Book Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Pandemonium (Delirium #2) by Lauren Oliver

Genre: Young Adult (Dystopian Romance)
Date Published: February 28, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen

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.

Pandemonium is the second book in the Delirium Trilogy by Lauren Oliver. This book fluctuates from Lena's perspective Then and Now. Then being the time after the last book ended. Now being Lena's present time. I have to say I enjoyed her Now perspective better, but we really needed the Then perspective to know how she got where she was. We get introduced to new characters. I have some clear favorites, and some that made me so mad. Even Lena frustrated me at times. She's definitely made progress, but she's still not fully come into her own. I think she's got some more growing to do, but this is expected considering the life she's lived up until now. Her world has been turned on its head, and she doesn't know how to deal with it all yet. It's only going to get worse. I really like Julian. I didn't want to. I thought I was completely Team Alex, and I was worried I wouldn't like this book because there may or may not be an Alex in it, but Julian is a keeper. The ending to this book was so much better than the first, even though I saw it coming. I absolutely love the premise behind this Trilogy. Love being a thought of as a disease is a completely unique concept that I haven't seen in another book before. Some big stuff went down in Pandemonium and everyone's life is about to change because of it.. even the cured. It's going to be interesting. I can't wait to get started on Requiem, which I'll be doing today!

“What does it feel like?”

I know what he is talking about, but still I ask, “What does what feel like?”

“The deliria.” He pauses. Then I hear him slide slowly out of bed. He is kneeling in the space between our bunks. I cannot move or breathe. If I turn my head, our lips will be six inches apart. Less. “What does it feel like to be infected?”

“I—I can’t describe it.” I force the words out. Can’t breathe, can’t breathe, can’t breathe. His skin smells like smoke from a wood fire, like soap, like heaven. I imagine tasting his skin; I imagine biting his lips.

“I want to know.” His words are a whisper, barely audible. “I want to know with you.” 

Be sure to check out more books by Lauren Oliver!

Lauren Oliver comes from a family of writers and so has always (mistakenly) believed that spending hours in front of the computer every day, mulling over the difference between “chortling” and “chuckling,” is normal. She has always been an avid reader.

She attended the University of Chicago, where she continued to be as impractical as possible by majoring in philosophy and literature. After college, she attended the MFA program at NYU and worked briefly as the world’s worst editorial assistant, and only marginally better assistant editor, at a major publishing house in New York. Her major career contributions during this time were flouting the corporate dress code at every possible turn and repeatedly breaking the printer. Before I Fall is her first published novel.

She is deeply grateful for the chance to continue writing, as she has never been particularly good at anything else.

To learn more about Lauren Oliver and her books, visit her website. You can also find her on Goodreads, Twitter, and Facebook.