Book Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Pandemonium
By Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publish Date: March 6, 2012
Format: Hardback, pp 384
Age Demographic: Young Adult
b&n // amazon

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

*Summary taken from Goodreads.

❝My Thoughts❞

Lauren Oliver's Pandemonium is a captivating, dangerous revolutionary tale of forbidden love, overwhelming strength in the face of overwhelming odds, and one girl's fight against the resistance to discover who she is. It is a spectacularly written tale of love and heartbreak, the struggle against resistance, and the journey of discovering one's inner self. Oliver's novel packs a highly intense emotional punch that will hit you hard and land you. It's beautifully written and highly suspenseful, it will keep you flipping the pages until you reach the end, begging for more. Pandemonium does a wonderful job of showing just how dreadfully repressing one society can be and introduces questions that have their own unique way of nagging at your mind.

It is a strong compelling novel that continues the story where Delirium left off, building on strong vivid character development, introducing multi-complex layers added to the story already told, and imagery that lands you in the book right alongside the character's themselves feeling everything they're feeling and more. Lena has struggled with the decision to avoid having the government mandated treatment done and has chosen to become part of an Invalid community, where she has taken up ranks in fighting for a world where love is no longer considered to be a disease. She has truly transformed herself into a warrior, while having experienced the loss of Alex. She still persists and does it not only for herself and other's, but for him as well. I was truly amazed and inspired by how strong and beautiful and such a survivor, she has grown into. It's as if she's coming into her own, in a sense. I truly loved this stronger newer version of Lena, compared to the girl who couldn't quite take care of herself, was a bit on the insecure side of life, and was always so afraid most of the time. Of course, she still has her weaker moments, but for the most part this girl is a suvivor in every sense of the word. Lena has come quite a long way, since her days prior to escaping to the Wilds.

Oliver does a magnificent job of weaving new character's into the plot and showcasing the burdens a couple of them shoulder, which ends up coming to light later on in the book in such a heartbreaking and devastating way. As the next phase of this adventure continues to mount, new questions come to the forefront, some are asked and answered and some aren't. There are new plot twists and turns, that will leave you breathless in anticipation of more to come. And there at the heart of all of the fighting, the surviving, the resistance, beats the heart of love at its very core. The letting go and moving on to the learning to let love in once more. It's such a beautiful story, full of so many moments of heartbreak, love, loyalty, friendship, suvival, and a fight for the greater good. It's not the end of the story that stays with you, but the journey that's so compelling and touching that you can't help but want to fight alongside these wonderful character's.

If you thought Delirium made you cry, then Pandemonium will hit you where you'll really feel it and leave you reeling from the force of its blow. I am incredibly in love with how opposite Pandemonium is, when compared to Delirium. In all honesty though, I don't really think that you could compare the two, because I tend to think that they are two halves of a whole and you can't have one without the other. There is a balance there, between the two of them and a definite sense of growth. What Lauren Oliver did with Pandemonium is absolutely flawlness, in my opinion. Her prose is beautiful, the structure of the story, the imagery, the vivid character's with colorful personalities and strong complex thought provoking questions that arise. This is a book that you will absolutely not want to miss out, fans of The Hunger Games will definitely enjoy this wonderful dystopian trilogy.

{ This ARC was provided by ATW ARC Tours, in exchange for an honest review which I have provided. No money exchanged hands, I review books for fun because I love to read. I am not interested in monetary gain. Any piece of this ARC that was/wasn't quoted, is not part of the finished product and should not be perceived as such.}