Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
Author: Lauren Oliver. Website, Twitter
Published: 1 March 2012 (Hodder & Stoughton)
Pages: 336
Buy: Amazon (hardback|Kindle), Waterstone's (hardback|e-book), Book Depository (hardback)
Source: Borrowed from library.
Plot Summary: (from Amazon)
Love, the deadliest of all deadly things.
It kills you when you have it.
And when you don't.
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.
My Review:
I absolutely loved the first book in this trilogy and I've been waiting and waiting to read this book! My library finally got it in this week and so I dove straight in.
Pandemonium stars off with Lena not entirely where you'd expect from the end of Delirium. The way this book is structured is with chapters titled "then" and "now" and so we're effectively getting two stories running alongside each other. One plotline is Lena's escape into the Wilds, and the second is the present day where she is working undercover. I won't give too much away but I think this way of doing it was absolutely brilliant. It means you have to wait in anticipation to find out just what happened to Lena after the climax of Delirium, whilst being curious about just what she's up to now. You get double the cliffhangers as each part of the story concludes a chapter and you'd have to wait two chapters to wait and find out happened, whilst all the time being gripped to the current chapter. It's the perfect balance of suspense and revelations. I loved it!
One of my favourite parts of the first book was Lena as a character. She underwent such a vast change from a girl who was willing to go along with what she'd been told to someone who rebelled against the system. Her character develops even more in Pandemonium which I was really glad to see. She's constantly having to adapt to the world around her as she tries to survive and carry on with her fight. You get to see such a different side of her as she finds herself in some really sticky situations.
There's plenty of new characters to get to know as well; both good people and bad people! I really liked some of the new additions and their back stories were so well told. The interactions with Lena and the new characters made for some really tense and emotional moments.
I'm such a fan of Lauren Oliver's writing style. I think she conjures up such beautiful images and gets across the harshness of the world the book takes place in just perfectly. In every book of hers I just get so wrapped up in the words. This book was no different. I savoured every line!
There's plenty of action and it more than lives up to the previous book. Pandemonium real heart-wrenching, jaw-dropping moments and I'm eagerly awaiting the next book!
Rating: 5*
What to read next: Requiem by Lauren Oliver, book 3 in the Delirium trilogy (released March 2013).
Books like this: Crossed by Ally Condie, Insurgent by Veronica Roth.
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