Review: Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Author: Lauren Oliver

Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books

Page Count: 391 pages, Hardcover

Date Published: March 5th 2013

Find it on Goodreads: Requiem

Source: Purchased 

They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.
But we are still here.
And there are more of us every day.
Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.
After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.
Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.
Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.
But we have chosen a different road.
And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.
We are even free to choose the wrong thing.
Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.

This review contains slight spoilers for those who have not yet read Delirium and Pandemonium.

It's really hard for me to review Requiem, as it is the final installment in one of my favourite dystopian series of all time. I loved this trilogy and I thought its finale was fantastic. 

I was extremely nervous going into Requiem, as Pandemonium left off on such a huge cliff-hanger, it wasn't even funny. If you're hoping for a LOT of romance in this book, you'll probably be disappointed, but I personally liked the fact that the romance was pretty subtle and not the entire story. There was a lot of contemplation within the head of Lena about Alex and Julian, but not a ton of interaction. I enjoyed reading Lena's thoughts on it all and her struggles with the decision. Lena is an amazing character and I was so scared to say good bye to her. She has grown so much in this trilogy and I loved being in her mind. 

The story in Requiem focuses a lot on the rebellion and them trying to overtake the government. It is told in both Lena's perspective, in the Wilds, as well as Hana's POV, as she prepares for her wedding to the young mayor of Portland. I really enjoyed reading Hana's chapters, as it gave the reader a look into the cured's mind and what it was like. I loved the contrast between Hana's robotic-like thoughts (although still something a bit more than robot...) and Lena's mind as a fighter in the rebellion. Oliver is of course amazing at cliff-hangers and she leaves little ones at the end of the chapters, so that the reader has to wait and read the other POV's chapter beforehand. 

I know a lot of people didn't like Requiem because of how it ended, but personally, I thought it was perfect. It was a classic Oliver cliff-hanger, but not so dramatic that you're desperate to find out more. It closed off the series with a sense of mystery as to what comes next, but it's up for you to decide. Who does Lena choose? Does the Resistance win? Is Hana going to be defective? You decide. I think if this book had been concluded in a nice and tidy, all wrapped up and ready to go kind of way, it wouldn't have given off the same feeling that this conclusion did. With the fact that the reader is still left wondering what will happen, but has a sense of it, Requiem was a beautiful finale and I loved it to no end.

Requiem was written beautifully, in Oliver's graceful prose. It was not a disappointment, when it comes to conclusions, but I am so disappointed that this trilogy has come to an end. Although, I am excited to see how the TV show turns out!

Let me know what you thought of this finale and if you haven't read this trilogy, do you want to? Are you excited for the TV series?

Happy reading!
~Kristy

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

How many of you are as annoyed as I am that we have to wait a year until Requiem comes out!? I finished Pandemonium in a day and a half and I am banging my head against the wall because I cannot wait for the final book in this incredible trilogy! Delirium ended on such a cliff-hanger and this book is no exception in the rule that Lauren Oliver is queen of all crazy-frustrating, throw-the-book-across-the-room endings!

Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperTeen
My Rating: 4.5/5 ~ It was fantastic!

 

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.

**INEVITABLE SPOILERS for those who have not read or are still reading Delirium.**

The story is told though alternating chapters of Lena in the Wilds and then working for the Resistance. Although this worked really well for the story in general it confused me at some points. It was also very frustrating when I wanted to know what was going to happen in the Then chapters, but I had to read the Now chapter as well! I would really love to give this book 5 stars, because the second half of the book deserves it completely, but the first half was a little bit hard for me to get through. There were some points where I didn't understand what was happening with the Resistance and all in all was just plain confused. I think it was because of the fact that Alex was gone. I am still totally team Alex. Julian should go crawl in a hole. Lena really frustrated me at some points! She hardly made any effort to find out if Alex was alive or not. I understand that it would be hard for her to talk about him, but I would also think that she would do anything to find out the truth about where he is and if he was dead. But her falling in love with Julian frustrated the heck out of me! It was only, what... six months after Alex was captured!?  

 How can she forget that?!?!?!?! He's the ONE! I was really worried about Lauren Oliver making this series into a love triangle, but you know what? Screw it... TEAM ALEX FTW. Julian is sweet but Lena needs Alex! Anyways, sorry for that little rant... Anyone who has finished Pandemonium: what did you think of the ending? Did you shriek in frustration like I did?! We have to now wait until February 2013 for the final book! *sob* How horrible!!! :'(


To anyone who has not yet read Delirium, go to the library, go to the bookstore, order it online, I don't care. You have to read this series if you have even the slightest interest in dystopian romances.

Let me know what you thought of Pandemonium and if you think it lived up to Delirium!
~Kristy

Teaser Tuesday -3

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Page 198.

I wall myself up inside. From the tower, the people on the ground are no more than ants, specks, punctuation marks: easily smudged out. 

"I'm an Invalid," I say. "We lie."

Hope this amps up some excitement for the release of this book today! I'm loving it so far! (I'm on page 229.) 

Goodnight everyone!

