(Review) Requiem (Delirium, #3) - Lauren Oliver

Title: Requiem (Delirium, #3)
Author: Lauren Oliver
Format: Finished Copy
Pages: 391 pages
Genre: Young Adult (Dystopia)
Publisher: Harper Collins
Date Published: March 05, 2013

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Summary (from Goodreads)

As her country erupts in open rebellion, Lena fights for the resistance and must make a heartbreaking choice between two loves.
After saving Julian from a death sentence, Lena escapes with him and other members of the resistance. But as she embraces her love for Julian, a boy from her past returns and causes her to question everything.
In the meantime, Lena's best friend, Hana, is engaged to Portland's young mayor and is living a safe, proscribed, loveless life. The story is told from both Lena and Hana's points of view.
As Lena struggles to save the people she loves, everything comes to a head in this exciting finale to Lauren Oliver's epic trilogy. REQUIEM is a sophisticated, wide-ranging novel that explores the large issues of society, government, and resistance, and of course, there is romance.

Review:

As much as I would love to rave about the ending (because the series as a whole was really enjoyable) I just can't help but think that that was probably one of the most underwhelming series endings I've ever read. 

The writing pattern was still switching between Hana and Lena, something that I really liked because it showed two sides of the same situation with Hana representing life within the Cureds and Lena's life in the Wilds. Both stories interested me enough, surprisingly, considering the fact that Hana doesn't really have an active hand in either side. She was just a trapped spectator. 

Also, I thought Lena was back to her "weak" stage after all the significant improvement she had in Pandemonium. I thought it was because Alex' sudden reappearance brought back some unresolved issues, not to mention her suspicion that he and Coral were getting too cozy. So many things happened in a short span of pages that it felt a little watered down and it's impact lessened. Lu's betrayal to the group, the appearance of Lena's mother and Alex' sudden disappearance would've given the story more depth if only a little more time were spent on it. 

Even the revelation of Hana's betrayal was a little bleak, and the way Lena handled it wasn't how I expected the "new" Lena to handle it though I guess it was also the fact that she might've missed her best friend that's why she couldn't act out any aggressively. What Hana did pretty much ruined Lena, and all she got was a measly slap on the face? The new Lena would've fought her, regardless of their previous status. 

Alex and Lena's newfound affection for each other wasn't explored at all in the end, something that I found to be terribly disappointing on it's own. After all the build-up from the first two books and the introduction of Julian, the culmination that it got was "Do you still love me?"...I seriously found it be very underwhelming. 

All in all, it was very vague and open-ended. I haven't read any review of it anywhere that doesn't state this. A "requiem" is supposed to be the culmination of something great and I felt like i got served cold pie.

Rating: ♚♚♚

(Review) Pandemonium (Delirium, #2) - Lauren Oliver

Title: Pandemonium (Delirium, #2)

Author: Lauren Oliver

Format: Paper Back, International Edition

Pages: 455 pages

ISBN: 978-0-06-222386-9

Publisher: HarperTeen

Date Published: February 28th 2012 

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Summary (from Goodreads)

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.

Review:

Pandemonium was everything I expected after Delirium. It was a really enjoyable read and now I just felt like I got drunk in the wonderful story that Lauren Oliver has weaved for this series. There was something exquisite in her writing, something simplistic and full emotion that I feel really suits the theme of the story. The whole book is told in split timelines, alternating between the then and now which I think was a really cool way to juxtapose the old Lena who was afraid and in pain for her loss of Alex and the new Lena who is determined to set things right. I like reading how much she has improved. 

The events in Pandemonium follows shortly after Lena's escape into the wilds, after being found and saved by Raven and joining the resistance of Invalids. I love how the book opens up a bigger chapter in the story, and not just two teenagers fighting for their love against a love-oppressive organization that's hellbent to turning everyone into machines that feel nothing. The addition of characters such as Raven and Julian also provided more room for exploration. 

There was a point where I disliked Raven's character, especially the way she hid their intentions towards Lena when she had every right to know. I didn't see the point in hiding the plan from her, especially when she had to fend off for herself and take care of Julian.

Speaking of Julian, i felt like the romance between him and Lena was a little forced. It was a little sudden but I'm just gonna bandwagon that into Lena trying to shove something inside the emptiness that Alex left her with. I can't blame her. Deliria is a debilitating disease after all. 

I never really doubted that Alex was dead, and his abrupt appearance towards the end came as a non-shocker to me but I enjoyed it nonetheless. What i do not enjoy is the cliffhanger that this book has put me now.

Rating: ♚♚♚♚♚

(Review) Delirium (Delirium, #1) - Lauren Oliver

Title: Delirium (Delirium, #1)
Author: Lauren Oliver
Format: Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9780061726835
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: February 7th 2012

Summary (from Goodreads)

Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe. I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want to get it over with. It's hard to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet. Still, I worry. They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't.

Review:

Interesting concept but I felt like the whole "love is a disease" immediately just jumped to "love is a crime" and there wasn't any back story in the whole novel that provided any insight. Aside from snippets of fictional references to books that talk about the deliria, there wasn't anything concrete explanation on how did this kind of thinking escalate?

I think the use of such medium (fictional references to explain more things) was very good, but many of them fell empty and flat for me. Lauren Oliver does have a knack for putting the right words together to create a good atmosphere and I definitely enjoyed the rich detail she provided. It worked really well with the whole story, considering what they're trying to kill here is the ability to feel love and affection to anything. 

Character-wise, I am particularly happy at Lena's growth from being very scared and dependent to what she's been fed to someone who can finally see the other side of the story. There's a good enough pool of characters that provided really good momentum to the story, and i feel like her friendship with Hana is purposely dragged out for use in the next installment. I can just feel it. She has a lot more room for improvement as a main character but it's been good so far. I only wish it didn't end so abruptly for Alex. I'm dying to read what happens next.

I'm reading Pandemonium as soon as I can and I only wish Lauren Oliver would provide more background to it. As i've said, it's very very interesting and has a lot of potential.

Rating: ♚♚♚♚♚