Book Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Pandemonium 

Author: Lauren Oliver
Series: Delirium, #2
Pages: 375
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Date of Publication: 1st March 2012
Source: Publisher*
Synopsis from Goodreads: Lauren Oliver captivated readers with Delirium, the first book in a thrilling dystopian trilogy in which Lena Haloway dared to fall in love with Alex and escape the cure, the government-mandated procedure that renders a person immune to the disease of love. Lena and Alex staked their lives on leaving their oppressive society, but only Lena broke free.

Pandemonium continues Lena’s gripping story. After escaping from Portland, Maine, Lena makes it to the Wilds and becomes part of an Invalid community, where she transforms herself into a warrior for the resistance. A future without Alex is unimaginable, but Lena pushes forward and fights, both for him and for a world in which love is no longer considered a disease. Swept up in a volatile mix of revolutionaries and counterinsurgents, Lena struggles to survive—and wonders if she may be falling in love again.

Full of danger, forbidden romance, and exquisite writing, Lauren Oliver’s sequel to Delirium races forward at a breathtaking pace and is sure to appeal to fans who crave the high-stakes action of The Hunger Games and the bittersweet love story of Romeo & Juliet.

THERE MAY BE SPOILERS FROM DELIRIUM IN THIS REVIEW, AND AS MUCH AS I'M TRYING TO NOT POST ANY PANDEMONIUM SPOILERS, THERE MAY BE A FEW SMALL ONES. READ ON WITH CAUTION IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILED.

My Thoughts:
I thought Delirium was amazing. It is one of my favourite dystopians I've read, and while it didn't quite make one of my favourites of last year, it very nearly did. I was super excited for Pandemonium, as the ending of Delirium was like, seriously, WOW. And not in a good way. Anyway, I was very excited, as I needed to know the end and I needed more of the awesome writing and amazing world that Lauren Oliver has created, and while that wasn't exactly what I got, I did really really enjoy it.

Pandemonium, for me, was VERY different to Delirium. It wasn't what I expected but I'm happy to report that I still really, really loved it. I loved learning about Lena's life in the Wilds, and finding out about all the secret organisations that were rising up to try and stop the curing of love. It was good, I think, that it wasn't just another book set inside the barriers, because while that's the world I fell in love with, I think everything that needed to be said and everything that needed to take place was said and took place in Delirium, if that makes sense.

I really liked Lena in this book. I thought she was very brave and made the best of the difficult situations she found herself in. In Delirium, I found for a lot of the book she was boring and controlled by the society in which she lived, but in Pandemonium, right from the start, I could tell that she had become her own person, and she was no longer influenced by what she was always told - she finally realised that a lot of her life had been a lie and she was a much more interesting person because of it.

Pandemonium is told in two parts that alternate between chapters - Then and Now. Now is her life AFTER everything that happens in the Wilds, and Then is back when she'd just crossed the border, carrying straight on from the end of Delirium. Confused? I was! It took me a while to really get to grips with this new way of writing, but once I had, I think it's a very effective way of telling Lena's story. I'd be reading Now, the chapter would end and it would go into Then, and I'd have to carry on reading to find out what happened in the next Now chapter, because, let me warn you, Lauren Oliver likes to end her chapters on cliffhangers... Very. Annoying, but still, it kept me reading, didn't it? ;)

And I know all you people who've read Delirium will be wondering about Alex. And I'm not going to say anything about him. Nothing at all. I don't want to spoil any of you by mentioning him or any other possible love interests that there may or may not be. (Which doesn't necessarily mean that there are any... Or does it? ;P I'm teasing!) You'll just have to wait to find out! Or go and read another review, either way ;)

Overall though, I loved Pandemonium. It was a great addition to the series, and the ending is CRUEL. Seriously, Lauren Oliver REALLY knows how to write her cliffhangers. The last word on the last page... Oh. My. Word. If you haven't read Delirium yet, why not?! You're missing out - you should most definitely go and read it, right now. I think you'll love it. And then you'll read Pandemonium and you'll love that too. So, what are you waiting for?

*HUGE thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for sending me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review! In no way has this affected my opinion of the book. 


My Rating:

I give it 5 Feet!

Challenges:
2011 100+ Reading Challenge #97