Review: Nothing Really That New
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 31, 2013
I read The Seeds of Wither after finishing The Chemical Garden Trilogy. I had hoped that it would give some additional insight into one of the characters (specifically Rose). The Seeds of Wither, at 77 pages includes content from the first book Wither which I always find awkward considering the reader that is purchasing the novella has already read the novel. It also included a small excerpt from Fever, which at the time hadn’t been released and made a little more sense. Though for me, I’d already read it the novel and didn’t seem worth the purchase.The new novella, ‘The First Bride’ Short Story as titled in the contents, is about Rose. From the first page they are married with Rose a mere eleven years old. It continues to just briefly touch on their first kiss, burying their child and then focuses more on Rose’s decline in health. Rose tells Linden that he must remarry and let it be a muse – someone that will encourage him to draw again. Of the 77 pages, 13 was ‘The First Bride’. Not much for new content if you’ve finished the series.Included in The Seeds of Wither was also a map of the wives floor. Included on the final page was a link to the Fever Cover Reveal (behind the scenes video of the cover shoot) and the book trailer for Wither. I’m not sure if either of those videos are available to readers that haven’t purchased The Seeds of Wither.All in all, I rated the entire book The Seeds of Wither three stars based on content. The good it came with: a new novella, a mere 16% of the book (and a rehash of information we already knew about Rose), the wives map and two exclusive videos. For the date of its release, it included an excerpt of Fever which was highly anticipated by readers. The unnecessary (and the content that always annoys me to be paying for a second time after already previously purchasing the first book): several chapters from Wither.