Delirium Archives - Night Owl Reads

Pandemonium (Delirium #2) by Lauren Oliver

SPOILER: If you haven’t read Delirium yet, you might read some spoilers in this review. Pandemonium picks up after Lena’s escape. The story was told in chapters with the heading ‘then’ and ‘now’. ‘Then’ told the story of Lena’s life after she crossed the wall/barrier and saw Alex shot by regulators. Thinking that he was dead, she had a hard time recovering physically, as well as adjusting to her new life in the woods without Alex. With the help of Raven and other people in the homestead, Lena struggled with her new life. The ‘now’ part tells the story after that struggle. She is now part of the resistance, lives a new life in a new city, using a different name, and telling a different story about her past. Being in this new life is tough as she still thinks of Alex and her life in Portland. She also thinks about her mom, now that she knows the truth about her death. When I read this book, I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t sure what to expect especially when Delirium ended with the assumption that Alex is dead. Like Lena, I don’t want him to be dead, but we rely on what she sees/experience and she saw blood on Alex after she crossed the border, when they were being chased by regulators. A part of me believed he’s still alive, another part is okay with his death so Lena can move on and fall in love again and it won’t be complicated IF Alex is alive somewhere. But of course, the whole series revolves around love, apart from the war. I wished he was still alive. I like how it was cleverly written. I would cringe every time something horrible would happen to Lena. I felt her pain, her longing, her confusion. I also couldn’t stand not knowing if Alex is still alive so before I continued reading, I read spoilers because I just had to know before I can continue. The book neared its end in what seemed to be a happy ending, until the last page where something was revealed and I was left hanging. Well, that leaves something to look forward to in the last book of the series, Requiem

Hana (Delirium #1.5) by Lauren Oliver

Hana is a short story from Lauren Oliver’s Delirium Trilogy. The novella is written in the POV of Lena’s best friend Hana, where we see the story of the last summer before her procedure. We find out what her deal was and what she was going through with all that was happening in her life. In Delirium, I was intrigued with Hana because of how Lena described her. There was a clear change in her personality, but I think because of the circumstances, she wasn’t sure if she could trust Lena with her new found secret. But eventually she did and I could assume that a part of her, like Lena, was wondering if she did the right choice of trusting the other with her secrets. It was her last summer before her procedure before she gets cured, it’s her last chance at freedom and she wanted to make use of it as best as she could. I liked this short story because it gave us fans an access to Hana, the best friend. I feel bad for her because all she wanted was to be loved and cared for, and it seems that she found it with the wrong person. At some point, I think she was jealous of Lena and Alex because what they had was real. But her actions in the end, in my opinion, was made out of her concern for Lena, rather than jealousy. This was a good addition to the story so that we would understand her position and not hate her

Delirium (Delirium #1) by Lauren Oliver

The story takes place in a world where love is viewed as a disease that has to be eradicated. A cure was developed and the government demanded all citizens get inoculate once they turn eighteen. It’s a scheduled procedure and Lena Holoway has looked forward to it all her life. But days before she got the cure, she falls in love. Why I chose Delirium to read next, I do not know. Maybe the idea that love is a disease that needs to be cured caught my interest. I knew this was a love story, but the world where it was set is interesting too. A world without love, where everything is simple and easy, no one would feel the emotional pain of love lost, but it’s not as easy as it seems The love story was okay, like love-at-first-sight, at least for Alex. There’s no third party which made it a little less complicated considering the situation. The story focuses on Lena’s life, her friendship with Hana, her thoughts about the disease amor deliria nervosa and the ‘cure’, thoughts about her mother’s death, and her relationship with Alex. It was like reading someone’s personal diary although I didn’t feel like I was invading. I felt like I was invited to see Lena’s life and what she was going through. It was very descriptive. I could imagine myself in Lena’s shoes, walking around their town, spending time with her best friend Hana, meeting Alex. I felt what she felt, her pain, her happiness, and falling in love. I got hooked on the story, mostly because I’m a hopeless romantic and that was the focus of the story, but just like every dystopian novel, there is more to it than romance. The bigger picture. The political angle and the mystery behind Lena’s mother’s death.It doesn’t have the action-packed storyline of Divergent, but the end of this book had me in tears and left me devastated for days. I couldn’t stop thinking about Alex, like I was Lena in real life, worrying about him, wondering if he was okay. I would say it was a good thing because I would be coming back for more. Have you read this book/series? What do you think if this were real? Tell me what you think about it in the comments below. I would love to exchange views about this.

Series: Delirium