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iamajellydoughnut 's review for:
Delirium
by Lauren Oliver
Delirium, Delirium, Delirium, let me see, what can I say about you that doesn't involve laments of failed expectations, fits of insurmountable rage, and copious amounts of hair-tearing? Really, you started out wonderfully, with prose that, if not ground breaking, was at least nice and beautiful at times. You had a great character in Hana, who, by FAR, was my favorite in the entire book. You had a decent lead in Lena, who, if not very interesting, seemed to at least hold her own in life.
Well.........on second thought, not really. In the beginning, she panics at the slightest thought of disobedience, which really annoyed me, although I get that you were trying to convey the depth of her unquestioning faith in her society, and contrast that with her eventual change of heart and disillusionment with her faux-utopia. Still. Don't you think the story might have beena little bucketloads more interesting had Hana been the main character? Imagine the daring escapades! The crackling wit and vibrancy! The ability to be her own person, and not be some dimwitted puppet to be pulled along by the strings of society and Alex and family? Lena made me mad. She was so...pathetic, I guess, is the word I'm looking for. Sure, maybe she had moments of bravery where she took the initiative, but good Lord, those rare moments were always heralded by endless paragraphs about how brave she was to have stepped up to the plate. But anyways, I'm not the author so it's not my call.
I started Delirium, and in the beginning, everything was good. Great, in fact. The writing was great, the story promising, the characters interesting. It keeps going, going, going this way, until we get to that inevitable point where our young heroine meets her One True Love for the first time.
And hey!-still going strong.
Lena meets Alex for the first time in a cow stampede in the middle of her evaluation, and I gotta say, it's unique. And what's even better, she goes home, and she does NOT obsess over ZOMGBBQ-mysterious-hawt-guy!!!11 At this point, in my head, I'm already cackling and fist-pumping and telling myself that yes!- this might well be a kickass story, jaw dropping, ground-breaking, worthy of five stars. But shortly thereafter...she goes for a run with her BFF Hana and meets One True Love again, and bam, like that, the story goes downhill.
For one, it's that insta-love crap again, where is absolutely NO basis for their love, and if there is, it's as flimsy as gauze (I was going to make a crack here about our economy, but naaaah). They meet maybe twice and suddenly they are each other's One Tru Undying Forevar and Evar Eternal Luv™, and I'm sitting here raging and screaming WHAT? Because the reason that Alex is smitten with her is because many years ago, he played Stalker McStalkypants and saw her running near a shop where he was working. And according to Alex, who is evidently blind, Lena was just sooooooooo "awake"! And if Lena is awake, then I ask you, what of HANA? They were running together, and Lena, repeatedly, throughout the book, has always said that Hana was so much more vibrant and confident than her, and yet Alex ignores 100000-wattage Hana and goes for Lena? Timid, obedient, boring Lena, who is as "awake" as I am at 3AM in the morning? Bah, humbug.
And then after they discover thatthey have loved each other their entire lives and then some they love each other dearly, the story just consists of a lot of waxing poetic about how lovely love is and whatnot, interspersed with paltry bits of action and actual points of interest. When I end up cheering because the heroine gets caught by the baddies, because her plans have been quashed because their love's been found out, well, that's bad. I think I was supposed to have gasped in fear and dismay and said oh noes, right? Because I was supposed to have been invested in their love story. I might be alone in this sentiment, but I was completely sick and tired of the endless smooching by this point, and was gleeful when the regulators locked down their hideout and foiled their plans. Oh, and I was disgruntled when Lena ended up escaping.
There was another problem. This world...was meh. There was no true worldbuilding going on here, as practically required when one writes a dystopia. I could imagine Portland, but that was all. What, exactly, is this world of yours? The other cities? The other people? The other countries? The government? Surely the United States cannot be the only country left standing in your world. And even if it is, who, really, is the oppressor here? One of the greatest problems I had with this book was the lack of villains present. There were only the mooks. The red shirts. The expendable soldiers, the brainless minions. There was never a Big Bad here, and I found fault with this because I like it better when there is a figurehead for evil/bad/wrong around. Where is the Mayor Prentiss of this world? The President Snow? The Voldemort?
I will say this, though. Delirium is very readable. The pages practically flip themselves, despite my nitpickings and issues with the story. Oliver's writing is very accessible, pretty but not overwrought like the classics of old.
