Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Pandemonium 
by Lauren Oliver

Published: February 28, 2012

Publisher: Harper Teen

Available: Amazon

Synopsis:

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.

Review:

When I read the first book in this series, Delirium, it was hard to ignore the similarities to Ally Condie's Matched. And even though I knew it wasn't intentional, it was had to keep the books separate. When I picked up Pandemonium, it was unfortunately right after I read the second book in the Matched series, Crossed. So I began with hesitation, worried that it was going to follow a similar path to Crossed. I was pleasantly proven wrong.

Pandemonium, picks up right were Delirium left off, and we see Lena's struggle to survive from the first page to the last. The story is told in a Then and Now format, with Lena's initial survival alternating with the Now in which she's involved in the revolution and finding a way to move past the death of Alex. With his absence comes the love interest opening for Julian. Initially I couldn't stand his character. He seemed whiny and weak, but as the story progressed he kind of grew on me. Although I did feel like Lena's character wasn't as strong as I wanted her to be. She spends a long time mourning him, constantly thinking about him and what he would be doing if he were alive. then all of a sudden she was in love with Julian. It just seemed like she gave into the need to be with someone.

As for the ending, well, I won't say what happens, but damn! This has to be one of the greatest cliffhangers I've read in a long time! I will unquestionably be picking up the third in this series.