Review: Sever (The Chemical Garden, #3) by Lauren DeStefano

Sever (The Chemical Garden, #3) by Lauren DeStefano
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication date: February 12th, 2013
Number of pages: 371 pgs
Format: Paperback
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository |

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.

In the finale of Lauren DeStefano's Chemical Garden trilogy, the answers to all the questions that lie around become answered, and this is the end of a fantastic story.

I loved Wither -- the first book in this trilogy, I wasn't very impressed by fever -- the second, but Server, which is the final installment in this story brings back the love I had for the series moreso than ever before.
This is not a romance story. This is about survival, family and freedom. About finding the answers that one seeks.

Lauren has built such a unique and strong story, with great characters who have always been on a life-time limit in regards to how long they live. 
I loved or hated pretty much every single character. From Rhine to Linden, Cecily, Gabriel and even Vaughn.  Good or bad, the fact these characters had an impact at one point or another just goes to show that Lauren has created a story we all can find ourselves in.

In this conclusive finale, Rhine decides to track down her brother, Rowan, who she discovers some things about him and what he is doing that will blow her mind. But getting involved with the things he is involved in, she also finds herself deep in an underground research project to find out the cure to this horrible life-altering disease.
Secrets will get revealed. Truths come to light, and Rhine just may be the very key to solving everything she thought was impossible.

The relationship between Rhine and Linden come to a natural end, but in a way that is not heartbreaking, but satisfying. Linden himself becomes such a stronger character in this book, for which I was proud of him for. He realizes who his father really is, and develops a backbone with his eyes wide open.

We don't see Gabriel very much, and I'm not too sad about that because I never really connected to him in the first place.
I was thankful that he and Rhine didn't really end up together. Their whole relationship was pretty much explained. And it made much more sense then them having some kind of happy ending, which I am not sure if I could have stomached after all that transpired.

This was a much better book than the previous one, with twists and turns. Heartbreak and revelations. We got the answers we longed for. The answers that needed to be said, and we finally understood the reason for the series title.

A great end, yet bittersweet to a great and unique trilogy.

Review:  4/5