Anyways, look, I get that the entire premise of this book is that in this society love has been deemed a horrid disease, and that Lauren Oliver's point was to show us that NO, that's wrong, love is great and powerful and showstopping, but I feel like she could have done it without relying on such worn tropes as instant love and Twilight-esque romance and despicable dependency (I cannot live without you! I shall die if we ever part! etc, etc). Lauren Oliver has a lot of promise, that much is evident, but in my eyes it was wasted here. What could have been an amazing story about love and defiance and free will and humanity was degenerated into a mushy mushy goo goo sop of a love story.
That said, I aim to continue this series for four reasons.
1) Pretty book titles. Delirium, Pandemonium, Requiem. Music to my ears!
2) Pretty book covers.
3) Pretty writing.
4) The stray, fragile chance that Alex might die or that Lena might grow some cojones or that we get to see more of this world (Europe! Asia! Africa!) or that the love story might fall apart and Hana might become the main character.
Hah. Stupid Amy! Gonna go and finish this series and end up bald from all the rage and hair tearing she's gonna do!
Well.........on second thought, not really. In the beginning, she panics at the slightest thought of disobedience, which really annoyed me, although I get that you were trying to convey the depth of her unquestioning faith in her society, and contrast that with her eventual change of heart and disillusionment with her faux-utopia. Still. Don't you think the story might have been
I started Delirium, and in the beginning, everything was good. Great, in fact. The writing was great, the story promising, the characters interesting. It keeps going, going, going this way, until we get to that inevitable point where our young heroine meets her One True Love for the first time.
And hey!-still going strong.
Lena meets Alex for the first time in a cow stampede in the middle of her evaluation, and I gotta say, it's unique. And what's even better, she goes home, and she does NOT obsess over ZOMGBBQ-mysterious-hawt-guy!!!11 At this point, in my head, I'm already cackling and fist-pumping and telling myself that yes!- this might well be a kickass story, jaw dropping, ground-breaking, worthy of five stars. But shortly thereafter...she goes for a run with her BFF Hana and meets One True Love again, and bam, like that, the story goes downhill.
For one, it's that insta-love crap again, where is absolutely NO basis for their love, and if there is, it's as flimsy as gauze (I was going to make a crack here about our economy, but naaaah). They meet maybe twice and suddenly they are each other's One Tru Undying Forevar and Evar Eternal Luv™, and I'm sitting here raging and screaming WHAT? Because the reason that Alex is smitten with her is because many years ago, he played Stalker McStalkypants and saw her running near a shop where he was working. And according to Alex, who is evidently blind, Lena was just sooooooooo "awake"! And if Lena is awake, then I ask you, what of HANA? They were running together, and Lena, repeatedly, throughout the book, has always said that Hana was so much more vibrant and confident than her, and yet Alex ignores 100000-wattage Hana and goes for Lena? Timid, obedient, boring Lena, who is as "awake" as I am at 3AM in the morning? Bah, humbug.
And then after they discover that
There was another problem. This world...was meh. There was no true worldbuilding going on here, as practically required when one writes a dystopia. I could imagine Portland, but that was all. What, exactly, is this world of yours? The other cities? The other people? The other countries? The government? Surely the United States cannot be the only country left standing in your world. And even if it is, who, really, is the oppressor here? One of the greatest problems I had with this book was the lack of villains present. There were only the mooks. The red shirts. The expendable soldiers, the brainless minions. There was never a Big Bad here, and I found fault with this because I like it better when there is a figurehead for evil/bad/wrong around. Where is the Mayor Prentiss of this world? The President Snow? The Voldemort?
I will say this, though. Delirium is very readable. The pages practically flip themselves, despite my nitpickings and issues with the story. Oliver's writing is very accessible, pretty but not overwrought like the classics of old.
Anyways, look, I get that the entire premise of this book is that in this society love has been deemed a horrid disease, and that Lauren Oliver's point was to show us that NO, that's wrong, love is great and powerful and showstopping, but I feel like she could have done it without relying on such worn tropes as instant love and Twilight-esque romance and despicable dependency (I cannot live without you! I shall die if we ever part! etc, etc). Lauren Oliver has a lot of promise, that much is evident, but in my eyes it was wasted here. What could have been an amazing story about love and defiance and free will and humanity was degenerated into a mushy mushy goo goo sop of a love story.
That said, I aim to continue this series for four reasons.
1) Pretty book titles. Delirium, Pandemonium, Requiem. Music to my ears!
2) Pretty book covers.
3) Pretty writing.
4) The stray, fragile chance that Alex might die or that Lena might grow some cojones or that we get to see more of this world (Europe! Asia! Africa!) or that the love story might fall apart and Hana might become the main character.
Hah. Stupid Amy! Gonna go and finish this series and end up bald from all the rage and hair tearing she's gonna do!