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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
It was a great book. Not so mushy, and lovey-dovey, but it actually had a very believable plot. It did start out, in my personal opinion, rather slowly, and I was a bit...disinterested, but that was mainly due to the eventes tat occured at the end of the last book, and the lack of a certain character. However, a plot-twist occured that did make the book substantially more interesting. ANd the ENDING!!! No matter what flaws the rest of the book had, the ending made up for them all. I...was staring at the book in shock, although I had been expecting(or maybe hoping) for it to happen. I then proceded to drift through the day in utter numbness, until it really hit me. The ending: The wait is worth it.
I'm rating this 1 star out of spite even though I didn't even finish it
I have to say that this was much better than the first book! This time round I actually felt a connection with Lena, as her character was built upon a whole lot more, and she was much less whiny and annoying.
The ending was not as shocking as it could have been, as it was obvious from the start that Alex was probably still alive, but alas, it wouldn't be a YA trilogy without a good ol' love triangle!
Not too many thoughts on Julian yet, not because I prefer Alex or anything like that, I just haven't made my mind up about him yet. Anyway, onto the last one...
The ending was not as shocking as it could have been, as it was obvious from the start that Alex was probably still alive, but alas, it wouldn't be a YA trilogy without a good ol' love triangle!
Not too many thoughts on Julian yet, not because I prefer Alex or anything like that, I just haven't made my mind up about him yet. Anyway, onto the last one...
Before I even read the book, I knew how it was going to end. I don't know if it was the refusal to believe that Alex was dead or that I knew Lauren Oliver was going to leave us with an unbelievable cliff-hanger(or that the sequels always end on bittersweet notes... or just bitter). But on the love triangle(what the hell?!?!?I hate love triangles.. they are exhausting), I am completely for Alex. It was like fricking Pearl Harbor when everyone thought Alex was dead and then Lena hooked up with Julian and then Alex was like WTF? !!!!!!!! I just cannot ... no this is insane and her mother. Totally saw that coming... The third book needs to come out like right now.
I wish this installment has grabbed my attention the way the first one did. It took me an entire month to read it simply because of how slow the beginning. Maybe I could’ve stopped reading it, but i’m determined to finish this series! I will say, Oliver introduced new conflicts that heightened the danger while maintaining the overarching conflict. She really knows how to leave off on a cliffhanger. The chapter lengths were a bit inconsistent, which stumped me sometimes. However, I enjoyed the progression of Lena
This one took a while to get my interest. I felt the firts half of the book was slow.But, one it reached the midpoint, it moved very quickly. I am not sure I like the twist thrown in at the end, but am curious to see how that turns out in the next one.
4.5 stars
After finishing PANDEMONIUM, I can definitely say -- Lauren Oliver knows how to leave you wanting more.
PANDEMONIUM avoids the sophomore slump often seen in trilogies, and instead gives us some of the rich character development so much of DELIRIUM was lacking. Lena grows in leaps and bounds, from the timid, obedient girl we left in the first book to a fearless, fierce young woman ready to handle any obstacle. She was so much easier to root this way.
I can't really describe much of the plot without giving up too many details, but the book is divided into "then and "now", alternating telling the story of Lena's transformation in the Wilds and her work for the resistance movement. I've seen this style done a lot worse; its easy for this narrative device to become clunky, but Oliver pulls it off quite skillfully.
Again: Audio. Again: Sarah Drew killed it. Love her voice.
Pet peeve: This cover is so cheesy! This series deserves better. What is that plant? Why is it on the cover?
After finishing PANDEMONIUM, I can definitely say -- Lauren Oliver knows how to leave you wanting more.
PANDEMONIUM avoids the sophomore slump often seen in trilogies, and instead gives us some of the rich character development so much of DELIRIUM was lacking. Lena grows in leaps and bounds, from the timid, obedient girl we left in the first book to a fearless, fierce young woman ready to handle any obstacle. She was so much easier to root this way.
I can't really describe much of the plot without giving up too many details, but the book is divided into "then and "now", alternating telling the story of Lena's transformation in the Wilds and her work for the resistance movement. I've seen this style done a lot worse; its easy for this narrative device to become clunky, but Oliver pulls it off quite skillfully.
Spoiler
SPOILER: I feel like its an unwritten rule in books, movies, tv shows, when someone dies but you don't actually see/read a description of their dead body, they're not actually dead. So Alex returning on the last page of PANDEMONIUM was not as shocking as it was intended to be. And as well know, if you write a YA dystopia/fantasy without a love triangle, did you ever really write it at all?Again: Audio. Again: Sarah Drew killed it. Love her voice.
Pet peeve: This cover is so cheesy! This series deserves better. What is that plant? Why is it on the cover?
Much better than Delirium! I liked how the story was told in the past and present, and even though it was predictable, I found myself engaged in the story and curious about what would happen next. I'm looking forward to reading Requiem next year!
"We are all identical drips and drops of people hovering, waiting to be tipped, waiting for someone to show us the way, to pour us down a path".
Lauren's writing is still brilliant on this one. I will be reading definitely more books from her. Now my thoughts on "Pandemonium":
The second book of the series is narrated again by Lena; her past and present self. Our heroine is more brave in this book than in the first one and she believes more in herself. I liked the second installment a bit more than the first one, perhaps because Raven was in it and not annoying Hana =P
There were lots of highlighted quotes on this one but this a quote that I really loved: (about banned books)
"Some of them -the best ones- are doors".
They are indeed, dear Lauren.
More on the story --Spoilers ahead--
Lena has managed to cross the fence and end up to the wilds leaving behind Alex. She is of course heartbroken. As she learns to adapt to her new life she meets new people along the way like Raven, a fierce, independent girl only a few years older than Lena. I loved Raven and how tough she was. Lena's present self narration is about her persona as an 'invalid' (like Alex was). In the present storyline, she behaves like a cured and she a part of the resistance.
Now what knocked one star was the new love interest: Julian. Although I didn't hate the introduction of a new romance, I didn't love it either. The story between Lena and Julian is basically the repetition of the story of Alex and Lena but switched: in the first book Alex was first not honest with Lena, he was the one that made her 'sick', he was the strong one. In this book, it's the other way around: now Lena is the one that is being dishonest with Julian (at least at first), she is the one that gives him the deliria and she is the strong one. I get that this parallel was made to see perhaps the growth of our heroine, but still..
That being said, I quite liked Julian. Truth to be told we did get to know more about Julian than we did for Alex. The relationship with Lena had a nice pace too.
Which brings me to my biggest complain with these series: time. What I mean by that is that everything in these books is happening too damn fast: Lena fell for Alex too fast (being in love at eighteen can be instantaneous but still), she adapted to the Wilds way too fast and she got over Alex too fast.
As a final note the ending wasn't exactly shocking but still I enjoyed that
Spoiler
Alex is alive!