Title: Pandemonium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Series: Delirium #2
Published: 1 March 2012 by Hodder & Stoughton
Length: 375 pages
Warnings: Profanity,
violence
Source: Library
Other info: Book
1, Delirium, was published a year ago and was reviewed (badly) here. Book 3,
Requiem should come next year. Short story Hana is already out. Lauren Oliver
also wrote Before I Fall and Liesl and Po.
Summary : 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.
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.
Review: SHOULD
(emphasis on should.) NOT CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR PANDEMONIUM, BUT MAY CONTAIN
SPOILERS FOR DELIRIUM
Despite the review I gave Delirium (which can be found here,
and looking back, is rather harsh. If I re-read Delirium, it would gain
strength 4 tea), I've been looking forwards to its sequel and finding out what
happens to Lena after the ridiculously sized cliff-hanger at the end of
Delirium.
As you may have gathered from other people's reviews, this
is told with chapters alternating between Then and Now. Which, to start with,
nothing happens in. The Then is boring character intros that take too long, and
the Now isn't much of an improvement. Somewhere along the line we get a blow by
blow account of Lena carrying water a mile and a bit from a river to camp.
Considering the awesomeness of book 1, this is quite a step down. The first
third of Pandemonium is generally boring, with not much happening at all.
From the start of the second third, it all becomes a bit
more interesting. Lena is forced out of her camp and various things happen and
there actually seems to be a point to this novel. The ending is semi-epic, with
two rather huge revelations (which were slightly predictable) being dropped
just before the end. Lauren really knows how to write cliffhangers.
I didn't really like the fact it switched between Then and
Now. While it kind of worked with Pandemonium, it also really messed with my
perception of time passing. Which made it a little harder to understand.
The romance in this...I'm sorry, no. I won't tell you how it
ends up, but I will say that I'm not a supporter of this pairing. Alex x Lena
forever.
The pace of the Now section was very good. Even if it did
take me a bit of time at the start to get my bearings with who she was now, in
contrast to Delirium Lena and Then Lena. I just kept wanting to know what was
going to happen to her, and Julian and the whole resistance. The final Now
chapter was...great. So much happened, and then we got that big cliffhanger
and...I really want to see what happens in Requiem.
The Then part just wasn't as interesting. Maybe because we
knew she'd survive all the terrible things that are happening (because how
would she be able to tell us the Now story if she didn't?), or maybe
because...I can't think of a valid reason, but I just didn't like those
sections that much.
Lena definitely developed. It was kind of sad seeing her
always think back to Alex, but nice seeing her move on and get on with her
life.
I have a couple more words to say about this, but I won't
tell you because I'm trying to keep this review spoiler free.
Overall: Strength 4 tea to a book where, if you get
over the slowest first third I've seen in a long time, you'll have a great time
reading.
