Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Book Thoughts: Pandemonium

Title: Pandemonium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Series: Delirium #2

Wow! I wasn't really sure what was going to happen in the follow-up to Delirium -- with the way the last one left off, I honestly had no clue what this one was going to contain.

What it contains: adventure, more exploration of the society Lena has grown up in, a whole host of new and wonderful characters, romance, action, and of course, an ending that left me desperate for Requiem. If you enjoyed Delirium, this is a sequel that does not disappoint.

What I want to talk about with this one, though, gets spoiler-tastic, so let me just say right now: ***SPOILER WARNING!!! DO NOT READ PAST THIS POINT IF YOU HAVEN'T READ PANDEMONIUM YET!***

...everyone who hasn't read it gone?

...seriously, I'm not trying to get rid of you, I just really don't want to spoil this for you!

...okay, ready?

...here we go. One more time: ***SPOILERS!!!***

Okay. So, at the end of Delirium, Alex dies. Lena is beyond heartbroken. But as Pandemonium proceeds through its plot, she works through the emotionally exhausting process of getting over him. She fears falling in love again, she fears her feelings for Julian, she fears betraying Alex, but she slowly learns to love again. And I loved that -- I thought it was beautiful. It was a bold move to kill off the love interest at the end of the first book, but I thought it made a powerful statement about the casualties of war and a broken society and paved the way to explore emotions that don't often get explored in these sorts of stories. I missed Alex, of course, but I fell in love with Julian right along with Lena, and I loved her healing process.

Plot twist: Alex isn't dead. Obviously I'm glad he's not dead in the sense that he's a great character and his death was sad, but in terms of the plot, I'm worried that bringing him back is going to turn Requiem into nothing more than a love triangle instead of the powerful dystopian piece it has the potential to be. I just wanted Lena to be able to be happy with Julian!


So, yeah, I almost hope she stays with Julian. But Alex... ugh I don't know! Can't wait for Requiem to find out.

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