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Sunday 11 March 2012

A Review for Pandemonium (Delirium #2) by Lauren Oliver

Posted by Jess
Published Date: March 2nd, 2012
Finished Date: March 7th, 2012
Publishers: HarperCollins
Source: For review
Format: Hardback
Pages: 344



The Blurb 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.

The Review: Well what is there to say about this one? I loved it. I really did. I was sort of worried that I wouldn't because Donna was really disappointed and I know a few others were too. But I wasn't. It was just what I was expecting. 

Pandemonium is a slow burner, but this is mostly due to being thrown into a completely new world where Lauren Oliver had to introduce new characters, new scenarios, new atmospheres, and I don't think without any of this, the book wouldn't have worked out. The book is split between 'Now' and 'Then' telling Lena's story of when she was found in The Wilds and when she's undercover in New York City. This was written really well, it kept the flow of the story and it was good to see how Lena grew during both tenses. A lot of people were annoyed with Lena in this one, I think it comes from everyone being Team Alex (like me). However, I was able to get into a new character and like many other readers before me, I ended up falling for his charms. Do I blame Lena for falling in love again? No I don't, if you've read Delirium you'll know what happened in the end. And that's why I don't judge her for falling in love again. What was she supposed to do? Wallow in pity for the rest of her life? No. She escaped, she needed to start over, needed to try and get her life back on track. So before everyone starts to judge her, just put yourself in her shoes at the end of Delirium. What would you have done?

This book is filled with the same world building as the first, it didn't add to the pace but it didn't slow it down either, there was enough there to keep you reading on and wanting to know what's going to happen next. A lot of new characters were introduced into the story, and by the end I'd already guessed who prisoner 5996 was. And then there's THAT ending. Ok, now I'm all for cliffhangers, but they shouldn't be like that! That was very frustrating, even though I knew it was coming, I was still a little shocked at it. *sigh* another year to wait and Lauren Oliver has left us to dangle there. 

Anyway, there isn't a lot more I can say about this book without spoiling. But if you haven't read Delirium then you should, and if you have and you still haven't read Pandemonium then you need to pick this book up.

I eagerly anticipate book 3...one year to go. 


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Poor Donna! She really wasn't happy! But I like your review - although I would have liked it to have slowed down even more lol :) I can't blame Lena from moving on, although I don't think Julian was as interesting as he could have been.

My review

Amy @ Turn the Page

Nina @ Death, Books, and Tea said...

Shame Donna didn't enjoy it. I quite liked this one, but agreed with the cliffhanger being really frustrating. A year is too long.

Book Passion for Life said...

Great review Jess and although you know I don't agree with you because I was mainly upset with Lena not even looking for Alex, BUT you still managed to make the book sound amazing! Roll on book three yeah? lol ~ Donna

Alyssa_Susanna said...

I read Delirium a longgg time ago, and I sort of liked it. I felt like it was just another dystopian novel in YA literature, like Matched by Ally Condie or Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky. All have the same type of structure. I just haven't motivated myself enough to read Pandemonium. Is it really that good? If the first one wasn't so hot for me, the second one might not be either. And yes, I CAN blame Lena for falling in love again. And I can totally judge her for that. Because in reality, people don't just fall in and out of love like that. Ugh. But, you gave it four stars. That must mean it was pretty good despite... ugh. lolThanks for the review!
Alyssa  Susanna

 
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