Title: Pandemonium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Series: Delirium, #2
Genres: Dystopian, Young Adult
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: February 28th, 2012
Edition: Hardcover
Rating:
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.
My Review:
I’m surprised and happy to say that Pandemonium managed to exceed my expectations. Delirium was okay, but it also was a bit slow sometimes and as a dystopian it was a little bit flat. But Pandemonium was a fast-paced dystopian, filled with lots of action that kept me on my toes and even gave me a few surprises I didn’t quite expect.
I’m definitely not a lover of the love triangle most of the time. I do tend to jump on the team such-and-such wagons so I suppose I support them to some extent, but they also drive me mad sometimes. In this case though it’s tough because Lena believes Alex to be dead based on the ending of the first book. So I can understand her attempts to move on and get past that tragic event rather than just simply being swayed in another direction for the sake of it.
The new love interest I do like, but I’m still not sure. I feel like both romances have been a little bit unexciting. I don’t feel the butterflies and the “oh my gosh he’s in the room” kind of feelings that I get with a good love interest. It could have to do with the fact that this world looks down on affection and feelings in general so those falling in love are sort of stumbling their way through it. But still. Lena needs a bad boy to sweep her off her feet or something, and I wasn’t feeling that so much with either of the love interests.
But aside from that, I felt like we got to explore this dystopian world a little more from new perspectives. We get to see the wilds, we get to see other cities in the country, and meet new and interesting people. Also Lena changes and grows in all the right ways but stays true to herself in all the ways that count.
So overall I definitely liked this and I think if you liked the first book you’ll enjoy this. If you’re a fan of more gritty, disturbing ya dystopians then this world might feel a little bit dull for you though. But still an interesting premise and I hope that in the next book more of the uprising and revolution follows because that’s what tends to make a dystopian series most interesting, and it’s something we get a glimpse of in this book, but not full out yet.
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