Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Book Description via Goodreads:

Paperback, 375 pages

February 28, 2012, Harper Teen

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.

Source: Bought

My Thoughts:

Pandemonium marked a new phase in Lena’s life. She grieved, bled and crawled her way to survival in the Wilds, leaving Alex behind the deadly fences of Portland. Facing the Wilds without Alex was not what she expected. She was broken in body and in heart. She licked her wounds and recovered with the help of Raven and the other Invalids who took her in. They took care of her, fed with her and gave her the best bed of the homestead without asking for anything in return, contrary to what the cureds believed them to be.

Lena had to keep the memories of her past life – of Alex, of Hana and of her mother – locked in a box to survive in the Wilds. She had to become a new person, a stronger version of herself, so she could move forward. Lena was reborn into the persona of Lena Morgan Jones, an agent working for the resistance. Together with Raven and Tack, fellow Invalids, Lena lived and posed as a normal cured girl in New York. Her task was to keep her eyes on Julian Fineman, one of the faces of DFA (Deliria-Free America.)

Julian was raised to fight against the deliria and to believe that Invalids were a threat to the nation. He was detached and calm, playing his role as the perfect son for his father. But being kidnapped by Scavengers and meeting Lena would change him forever. To be honest, I liked Julian more than Alex. He fell for Lena despite the fact that she was an Invalid. He learned to trust her and to understand how she sees the world. He changed with her and for her, made a decision to stay with her and be the kind of person he disliked. I loved reading about their time together, how strained and awkward they were at first and how their relationship developed from fellow prisoners who didn’t trust one another to comfortable friends who saved each other’s lives and finally to a couple who loved each other enough to risk their lives for it.

There were two stories in Pandemonium: the present and the past. I liked how the alternating stories of the present and the flashbacks allowed me to piece the whole story together without confusing me. It was enough so that I wasn’t overwhelmed by the harshness and difficulty of Lena’s stay in the Wilds. The action and spy-movie-feel of Pandemonium was also something that I enjoyed. Lena learned how to be a true survivor and be a kickass heroine. I was happy to see her that way after reading all about her suffering.

Bittersweet, suspenseful, action-packed and romantic, Pandemonium surpasses the awesomeness of Delirium. Better than the first book in so many ways, readers will fall in love all over again with the well-developed characters and Oliver’s breathtaking writing and storytelling. Highly recommended!

Rating: