sever would be full of excitement. But 100 pages in and I still have to suffer through Linden's presence, and there is still no sign of Gabriel, and no sign that Rhine will be going after him or Rowan any time soon. I hate how the book portrays Linden as a sympathetic character. In the first book he was portrayed as kind, although he impregnated a 13 year-old. Its a contradiction but I figured it didn't matter, because I figured he didn't matter. But 2 books later and Rhine's world still seems to revolve around Linden. His role in the series isn't what I thought it would be. He completely disgusts me and I couldn't take it anymore. What finally tipped me over the edge was this line:

"I don't know that I could ever love [Gabriel] the way that Linden and Cecily are in love, or the way Linden and Rose were."

WTF?! You think impregnating a barely pubescent girl twice in quick succession, causing her to nearly die is love? You think his love for two girls within a year could grow stronger than you could love Gabriel in a lifetime? Gabriel who is actually worthy? If Linden had actually loved Rose or Cecily his relationship with his other wives would have seemed wrong to him. He had absolutely no sense of fidelity. If he didn't love them, then I understand it may not have occurred to him that what he was doing was wrong, because that's just how the world is now. But if he loved Cecily, he would not have been making any attempt to reconcile with Rhine. So if Rhine cant love Gabriel as much as Linden can love, than the fault is solely hers. She is defective and doesn't know the meaning of love. So I closed the book. I'm done.