Sadie Hawkins Sunday Review #10: Sever

Sever
The Chemical Garden, Book 3

Author: Lauren DeStefano
Pages: 371
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Source: Library
Recommended by: Anonymous

Description from Goodreads:
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.

First Sentence: "In the atlas the river still flows."

Review:
Just to be up front with everything, this will be more of a series review than a Sever review, because, honestly, not much actually fucking happens in Sever. It's a boring, largely plotless mess, and most of what's frusrating about the characters requires prior knowledge of the series as a whole. There will be swearing, gifs, and spoilers up in this bitch, so if you're not up for that, check out of this review with a swiftness.

Maybe, to start, we should talk about Sever just a little bit. Sever picks up with Rhine desperate to locate her twin, like she has been since they were separated at the very beginning of Wither. She's planning to leave immediately to find him, because he's apparently become a radical and is bombing shit. For OVER A HUNDRED PAGES, she plans to go find him, during which time she dicks around with Linden's uncle and thinks angsty thoughts about Linden. Seriously, nothing happens during all of this except that DeStefano pretends to kill off a character and doesn't.

Me, to everyone, so the book could end.

Then, Rhine, Linden, and Cecily go look for the brother, which involves stopping by the torture carnival (which I will address later), the sole point of which is learning that Rose, Linden's first wife was Madame's daughter. Whoop-di-do. They do find the brother, and he's working for Vaughn and really doesn't do much of anything except serve as a reason for Rhine to be in Vaughn's clutches again.

Seriously, the only plot arc to this series is Rhine trying to do something and getting captured by Vaughn. That's all three books. Even better, Rhine accomplishes nothing in either Fever or Sever. Congratulations, Rhine, I give you the award for most useless heroine; it comes with a nice shiny gilded cage and a cookie wand. Enjoy.

What makes me so fucking pissed off about this series is the purity myth that it's putting forward. Slut-shaming isn't something I regularly cite, because it doesn't often, in what I read, feel like the driving force of the book to me. However, in this case, I will make an exception, because, though I don't recall the word ever being used, this series runs off of horror movie logic: if you have sex, you will have a fucking horrible life and probably die.

Rhine, our boring, stupid Mary Sue of a heroine lives in a world where women are used as breeding chattel, because they die so young that babies are needed as early as possible. Her brother protected her at first, but she left (because she's dumb) and got sold to wealthy Linden as one of his four wives. Linden doesn't have sex with her, because he wants her to love him (more on this later); Jenna and Cecily have sex with Linden (one of them dies and one nearly dies - THIS IS WHAT YOU GET, RIGHT?). Rhine escapes from the house with one of Linden's servants. They wash up at a Carnival of prostitution run by Madame. A gorgeous virgin comes to this Madame and what does she do? Sell her virginity to the highest bidder because that's what would totally happen? Of course not. Instead, she dopes Gabriel and Rhine with aphrodisiacs so they can be sexually turned on enough to make out with one another. Apparently in this world, men will pay money to watch other people make out while scantily clad (not even naked, mind you). Now, I know voyeurism is a thing, but THAT is bullshit. She would at LEAST have to bang Gabriel. In Sever, Rhine remains eternally innocent, which, apparently, means she gets to be cured for some dumbshit reason which I really give no fucks about. She and Gabriel make out and she stops him and that's pretty much it for their reconciliation.

Listen, it's not so much that I want to see Rhine raped or having sex or anything. However, if you create this particular world, then you have to follow things through to their logical conclusions. The world building is minimal enough as it is, so to completely ignore what there is of it is monumentally frustrating. In Sever, when they see the ferris wheel of the carnival in the distance, Rhine moans about how awful it was there. Yes, you poor, poor girl. Forced to make out with your boyfriend like a brazen hussy. Please, tell me more about how traumatizing that was for you.

That's one thing that upsets me. Another thing is Rhine's relationship with Linden. She and two other girls, Cecily and Jenna, are picked out of a line up by Linden and his father, Vaughn. They're rich, so they can afford to purchase Linden some wives. Neither Rhine nor Jenna want any part of it, and Cecily's like 13, so doesn't know any better than to be excited. Rhine sort of develops feelings for him over time, but wants to get away more than anything. That's in Wither, and I sort of liked it, because it rang of Stockholm Syndrome in an interesting way.

