"The big ending was jaw-dropping in more than one sense and I am officially (once again) anxiously awaiting the third novel." — Miss Remmers
Release Date: February 28th, 2012
Publisher: Harper Teen
Challenges: 75+ Challenge
"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."
Talk about a book you can't wait to get your hands on! When I finished "Delirium " (just over a year ago) I couldn't wait to read "Pandemonium" to find out what would happen to Lena and Alex. "Pandemonium" (do you think Lauren purposefully makes her titles hard to spell?) begins with Lena as a working part of the resistance and then goes between the "then" and the "now." At first I found this a bit confusing because I didn't really care about the "then" but as the story progressed I found myself addicted to both story veins.
New characters are introduced and new twists in "Pandemonium." I definitely believed in the resistance and their characters and loved the Hansel and Gretal bread crumbs that Oliver left for readers to find. I will say I'm not so sure about this Julian character. It's not that I disliked him, but more that I just didn't believe him. And I don't think I believed this particular Lena as well. Not that this bothered me throughout the novel because the plot was amazing on its own, but I do think it's worth mentioning (without being too specific).
I missed Alex. I missed his vision and his passion, but I guess it's a sense of irony that Lena (the believer in the society) makes it to the resistance and Alex... well, you know. I don't want to say anything further in case of a mistaken spoiler from "Delirium." But I will say that this book did not suffer from sophomore-itis (as my students currently are). The plot was just as fast paced and riveting and, despite the character changes and minor flaws, I still loved the characters. The big ending was jaw-dropping in more than one sense (albeit a bit predictable) and I am officially (once again) anxiously awaiting the third novel.
How does Lauren Oliver do this to me?!
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To the FTC, with love: ARC from Publisher (Thank you!)