A review by kamrynkoble
Requiem by Lauren Oliver

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.75

I . . . am disappointed. I LOVED this trilogy in middle school, and I remember dying trying to wait for this book to come out. I remember feeling let down by it then, but I couldn’t remember anything about it for the life of me even though I could’ve given you a rough summary of the first two books all these years later. 

The positive was the writing. I love Oliver’s style. It’s atmospheric and the perfect amount of descriptive. 

Everything else . . . 

We’ve just lost so much about what made this story compelling. At this point, it’s a survival story, and there was absolutely zero emotional or romantic spark between Lena and Alex OR Julien. It almost felt like a different narrator. I was actually more intrigued with Hana’s chapters as she unraveled her fiance’s secrets. 

The ending. Don’t even get me started. I literally hate it. I had to go back because SURELY I had missed something and that wasn’t the end. I knew it was the climax, but it just completely blasted over ANY resolution. It felt unfair after all we’ve been through with these characters. 

I can’t help it. I have to compare it to Mockingjay. Mockingjay felt like a stark difference from the first two books of a YA dystopian trilogy, but it was necessary and balanced AND had an extremely satisfying ending—the perfect amount of closure and open ending. Requiem had literally none of that. Like surely this isn’t the last book. Ugh. I’m sad. 2.5 stars. 
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