Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Pandemonium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Series: Delirium

Summary:
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.

Review

Pandemonium was a bit of a surprise for me, to be honest. I absolutely loved the second installment of the Delirium series better than the first. It was action-packed and filled with suspense. You never knew what was going to happen next, and with it bouncing back and forth between when she first made it to the Wilds and when she is part of the resistance it makes for a truly intriguing read.

The book begins with Lena in the resistance. I was kind of confused when I first began reading so I flipped through a few pages and saw that the next chapter began right after she entered the Wilds so it made a little more sense after that. Lena's job as part of the resistance is to keep an eye on the DFA (Deliria-Free America), their leader Thomas Fineman and his son Julian. This book follows Lena's efforts to bring to light the intentions of this group, and eventually to keep Julian alive. It also follows her journey from the time she made it to the Homestead outside of Portland to being part of the resistance in Brooklyn. Making the journey on foot in the winter was no easy feat; several of the group died along the way or became ill. Lena's main intentions were to become part of the resistance for Alex and do what he would have wanted and done. She carries with her the hope that he is still alive so that she won't give up when times get rough. What she doesn't expect is to fall in love with Julian, someone who has grown up being taught that love is wrong, but as it turns out, he has a few secrets of his own. Secrets that, in my own opinion, are probably what helped Lena to fall for him; he's like her in several ways.

I loved reading this book so much. We get answers to some of the questions that were left in our minds at the end of Delirium and so much more. We watch as Lena learns how to survive out in the Wilds and how she becomes part of the resistance. We watch as she and Julian slowly fall in love, even with Lena's attempts to stop it because she feels guilty for turning her back on Alex. She struggles with her emotions and feelings for both Alex and Julian. Throughout the book she sees Julian as the enemy, but is for some reason extremely attracted to him. And the more she learns about him, the more she falls. Not knowing if Alex is alive or dead but believing him to be dead, she finds comfort in Julian, just as he does with her. Even though I've been Team Alex from the beginning, it's still easy to see how she could fall for Julian.

There are some surprising twists within the pages and I loved every minute of it. It's impossible to put this book down because it's so fast-paced and has your heart-racing at every turn. I definitely enjoyed this one more than Delirium, and I'm anxiously awaiting the third installment.

I rate this book: