Thursday, March 15, 2012

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Description:
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. 


First off, totally unrelated to the actual story behind the cover, can I just say I wish I would have waited to get Delirium so I could have a matching set?  Yeah, 'cause I'm that kind of girl...


Lauren Oliver is one of those authors who's writing just sucks you in.  I was a little apprehensive of the layout of the book {chapters are then, now, then, now and so forth}, but she made it flow in a way that others could only dream of.  Each one seems to explain the other, and I forgot I was even going back and forth at all.  If Delirium got you hooked, Pandemonium is going to reel you all the way in.


In the first part of Delirium, I felt that Lena's character was kind of lost.  She knew she wanted the cure, but at the same time she was unsure.  She was scared.  This Lena is much stronger, more sure of herself.  Although she does question herself in parts of the book, she is more sure of who she is and what she's capable of.  And, lets face it, the hardcore fighter that Lena has become is pretty awesome.

All of the new characters are pretty awesome, each of them holding their own very well.  And the new guy she brings into the story for Lena?  Intriguing.  After reading it, I was thinking to myself that realistically the only way that would have come about is if it were a situation just like she wrote.  Seriously, the only way.


This story took some big, surprising turns.  I'm sometimes pretty good at predicting twists in a book, but some of these had me a bit shocked.  I'm going to be vague so as not to give any spoilers, but you'll be surprised and I'm sure have that mental click like I had towards the end.


Oh, and you think you know cliffhangers?  Yeah, you don't know cliffhangers until you get to the end of this book!  I gave this book a solid five stars on Goodreads, and it SO is!

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