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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
Great. Typical YA book, but excited to read the next one!
This novel is a winner because it's unique in its dystopian content. Rather than pondering survival, like most of these post-apocalyptic moves do, Delirium focuses on the dangers of love. I found myself loving the protagonist Lena, and really connecting with her rigidity. I look forward to book two!
I really enjoyed this book even though I'm not typically into sci-fi (must be the romantic side of it all). I can't wait to read the rest in the series!
Well...
I started reading this completely unaware of what the book was about. The hype had reached me, but I don't pay much attention to it when it comes to YA. To be perfectly honest, I read YA mostly when I was tween-ish, and though I still enjoy the genre (a good book is a good book, after all), I keep thinking it's oriented toward that demographic and so it sometimes lacks a certain allure.
While the concept of curing love like an illness intrigued me, I regarded it as a tool for telling a much simpler story. Love is transcendent and all - and behold my toes curling in delight - the story of star crossed lovers is done well.
Oliver's writing is engaging, and I felt no need to resist the unfurling story. Some of the snippets that start off chapters blew my mind (and, believe me, my mind was blown, because I usually skip that superfluous shit after the first few chapters). I especially fell in love with the rhyme about werewolves, vampires and invalids. That just struck a chord, an authentic cautionary tale for kids. Like stranger danger and candy vans, and additionally creepy because it's sing-song. The references and old books, I loved...
The ending, though horrifying (god damn it, I think, isn't the book for tweenagers?) was kind of great in a shocking way. Obviously, it never actually crossed my mind it could end less than perfectly. I kept thinking "shit happens, and then they live on love".
The last sentence was just so fitting and lovely I closed the book completely satisfied.
So, yeah... I kind of loved this.
Still, bear in mind I had no idea the book was a part of a trilogy, and now that I've found out, my feelings went a bit south. This influences me largely, so bear with me.
True to my fear of all that is not a standalone novel, I was disheartened (code red, code red; a soap opera sighted. I repeat, a soap opera has breached the preliminary defenses. Abort).
I like standalone books better. Period. A vast most of the time, the story is tighter and stronger that way. Series sound a horrifying alarm through my system (though, a good book is a good book, and a good series gives you a reason to re-read everything before new releases), and this time; fact is I had to look at everything written in a different light.
The concept of curing love is no longer a tool for telling another, transcendent story, it becomes (or it should, in my mind) a story in and of itself. And I falter on the unsaid and the improbable, when I look at it in this light.
For example: Kids are perfectly capable of feeling love and emotions. Tell me, show me, in this society, how is it that this functions? Kids gaining some sort of emotional stability and maturity with parents emotionally detached and unavailable?
To be perfectly honest, this leads me to another issue. Curing love cures a whole other lot of emotions, and Lena mentions her aunt having to learn, memorize and remember to "reassure her" about her evaluations. Lack of empathy and guilt? And apparently crime rate has gone down, if you don't count petty theft. You don't say.
I don't buy that. Not all crimes are crimes of passion, and what I see is a whole lot of people programmed to be as close to sociopaths as, well, socially acceptable, and not one serial killer with mommy issues in town with such fertile environment? How does that sound to you?
Plus, her mom's immunity...
But hey, it's a trilogy, some things might be explained in the sequels. Sigh.
Somewhere here is a "second of all", because all of this just lessens the impact of the book.
What it also does is, it changes the ending. It's no longer a given, but a "God, if this love is replaceable or resurrectable (which is apparently a word if I'm concerned), I will regret reading about it" because one makes this story a waste of my time and the other all sequels utter bullshit and a cliche ploy to create mystery and tension.
You see, it was a love story, in my mind, star crossed lovers, just another story that had to be said. And that rises above genres and demographic, and sometimes even tastes.
But now the characters themselves and the dystopian elements carry more weight, and the structure is no longer as elegant, and the flaws are not soft shadows, but jarring edges.
Far be it from me suddenly hating the book, it's still lovely and well tied up as far as the story arc goes (long-live parts that can stand alone), but it's no longer the well-polished gem I thought I had ravenously stumbled across, and it's no longer as special.
So, from a 4.5/5, I'm down to a weird... 3.5? Written well, above average, certainly. It well crushed my low expectations with a flourish, but drawing this out gives it a case of "just another brick in the wall". Just meh. Won't continue reading, because, like I said. With this ending, the author really lined it up to be either bullshit, or the whole novel superfluous when she finds "another".
I wish I could give this book a 2.5 rating, because that's what I think it deserves. It's very well written, it's got all the right stuff in all the right places (save one very predictable plot twist and the ambiguous ending of a lifetime), I just don't know why I didn't like it. Maybe it's Lena. No, it's not, Lena's a very interesting protagonist. I don't know why I didn't like it, it just didn't float my boat. But because of the well-written-ness of it, I've gotta give it three stars
I hated the ending. Booooo. I feel forced into reading the sequel and I hate that. I should've known better than to read this book, because I really hated Before I Fall.