~Kristy

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Happy Pandemonium Release Day everyone! I thought that since tons of reviews will be coming about the new book, I'd tell you my thoughts on 'Delirium,' the first book of this amazing series! And then as soon as I finish 'Pandemonium' I will tell you all about that as well!
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperTeen
My Rating: 5/5 ~ Adored it!

Goodreads Description:

Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.

I have been really into dystopian stories lately. I love the whole concept of our future being controlled by a government that believes they are doing the right thing, but then the protagonist discovers the truth. It's frightening but at the same time fascinating! I think this series is replacing Hunger Games as my new favorite dystopian books. I cannot even describe how much I love this book! Oh my goodness! I loved Alex from the get-go and I knew they were going to be together! I think Lena was a great character. Her vulnerability and total complete faith in the cure  changes to a love for Alex and a determination to be able to love him freely. I thought the way that Lauren Oliver wrote this novel was truly great. It's a very inspiring love story... the ultimate forbidden love! And then... the end! OH THE END!!! D:  I cannot begin to say how distraught I was after reading the last page. But now, there's Pandemonium which I am currently over halfway done (!!!) and we just have to wait and see what happens, I guess!

Enjoy reading Pandemonium! I'll let you know what I thought as soon as I'm done!
I'll post a teaser in a little bit, I completely forgot about it!

:)
~Kristy

In My Mailbox -4

This weekly meme is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. Every Sunday I'll put up which books I bought, borrowed or hopefully one day received for review. This way you'll have a little sneak peek on the reviews to look forward to soon!
I bought two books from Coles this week and borrowed one from the library. I'm going to a store called Hemingway's tonight, but I wouldn't be able to post this until tomorrow if I waited until after that! So here we go:

I went to Coles yesterday (Saturday) to return 'Fallen' by Lauren Kate; I decided I'll borrow it from the library instead, just because I don't think that I will like it enough to buy the entire series. Who knows, maybe I will, but for now the library is good enough for moi! So, I went, thinking that I'd just exchange the book for another until I saw this:

OMGHHKP! (if you don't know what that means, don't fret. Noone really does. See here :P) Seriously I did a little happy dance in the aisle. I asked the cashier if she knew why it was out already and she just said that they were told to put it out. I'm not questioning it. Their manager is super sweet and trustworthy so... who knows? I did see on their website that it was coming out on the 25th, but everywhere else it said the 28th. Anyways, I started reading it and it's really different from Delirium. I'll do a review in a few days, but I'm hoping that I'll love it more as I get into it!

This is the book that I decided to exchange Fallen for. I've been waiting for the paperback copy of this for so long now and when I saw it, I couldn't resist. I have heard so many great things about this book, but I usually prefer buying the paperback instead of hardcover if I'm unsure about the book, because obviously the price difference is incredible. If you've read this, what did you think? I really hope I'll enjoy it!!!

And finally, this came in from my library FINALLY! You have no idea how long I have been waiting for this book. I refuse to buy it until I know I will like it, because it isn't the usual type of book I read, but I have wanted it for so long! My friend borrowed it first and then ended up not reading it (I swear he's illiterate), and now I get it! :D YAY!

Link your IMM's down below and I'll check them out! Oh and by the way, I apologize greatly for my major faux-pas last Wednesday. I had a very confusing week and I could have sworn it was Tuesday night so I did my Teaser Tuesday, then to wake up on Thursday and realize that I messed it up completely. But the funny thing is that my Wsquared Wednesday actually was 'Divergent' and 'Pandemonium'. So, no need for it anymore!
Talk to you soon!
~Kristy

'W' squared Wednesday -2

Something kind of funny happened to me today in English class. My teacher was reviewing paragraph structures with us and suddenly said: "I don't know any person that willingly takes time out of their sunny, Friday afternoon to write about what they just read." Everyone kind of laughed and I said quietly to the guy next to me "I do..." and he laughed so hard! Then my one of my friends who is constantly checking my posts was like "Oh yeah! Kristy does almost all the time!" My teacher just looked at me and said, "Well that's... different."  *Blogger Pride!!!* :)

Alright, on to todays meme; I thought I might start just calling these W squared, because it's a lot easier. So here's the two books I am desperately needing (one published, one not-published).

Waiting for:

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver. Release date is February 28th 2012... AHHHHH!!!! I NEED THIS BOOK NOW!!!!! I finished Delirium a few days ago and I was both banging my head on the wall for waiting this long to read it and also for not just waiting until Pandemonium came out so I could read them back-to-back! But no... I have to wait another 13 days like all the other people who weren't able to receive and ARC. But as soon as it comes out, zoom! I'm running to the bookstore!

Wanting:

Everneath by Brodi Ashton. It came out January 24th and I am still waiting for it to come in to my local book store and stay there! I have heard so many great things about this book and I think the plot sounds really interesting. Different from what I usually read. And plus... how can anyone resist that cover?

Let me know if you've read either of these and if you liked them! I'd love to hear your opinions!

~Kristy

P.S. My review and thoughts on Delirium will be coming soon, just as soon as I can find another book to read out of my ginormous pile of to-reads!