"Lena joins the resistance effort against the oppressive government and fights for freedom.
After escaping from Portland, Lena makes it to the Wilds and becomes part of an Invalid community. Weak and grieving for Alex, Lena fights to survive. And then she fights her oppressors.
As the viewpoint shifts between Lena's time in the Wilds and the present day, which is set in Brooklyn, Lena transforms into a warrior for the resistance. In New York City, the grass-roots movement for a Deliria-Free America (the DFA) is gathering strength, and its leader, Thomas Fineman, recruits more supporters by the day. His son Julian--as-yet uncured--heads up the DFA's youth organization. Lena is tasked with blending into the DFA's rallies; she seems to be a supporter yet she is really a spy"
I have such mixed feelings about this book that it took me a while before I could review it. I mean, it's prequel delirium was
First off, Lauren Oliver's writing is amazing , and has been ever since the first book. The editing however, is what put me off a bit. The story chapters shifts between then which picks up from when Lena escaped to the wild and now which a bit ahed in the future. The thing is with this choice of writing Lauren chose, is although it was done cleverly, it was like a spoiler within the book itself. It is like someone having constant flashbacks about a dangerous situation. You just don't feel tense because you know they're going to survive whatever dilemma they were facing in the flashback. This was it with this book. I felt like a whole chunck of the then chapters were ultimately unneccessary.
In this sequel you see a huge development with Lena, one that I would have wanted to be done gradually. She becomes more fierce, more roughed up from living in the wilds. The thing that made me so uncertain about this book was how it felt like pandemonium was a whole different book than delirium. Lena changes and so does everything around her. I am not sure I can put it into words, but the essence of delirium and what made Lena, Lena just wasn't there untill halfway through the book. In the middle of the book I found it was always Lena describing what is happening instead of what Lena actually feels. Don't get me wrong, this book is in no way a dissapointment, but it also didn't hook me in like Delirium did. This, I believe, is totally up to the reader and their tastes.
Lauren introduces us to a whole bunch of characters in Pandemonium, which I think is the best aspect of the whole book. If anything, Lauren knows how to create likeable characters. There is the badass Raven, and Julian. I promised myself this review won't have any spoilers or even hints, so I'm not going to go in details of the new characters in this series.
Unlike Delirium, the main focus in this story is the dystopian side of the series rather than the romantic part. You get to see the Invalids and their hard conditions, and how everyone there fights for survival.
The ending of the book was pretty amazing, and will leave you counting the days for Requiem. Overall this was a pretty good book, just not better than delirium.
