A lot of times the little 1.5 or 2.5 stories that authors make available are only in ebook format. I'd assume these originally were as well, but I was excited to see they were all put together into one actual paper book. I bought this with the Amazon gift card that I won from
The Reader's Den. And I'm glad to say it was definitely a good way to spend part of that prize! I also often feel that the little in between stories are a waste of time, and while $1.99 or whatever the small price they cost seems fair, on occasions I am left feeling like I wasted that money. As much as I love the
Wither series by Lauren DeStefano, the short novella,
Seeds of Wither, was actually kind of a disappointment. There really wasn't that much new in it. All three of the stories in this book though were 5 star stories in my opinion. And so I'll review them each on their own.
Hana - This is the story of Lena's best friend from the first book,
Delirium, it is considered 1.5 in the series, although it's not really in between the first and second books, just during the first one. But I love hearing about their friendship from Hana's side. To see things from her perspective really opens up the story. Even makes me want to go back and re-read the first book to fit in my new thoughts as I read the story. Whereas in
Delirium, I actually didn't really like Hana. Without this story it was hard to understand her. This story really makes you like her, or it did me. You even feel sorry for her and hope things could be better for her.
Annabel - Now we get to meet Lena's mother and what led up to her being put in the prison cell. It is 0.5 in the series. Learning how her "delirium" actually even worked when she got her "matches" so that she was able to marry the man she loved, even if he would never be able to actually love her like she loved him. We learn about what her sister, Lena's aunt was like as she grew up. Again, another emotional story that really added to the story. Not just a little, but so much to learn about the world before, where all this began. A great beginning to the series. Although I think it is good to have read it after reading the actual stories, to make it all more emotional.
Raven - The 3rd and final short story, counts as 2.5 in the series. Now of course, it does go back a little, and kind of meets up with the 2nd book,
Pandemonium, but it also ties in to the end and I believe leads us up to read book 3, although I haven't read it yet! I can't wait to read it, but no money, and since I have so many other things to read, it's on the list for maybe a library check out this summer. I don't remember a ton about Raven from the 2nd book, but again, this story really helped to meet her and get to know her. I do remember Blue from the 2nd book, and so reading about her and Raven was really emotional. Just another viewpoint that gave so much more information about the story, a whole other aspect of a character. And not just "extra" but more to the story.
If you're going to pick short novellas to spend the money on, these are definitely worth it. All 3 of them. I wouldn't leave any of them out. If only all novellas had this much. Really the only one I can remember that I felt had this much to it was in
The Goddess Test series by Aimee Carter. I'll keep trying them though!