By this point, though, the acknowledged Stockholm Syndrome-ishness of it is gone, and we're apparently supposed to think Linden is a prince among men. Rhine's obviously much more attracted to him than to Gabriel, and she alternates between jealousy of Cecily and being glad to be freed. All throughout this damn book, all Rhine can think about is what a stand-up guy Linden is, how she's mistreated him, or how she owes him for something or other. THIS attitude may almost be unhealthier than the purity myth thing, because it's subtly putting in this idea like Rhine is beholden to Linden. Rhine doesn't owe Linden SHIT.

Please share this power with Rhine. She needs it.

Linden may not have been the one to order the rest of his possible wives killed (that's his dad) and he didn't perform creepy ass experiments on them (still dad), but he's just as culpable. It's not like Vaughn was all that fucking sneaky. He's got his house full of locked doors like Bluebeard on steroids and Linden's not going to be like "Dad, what the fuck are you doing in the basement?" He's ignorant of what's happening, but he remains that way purposefully, so it really doesn't let him off the hook.

Even if you don't lay any of that on his head, he still FORCED three girls to marry him. Obviously, they did go through with the vows, but it's not like they had a whole lot of options, considering that they knew the other girls were killed and were just going to be raped or murdered by someone else if they said no. He's an attractive man with pockets well-grown, so there's no fucking reason he needs to pick up women from the slave trade. From the very beginning of Wither, he was a creepy bastard and I do not find it even one iota acceptable to have him romanticized. At the very end of Sever, Rhine says this of Linden: "'It's because he was better than me . . . He never wanted to hurt anyone. I didn't want to hurt him either.'"

Linden, who fooled people into thinking he was a nice guy.

This attitude straight up disgusts me and I cannot believe we're putting these thoughts in front of impressionable minds. Linden is NOT a good guy. In my opinion, Rhine should have found a weapon and taken Vaughn and Linden out, because they are both disgusting human beings. What could have been a thought-provoking look at Stockholm Syndrome turned into yet another instance of turning a creep into a viable love interest.

Don't even get me started on the fact that DeStefano concluded the Linden-Rhine-Gabriel love triangle by killing off Linden. Gabriel and Rhine obviously have absolutely no chemistry, so Rhine was totally going to go back to Linden someday. I guess I'm glad that somewhere along the way the author and/or editor realized her ending up with Linden would be unhealthy, but, rather than fixing the relationship dynamics between them somewhere along the way, Linden is killed off, which pretty much ensures she will always love him martyr-style.

On top of that, the ending is just as bad as one might expect. Rhine and Vaughn go for a pleasant stroll. She inquires about why he's a crazy bastard and he responds with villainous infodumps. Then Cecily shoots him. I come through ALL three of these books for this? Remind me why Rhine is the heroine again? She never does anything. The fourteen-year-old mother of one who just miscarried and only just got off of bed rest is the one who takes out the bad guy. Are we for real with this shit? I never liked Cecily but at least she's got balls. Rhine never did anything during this whole series but be speshul and get people to help her do things. Not a single useful thing did she ever do on her own.

There's probably more I could say about this dreadful series, but I don't want to waste any more of my time or energy on it. These books are boring, full of shoddy world building, written in a pseudo-poetic style that mostly falls flat, and perpetuate seriously unhealthy concepts of romance. You're welcome to read them if you want, but you could do so much better. Reading The Handmaid's Tale instead would be an excellent life choice. In conclusion, here's my recommendation for dealing with this series:

Pedal, bitch, pedal!

Rating: 0.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'I've seen all kinds of foolish girls, but none so foolish they'd come back here if they got away.'"

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Up Next:

The next Sadie Hawkins Sunday book will be The Collector byVictoria Scott recommended by Steph of Cuddlebuggery. I'm a little afraid, but I am trying to keep my mind open.

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