[Review] Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Pandemonium
Lauren Oliver
[Delirium #2]
YA Dystopian
Published: February 28th 2012 (HarperCollins)
Format: Hardback
Pages: 375
Source: Library
Rating: 4 of 5

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.

I expected great things from this book, great thing indeed. Was I satisfied? To an extent. The potential to make a great trilogy is within Oliver's reach. Hopefully, and I have a great amount of hope and clarity, she won't mess it up.

The story starts off where Delirium left off, with a slight time skip. Lena is now on the outside, in the Wilds, and it's a harder life than she thought it would be. She struggles at first, but gains her footing in no time. She has trouble copping with her memories of Alex and Hana and her old life.

Lena is our main character. She is the one that faces struggles head on. In Delirium, I have to admit, I thought she was a bit lackluster. But in Pandemonium, I was so happy with her. She did things that I liked, things that made me proud of her. She changes in realistic ways and grows. In the first book, it seemed a bit unrealistic that Lena could change so drastically, morphing into something that she is not. This book changes that around, taking what she turned into and making her grow more slowly. For this, I applaud Oliver.

Julian is another major character. Let me just say that I absolutely love him! I like him more than Alex. Where as Alex is a perfect guy, I think that he feels flat when compared to Julian. Julian has his own pros, but he also has cons, and that's what I love about him. He is naive and sheltered, as most are in their society, but also curious.

The plot takes many twists and turns throughout the story. As I read, I gasped and grumbled. There was so much going on, but I'm not complaining. Though, I am complaining about one thing: the structure of the book. Pandemonium is broken up into alternating "Now" and "Then" sections. I absolutely loved the "Now" parts! It's just the "Then" moments that I have issues with. The flow of the book is jerky because of this. At times, I felt like just skipping the "Then" sections. I mean, you go from and action scene to a dull scene about them trekking through the woods. It really ruined the moment for me.

Besides that, I can't complain. The book really delivered for me, yet still left me hanging. The ending was obvious, but I didn't care, as it was a good set up for the next book. I would recommend this to anyone that likes Dystopian books. The series is fantastic, and though it has it flaws, it is still a satisfying read.

Final Rating:
4 of 5