REVIEW: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Pandemonium (Delirium #2) by Lauren Oliver
Publication Date: February 28, 2012
Publisher: Harper Teen
Source: Book Purchased by Reviewer
Buy it at: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, IndieBound

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Summary (from Goodreads):

I'm pushing aside
the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts o 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 have to say that I ABSOLUTLY LOOOOVED this book!!! This series is my first intro to Lauren Oliver and I definitely love her as a writer now…I'm a fan, you got me!

With this book we saw the best version of Lena. She has changed so much from the naïve young girl she was in Delirium to the strong and brave girl in Pandemonium that is willing to do whatever she needs to do to survive. Seeing her change in attitude from the “Then” and “Now” chapters the book breaks into really gives her so much more credibility when you consider how much she’s grown through all of the struggles and loss she’s endured. Normally I hate this kind of switch in books, but Lauren Oliver does a great job at keeping the pace up and definitely handled the transitions very well. Though I must admit my preference was with the “Now”

After what happened in Delirium with Alex, I thought it would be so difficult to ever find another love for Lena. I mean, how could we ever move on from Alex? He was the love of her life in a world where love wasn’t “allowed” needless to say I was heartbroken… but then we meet Julian. At first I'm a little skeptical about it because my love for Alex was so strong. But Julian won my heart over instantly. Though naïve, Julian was so brave and strong in everything he did. Running away to the wilds with Lena was not as traumatic as it could’ve been because he was already used to doing the extreme with his family. My heart definitely melted for Julian in a way that I did NOT expect.

I think that comparing the love Lena and Alex had  to the one Lena and Julian had is a bit unfair because both relationships are both so unique and genuine. That being said…umm, Team Julian? Team Alex? I'm STILL torn!!! I’ll keep you posted on that…

And then there’s the ending…I'm still in a complete tizzy over it!!! There are so many ways this story can end and I'm not 100% sure what I want to happen at this point. Well…I kind of am, but Lauren Oliver certainly knows how to throw a curve ball so I won’t be getting too attached to my ideas just yet…