Pandemonium, a sequel to Delirium

Description:

I'm pushing aside memory of my nightmare, pushing aside thoughts of Alex. Pushing thoughts of Hana, and my old school, push, push, push, push like Raven thought me to do. The old life is dead. But the old Lena is dead too. I buried her. I left her beyond 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 to ignite.

Pandemonium, the most awaited sequel to Delirium has been receiving a bunch of good and bad reviews. Some of the readers loved it, others appeared to have been sourly disappointed and the conclusion alone has undoubtedly aggravated a strong response one way or the other from most readers.

The story followed a format that jumped between past and present, between "NOW" and "THEN". At first I was confused but gradually learned to understand it. I found this very interesting. The Then chapters pick up instantly after what happened to Delirium. After Lena's escape from Portland. She is now alone in the woods. The Now chapters are several months in the future. Lena has been with the Invalids ( the term they use for those uncured individuals.) and now living in one of the cities, (New York) feigning she was cured, but really working for the resistance.

As for the characters, Lena, the protagonist is much more engaging character in Pandemonium. Her development is entertaining and acceptable in the circumstances showed. I could really see her character unravelling. Though I miss the up beat, oblivious girl who grew to appreciate the meaning of love for the first time. There were fairly a few characters presented, Raven, Julian and Tack to name a few. Raven is one of those characters for certain you don't want to screw up with. Julian, at first I find him a bit dull. I thought his character was only fated to have a minor part in this novel. I was certainly proven wrong. ;-)

Lauren Oliver never fails to amaze me with her style of writing. So expressive, picturesque and emotional. Full of imagery and lyrical verses. Her writing is indeed beatiful. It helped me feel every emotion of her characters, especially, Lena. She's a genius writer, with the concept and all. I don't think anyone would dispute that.

I gave this book an amazing 4 stars. The twists and the turns of the story kept me in suspense. Hell yes, another cliffhanger at the end, but it was so worth the read. I am surely be thrilled to bits to see how Oliver will end the trilogy. Requiem, fall of 2013.

Here are some of the quotes from the book:

"That's a flip side of freedom: when you are completely free, you are also completely on your own."

"If you are smart, you care. And if you care, you love."

"That's the thing, we didn't really care. A world without love is also a world without stakes."

"Waste today, want tomorrow."

"The tunnels may be long, and twisted and dark; but you are supposed to go through them."

"You can build a future out of anything. A scrap, a flicker. The desire to go forward, slowly, one foot at a time."