Review- Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Requiem

Lauren Oliver

Release Date: March 5, 2013

Hardcover: 368 pages

Publisher: Harper Teen

ISBN: 0062014536

Source: ARC from the San Francisco/Sacramento Book Review

Rating: Liked

Goodreads/ Amazon/Barnes & Noble/The Book Depository

From Goodreads.

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.

After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor. Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.

 Y’all now don’t get mad at me I liked this one I just didn’t love it like I did Delirium and even Pandemonium. I’ve even given myself a few days to ponder why before writing my review. So here’s my thoughts…..

Lauren’s world building is amazingly written and I love how descriptive she is about life in the Wilds and also back in Portland. I absolutely loved this story up until the very last chapter and then I didn’t. My favorite parts of the story were the ones written from Lena’s POV. I think that’s one of my biggest problems final book in the series. With the three books Lauren went from just Lena’s POV in Delirium, to Lena’s POV past and present in Pandemonium, to Dual POV’s in Requiem; and the second POV was Hana’s. Whom after reading her short story I really could have cared less about. I actually hated her. If Lauren was going to write a second POV in this book I really believe it should have been Alex’s. I think she went with Hana because after what happens in her short story she needed redemption but even then I really had a hard time caring about her.

Oh and the ever present non-love triangle between Alex, Lena, and Julian? Call it what you want but when there’s two guys and the character cares about both of them and, they both care about her even if one doesn’t act like it. It’s a love triangle. Just trust me on this Team Alex and Team Julian will not be happy with the outcome I know I wasn’t because there was no outcome! Oh yeah on to the ending! I don’t think I’ve been this frustrated with a book series ending since Mockingjay! Was there a happy ending? Hell no! Not in my opinion. Was there an ending yes, yes there was but I’m still left numb by it. I’m actually angered by it and I feel it was kind of a cop out.

I was really excited by this one and I’m really upset that I didn’t like it more. I did like it though I just didn’t love it like I had hoped. I really hope you all who have read, loved, and invested so much into this series like I have; read it and feel differently.

I chose a passage between Alex and Lena and this is about as close to hope as I got in this book.

Alex is standing a little ways away from where Julian is lying. All his anger gone; instead he looks shocked, his hands limp at his sides. He’s staring at Julian, looking puzzled, as though he doesn’t know how Julian got there.

I stand up and move toward him, feeling the anger crawl into my fingers. I wish I could wrap them around his neck, choke him.

“What the hell is the matter with you?” My voice is low. I have to push the words out past the hard lump of anger in my throat.

“I--I’m sorry,” Alex whispers. He shakes his head. “I didn’t mean… I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry Lena.”

If he keeps looking at me like that—pleading, willing me to understand—I know I’ll start to forgive him.

“Lena.” He takes a step toward me, and I take a step back. For a moment we stand there; I can feel the pressure of his eyes on me, and the pressure, too, of his guilt. But I won’t look at him, I can’t.

“I’m sorry,” he repeats again, too low for Raven and Tack to hear. “I’m sorry for everything.”

Then he turns and pushes into the woods, and he’s gone.

Pandemonium Comes Out Tomorrow

Hey everyone did you know that Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver comes out tomorrow??? If you're a fan of Delirium you need this book! It was more exciting and heart wrenching than the first!!


Well the cool news? The Harper Audio team has put together a snippet from the audio book if you want a little teaser to tide you over till tomorrow. So here it is!




And make sure to buy Pandemonium!

Get Hana The Delirium Novella Free For Valentine's Day

Ok ya’ll we have to do this!!! We cannot wait to read Hana for many reasons but the biggest? Hana’s POV will be in the 3^rd book Requiem!!!!!

Here’s a synopsis from the Harper Teen website!

Lauren Oliver's riveting, original digital story set in the world of her New York Times bestseller Delirium.
The summer before they're supposed to be cured of the ability to love, best friends Lena and Hana begin to drift apart. While Lena shies away from underground music and parties with boys, Hana jumps at her last chance to experience the forbidden. For her, the summer is full of wild music, dancing—and even her first kiss.
But on the surface, Hana must be a model of perfect behavior. She meets her approved match, Fred Hargrove, and glimpses the safe, comfortable life she’ll have with him once they marry. As the date for her cure draws ever closer, Hana desperately misses Lena, wonders how it feels to truly be in love, and is simultaneously terrified of rebelling and of falling into line.
In this digital story that will appeal to fans of Delirium and welcome new admirers to its world, readers will come to understand scenes from Delirium through Hana's perspective. Hana is a touching and revealing look at a life-changing and tumultuous summer.

