Pandemonium by Lauren OliverMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Synopsis:
"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." -Goodreads.com
My Review:
This is a nice transitioning book of the series, and I am pumped for Requiem! I feel that this book probably had my expectations a bit too high; I was on the waiting list for this book for months. I see promise in this book as it directs us towards the third book in the series, but I feel that this book was just a bridge. I absolutely love Oliver's writing style, and her fluid descriptiveness, and this book displays it very well, just as Delirium did. When I first began reading the book, I thought that the back and forth change of tense would irk me, but surprisingly, I really liked it and though it went very well with how the author was telling the story. The chapterly shifts in time provided a backstory and the result, a practice and a procedure, an experience and an expertise, and an example and an outcome. A good quote from the book that displays this process is:
"Running is a mental sport, more than anything else. You're only as good as your training, and your training is only as good as your thinking." (65)
Through content, plot line and character developments, I would have to say that Delirium is overly superior than Pandemonium, however Pandemonium is still an interesting book. I started to realize where the story was going, which means to me, the ending wasn't as surprising. I really wasn't sold on Julian as either a love interest or likable character as I just seemed to see him as an annoying cripple that needed constant coddling. In contrast towards Lena's strong growing empowerment as a protagonist, I was seeing Julian as a child that had to tag along for the ride. The insta-love between these two characters didn't feel real.
"'There's a place for everything and everyone, you know. That is the mistake they make above. They think that only certain people have a place. Only certain kinds of people belong. The rest is waste. But even waste must have a place. Otherwise it will clog and clot, and rot and fester.'" (240)
On the whole, the plot was interesting enough to keep me easily reading through the book, losing all sense of time, which is always a good thing for me. I enjoyed Lena's empowerment as she learns the ropes of being a part of The Resistance, and the author's writing maintains it's fluid beauty as she takes us through Lena's new world of life after catching Deliria.
First Line: "Alex and I are lying together on a blanket in the backyard of 37 Brooks." (1)
Last Line: ....er... haha... no. No spoilers for you!
My Review of Delirium
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Quotes
"But the old Lena is dead too. I buried her. I left her beyond a fence, behind a wall of smoke and flame." (3)
"The animals are on the other side of the fence: monsters wearing uniforms. They speak softly, and tell lies, and smile as they're slitting your throat." (20)
"the only thing worse than having no friends is being pitied for having no friends." (43)
"A world without love is also a world without stakes." (65)
"Anger is useful only to a certain point. After that, it becomes rage, and rage will make you careless." (299)
"The tunnels may be long, and twisted, and dark; but you are supposed to go through them." (209)
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Kindle Edition, Enhanced, 337 pages
Published February 28th 2012 by HarperCollins (first published February 1st 2012)
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