Review: Pandemonium

Just a warning ahead of time, this review and the summery from Goodreads.com contain spoilers for Delirium. Pandemonium is the second book in the Delirium series.

So this little review is the first review I ever wrote. It is a (compared to my normal reviews) long review, like most people have . I decided to just put this one up since I went through the painful process of writing it. But after this I will still be doing my reviews as usual.

Pandemonium
Lauren Oliver
(Summary from Goodreads.com)



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.

Rating: 5/5

Review: 

So, I don’t want to give away everything that happened in this book for the reason of: It was an amazing book and you should read it for yourself. That being said there will be some parts revealed including the huge cliffhanger (I’m starting to see a trend).

Alright so one of the first things that stuck out to me about this story was its set up. The “chapters” were divided by Lena in present time (in Brooklyn) and Lena in the past (in the wilds). And I use the term “chapters” very lightly because in the end the author sticks with one time period for 80+ pages.

Another thing that slightly, for lack of a better word, annoyed me about this book was that there is a new love interest for Lena, Julian. By then end of the book I almost couldn’t decide who I like more. (I say almost because in my opinion Alex will always be the one for her.) First, there is Julian, who is the son of a top leader of an organization for a Deliria-Free America. I am just going to skip the part where Lena and Julian get to know each other because I don’t want to just retell the entire book. But all in all Lena infected Julian with “love” and all is happy….so you think. But then there is Alex, her first love, the one who showed her that any of this was possible. And as a comparison Alex was the one who showed Lena how to love, and Lena was the one who, in turn, showed Julian how to love. So, simply put, Lena was the Alex of the relationship with Julian.

AND THEN THERE IS THE CLIFFY! I honestly both dislike and respect the author for the cliffhanger. Dislike because it is in fact a gargantuan cliffhanger that makes me angry that I have to wait so long for the next book. But I also respect the author, because she has created such a fascinating book that, though the cliffhanger is quite angering, I feel that it doesn't take away from how great the book, in its self, was. So, here it is….the cliffhanger…(if you would like to see the cliffhanger just highlight the blank space with your mouse).Alex is alive! Now, in hindsight, I never really thought he was dead, but just the way the author reintroduced him back into the story ......(On the very last page I might add) was the foreshadowing of an amazing finale to this series.
All in all, I loved this book!