From Harper Teen….

Have you heard that Lauren wrote a short story entitled HANA that tells the events of DELIRIUM as seen through the eyes of Lena's wild child best friend? We're so excited for it to go on sale 2/28— in fact, we're so excited that we actually can't wait that long to read it! If enough people pre-order PANDEMONIUM, MTV.com  and Hollywoodcrush.com will post HANA for free on Valentine's Day. If you're interested in helping us spread the love, spread the DELIRIUM, and get HANA for free, then please share the good news on your blog!

The goal is 5,000 pre-orders so spread the word we can do this and here’s a short message from Lauren Oliver! Make sure to check out Lauren’s blog also!!!!

If that wasn’t enough to persuade you check out Jaime’s review of Pandemonium!

Pre-order your copy here!

Jaime's Review of Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

From Goodreads.
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.

Jaime’s review….

During my week off from review books Delirium was on my list and the minute I picked it up I was sucked into this amazing dystopian world where love is outlawed. When I first met Lena she completely broke my heart how could a girl not want to love? But then we both met Alex and we both fell hard for the boy with hair like an auburn crown and I didn’t want this love story to ever end! Then it did and it killed me I cried and was completely stunned with what happened.

Skip forward to Pandemonium I was so mad with Lauren for what happened at the end of Delirium that I didn’t want to like this book. I really didn’t and when I heard some non spoilery stuff online like there being another boy I did not want to fall for him at all. I wanted to stay true to Alex. As the story unfolded though I found it hard not to care about this new boy Julian I fought my emotions hard I could not be falling for another one could I? The same thing Lena was thinking.

What I loved about this book was like in Delirium we jumped between Then and Now. Then being The Wilds after Lena’s escape from Portland and Now being set in New York where she is part of the Resistance working hard to make love legal again. I really enjoyed the Ten parts because we get to meet some really cool people I know a lot of the reviews say they hated Raven at first but I didn’t I got her and why she acted the way she did. I also grew really fond of Hunter and Tack. In the Now is where I found myself fighting and losing my battle not to fall in love with Julian who in all rights I should have hated he was part of the bad people, the ones who want to do away with love, but something happens and well I’ll just say wow! Oh and then the ending??? I kinda saw it coming for a few reasons but all I can say is holy crap that blew my mind and book 3 now please! The wait is going to suck for sure.

I had a really hard time picking a quote or scene from this one there’s so much spoilery but I think I found a good one….

“You were calling for Alex,” Julian says, and I feel a small spasm of pain in my stomach. More silence, then: “It was him, wasn’t it? He’s the one who got you sick?”

“What does it matter?” I say. I lie down again.

“So what happened to him?” Julian asks.

“He died,” I say shortly, because that is what Julian wants to hear. I picture a tall tower, smooth-sided, stretching all the way to the sky. There are stairs cut in the side of the tower, winding up and up. I take the first step into the coolness and shade.

“How?” Julian asks. “Because of the deliria?” I know if I say yes he’ll feel good. See, he’ll think. We’re right. We’ve been right all this time. Let people die, so we can be right.

“You,” I say. “Your people.”

Julian sucks in a quick breath. When he speaks again, his voice is softer. “You said you never had nightmares.”

I wall myself up inside. From the tower, the people on the ground are no more than ants, specks, punctuation marks: easily smudged out.

“I’m an Invalid,” I say. “We lie.”

Ok so I hope that didn’t tease you too much because you don’t have that long to wait 

Pandemonium comes out February 28^th so pre-order it on Amazon
Barnes & Noble, and The Book Depository.

If you haven’t make sure to add Pandemonium to your Goodreads lists and check out Lauren’s website!

A huge thanks to Harper Teen for the Advanced Reading Copy! As always you are too good to us!