Martha now gives her views on the three Lauren Oliver books starting with Delirium.
I know this book (and its two sequels) is super popular, but I resisted for a looong time because I'm sort of over dystopias at this point. However, I have to say that compared to its more popular Hunger-Games-ripoff cousin, Divergent, I liked Delirium a LOT more, and wish that this, and not Divergent, was the novel getting a movie adaptation. For those of you who haven't read it, this is the story of Lena and Alex, two teenagers in a society where love is considered a sickness and at 18 everyone is cured of the disease. A real upper, obviously. As I'm sure you can guess, Lena and Alex fall in love, and then must decide what to do with the date of Lena's cure rapidly approaching. I have to admit, one thing that bothers me about this current dystopia craze is that I think a lot of them kind of forget that the real point of dystopias is to make some sort of comment about our current society - see 1984, The Handmaid's Tale, even The Hunger Games. I am not entirely sure what sort of astute commentary one can get from a novel about a society where love is outlawed. HOWEVER, having said that, I'm going to stop being a grouch, because I still really enjoyed this book. It's hard to put down once you get into it, and since I was listening to it on audiobook (the reader is Sarah Drew, who Grey's Anatomy fans like myself [yes, STILL watching that show] will know best as April Kepner, and she does a pretty good job - it helps that she has a young-sounding voice so I totally buy her as a teenager) I actually sat in my parking lot for like 10 minutes one night because I didn't want to stop listening. I was spoiled on the ending in advance, but still ended up crying in my car, which I suppose is a compliment to the author. Anyway, I just picked up the sequel from the library and can't wait to read it. If you're looking for a quick, engrossing read, I'd recommend this - it also helps that Lauren Oliver writes beautifully, so even if you are experiencing dystopia fatigue, you can still enjoy the writing.
Pandemonium
This is the sequel to Delirium, and I'm really glad I decided to read this instead of listening to it on audiobook like I did with the first one, because it was a REALLY fast read and really hard to put down. Anyway, it picks up where Delirium left off, with Lena out in the Wilds and follows her as she meets up with other Invalids and joins the resistance. There's also the introduction of a second love interest, which I didn't hate as much as I thought I was going to. Look, these books are never going to be the most original things on the face of the planet - the market is so saturated with dystopias at this point that it's impossible for any of them to feel truly fresh, I think - but Lauren Oliver is a fantastic writer, and the quality of her writing manages to elevate books with a somewhat tired premise to something very intriguing and beautiful (which was absolutely the case with her first novel, Before I Fall, as well). Teenage girls would love this, and it's a great book to give to any patrons who have finished The Hunger Games and want help finding something similar to read. If you haven't gotten 100% sick of dystopias, I'd recommend giving this series a shot - I'm not sure I liked Pandemonium quite as much as Delirium, but it was still a good read.
Requiem
This is the final book in the trilogy that started with Delirium, and I thought it was a really good conclusion. The parallels to The Hunger Games seem especially obvious in this installment, including the dreaded love triangle (though I will say the circumstances that led to this one were less infuriating than most love triangles I've ever read, and Oliver managed to make the whole thing [which I still think is a stupid plot device] seem understandable and also make Lena seem less selfish than most protagonists involved in love triangles usually seem [which is my #1 issue with love triangles]). Anyway, if you're a reader who needs 100% closure and wants all the loose ends tied up, this might not be the book for you - Oliver doesn't particularly care whether you want to know exactly what happens to everyone or how every event will turn out. But this is what I liked best about this book. If she HAD tied everything up, I think I would have found it rushed (like I found the ending of Mockingjay, for example). Instead, she leaves a lot of questions unanswered - which is a bit frustrating, but also part of the fun of reading, in my opinion. Now, finally, please excuse me while I revert to being a 16-year-old again for five seconds, because the final thing I have to say about this book is: LENA + ALEX 4EVA. This concludes my highly intellectual and thoughtful review.
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