Review: Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Title: Requiem
Author: Lauren Oliver
Published: March 5th 2013
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult Dystopian
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: Contains spoilers!

They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.

But we are still here.

And there are more of us every day.

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.

After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.

Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.

Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.

But we have chosen a different road.

And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.

We are even free to choose the wrong thing.

Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.

My Thoughts:

Okay. First off, I'm really happy that this was one of the dystopian series I really got into. Delirium and Pandemonium were exquisite and really sucked me into the world in numerous ways. I was so very excited to read the final book and see what happens to Lena and everyone she knows. I was hoping for something just as wonderful as the first two books. However, I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be.

Writing this review is going to be extraordinarily hard without giving away spoilers, and as much as I want to NOT give away spoilers, I kind of HAVE to so that I can express my thoughts clearly. SOOO. If you haven't read Requiem yet (and don't want the ending ruined), this WILL contain SPOILERS. Stop reading now. Okay? Thanks!

That being said... After the "surprise" ending in Pandemonium where Lena gets the shock of her life that her first love, Alex, is still alive, I knew exactly how the story was going to go. I even said that in my review of Pandemonium. It's like every other love triangle, there's always a clear winner... not the one that is clear in YOUR own eyes, but the one that is made OBVIOUS by the author. They may TRY to make it seem like there's a possibility that she's going to choose the other guy, but trust me, she won't. As much as I adored Julian, I knew he was Lena's second choice from the start and the only reason she was staying with him throughout was just because she felt like she had to AND because Alex acted like he didn't want her. So, as I was reading about her internal struggle, it was just painful to me because I was going to be disappointed in that aspect.

Other than that whole ordeal, the story was pretty good. Hearing about the world of being cured through Hana's perspective was intense. She's so broken post-operation, all her thoughts just feel like she's a robot, going through the motions so as to not make anyone upset. When she discovers the conspiracies and starts questioning what is right and wrong, it makes me happy because you know that the real Hana is still in there, hanging on by a thread.

Requiem, although it didn't exactly end in the way I wanted it to, was still a pretty good ending to the series. The way everything was pulled together in the end, while it wasn't some sort of "everything gets worked out" endings, it worked for me. It wasn't my favorite book in the series, that award still goes to Pandemonium, Lauren Oliver's beautiful writing still made up for it.

My Rating:

Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Pandemonium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult Dystopian
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
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Caution: Will contain spoilers from first book in series!

I'm pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

~synopsis from Goodreads

My Thoughts:

I fell in love with Delirium when it came out. It was around the time right before I started reviewing books online. It was also my first real taste of Dystopian novels. I was captivated by the possibility of a world where love was considered a bad thing. Once I finished it, I was beyond anxious to climb back into Lena’s world and see what happens next.

This novel is broken up into two parts: ‘Then’ is when she is in the Wilds, and ‘Now’ when she is in New York. They are told between alternate chapters. We learn about how she grew while in the Wilds to the person she became in the present. She started out weak but matured into a more powerful person. Reading about her in the ‘Then’ sections was difficult. She was depressed with Alex gone, and unwilling to do what she needed to do. When she started running again, and putting forth the effort to help her friends in the Wilds, she was slowly brought back to life.

In the ‘Now’ sections, I have to admit it wasn’t what I was expecting. Not that this is a bad thing. It’s just from reading reviews here and there about this book, I didn’t get the impression that this is where everything was leading to. I remember hearing about Julian, but not many people had great things to say about him. They were all, “I liked Julian, but I loved Alex.” Hey, I get it. First love and all.

But me? Maybe it’s because it has been a year since I read Delirium and I can’t remember how amazing Alex was in it, but I fell in love with Julian. I really did. There was something about him--his innocence coupled with curiosity. The fact that he was an important person to the ones against the deliria. One of my favorite things to see is a character who can learn about ‘the other side’ and realize that some of the things they’ve been taught aren’t what they seemed. And Julian was that person. What he and Lena went through to get to where they got in the end, it all worked out better than I could have hoped.

Now the end. So many people were all “OMG” about it. I totally and completely expected it. I expected it since I finished the first book. Now, let me tell you guys a secret. It’s a spoiler for this book, so I am going to hide it. Please, don’t read it if you haven’t read either book yet. ***highlight to read SPOILER*** When I finished the first book, for some reason I didn’t get the impression that Alex had died. I read it and believed he was just wounded and captured. To me, it seemed like it would be a STUPID idea for the author to just throw away a character’s first love, especially in a society that BANS love. It wasn’t until I read other reviews that I realized others got that impression. Like I said, it would be stupid to kill him off. Even though the author even portrayed it as Lena believing Alex was dead, I never believed for a second he was dead. So when I read the last few paragraphs of the book, I wasn’t shocked. I was frustrated. Because now, it’s a LOVE TRIANGLE. And honestly, you know she’s going to pick Alex over Julian. That’s how these books go. So, I’m sad. Because I love Julian. ***end of SPOILER***

Was Pandemonium a great continuation of the story? Absolutely. Lauren Oliver’s way with words never ceases to amaze me. I loved the journey from weak Lena to powerful Lena. I loved the path that lead her to Julian. I loved Julian. Should you read this series? DEFINITELY.

My Rating:

Exceptional: Stay up until at least 1 AM

Review: Hana by Lauren Oliver

Title: Hana
Author: Lauren Oliver
Source: Purchased
Genre: Dystopian
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: May contain spoilers

.
In the world of Delirium, love is a disease. And like all eighteen-year-olds, Lena and Hana must take the cure.

At the start of their last summer of freedom, they were the closest of friends. Until Hana made a decision that tore them apart... In Delirium, we heard from Lena. Now, Hana gets to tell her side of the story. And nothing is what we first thought.

Hana is a powerful, moving and beautifully told original eBook short story, with a shocking twist that will leave you with your heart in your mouth.

~synopsis from Goodreads

My Thoughts:

When I first heard this was going to come out, I was excited. I love to read from different points of view in relation to novels I loved. Delirium was one of my absolute favorites last year, so I had to snatch up Hana as soon as I could.

I liked the fact that we learn firsthand exactly what Hana experienced during the times Lena was dealing with other things. It was interesting to see how she viewed things, and how her thoughts shifted through time based on the things she learned. There were some noteworthy tidbits that we learn while seeing life through Hana’s eyes. Things you never would have realized. And the end was something unexpected and yet puts some pieces together with regard to Delirium.

It was nice to read this little novella from Lauren Oliver. I appreciated the differences between Lena and Hana. Plus it was a nice reminder of what happened in Delirium, since I read it right after it came out last year. It helped when I read Pandemonium, like a refresher course. For those who enjoyed the first book in the trilogy, Hana adds a new perspective to the series and is worth checking out.

My Rating:

Pretty Good: Stay up until your bedtime

Waiting On Wednesday #12: Pandemonium

WoW: Hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine

Title: Pandemonium (Delirium #2)
Author: Lauren Oliver
Read the Goodreads Synopsis


I know, me and a bazillion others are anxiously awaiting the release of this one. I can't help it. Delirium was awesome. It introduced me to the world of dytopian novels. If you haven't had the chance to read Delirium yet, I highly recommend it. Read more about Lauren Oliver's Delirium through this link.


What are you waiting on?


~Jessica

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Delirium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Published: January 1st 2011
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult Dystopian
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: May contain spoilers

~*~

“It affects your mind so that you cannot think clearly, or make rational decisions about our own well-being.”

“The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don’t.”

What if love were a disease? Lauren Oliver has taken that idea and developed a world that believes that it is. In this world love (otherwise known as “amor deliria nervosa”) is the cause of everything bad. Once they discovered this, they developed and perfected a “cure” to be given so that all can “be happy and safe forever”. Yet not everyone is safe from love since the cure cannot be performed unless you’re 18. It hasn’t been made safe for anyone younger. So until then, there’s a chance they may catch the “deliria”. To keep everyone who has been cured and those who haven’t from catching the disease or spreading it, everything is watched closely by the government to ensure the safety of their people. The “uncured” youth go to separate schools, and so on.

Enter Lena Haloway, 95 days away from getting cured. She’s been looking forward to this for a long time. She’s been preparing for the day she turns 18, preparing for her planned future. Then she meets Alex, and everything changes. In those final days before the procedure, she begins to learn about the other side of the spectrum. It causes her to question the reasonableness of the regulations around her, the ones she grew up trusting and believing in. She’s torn between the two worlds: the one she’s always known, the one where love is gone forever, and the one outside the fence, the one where love is embraced.

This book was enthralling. Lauren Oliver has an amazing voice. You know those books that keep you up at night, the ones that you cannot stop thinking about for weeks? This is one of them. Lena’s story is gripping and it stays with you for awhile.

Delirium is book one of a trilogy. The second book will be released next February. I’m marking my calendar.

My Rating:

Exceptional: Stay up until at least 1 AM

See also my reviews for  Hana  and  Pandemonium, also by Lauren Oliver.