As always when I review sequels, spoilers for book 1 lie ahead – you’ve been warned!
| Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Robert James
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| Summary: Despite a slightly predictable ending, the second in the Delirium series is an exciting read featuring a fabulous heroine. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 416 | Date: March 2012 |
| Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978144722925 | |
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Having escaped from Portland at the end of book 1, Lena is alone in the Wilds. Having to face the unthinkable - life without Alex – she chooses to join the resistance of the Invalids in an attempt to bring down those who have made love into a disease. Flicking between the early days immediately following her escape, as she settles into the community along with her new allies Raven and Tack, and a time a bit later on when she plays a more active role in the resistance, Pandemonium has more of the thrills and excitement that made the first book an enjoyable read.
It also has one of my current favourite lead characters in a young adult series – Lena developed brilliantly in book one and continues to do so here, becoming more and more of a real heroine as the book progresses. Oliver’s writing style is still superb, as well, and there’s an awful lot to like about this one. We get to learn more about the Invalids, the cure for love, and the differences between those who oppose it, and the world as a whole definitely feels more fleshed out than it did in the first book.
That said, it’s a notch short of brilliant for me. Lena is such a wonderful character that she perhaps overshadows the rest to some degree – there’s no-one in the resistance movement who really seems as well portrayed as either Alex or her friend Hana in the first book. I also found the ending to be somewhat anti-climatic and predictable compared to the staggeringly powerful finale to Delirium. A final, although extremely minor, quibble – I enjoyed the quotes from the ‘Book of Shh’ starting off each chapter in the original so much that it was a shame not to see them, or something similar, here.
As I said, though, there’s still lots of good stuff here, and I’m eagerly anticipating book 3 of this trilogy to find out how Lena’s story will end. A very high recommendation to fans of dystopian teen fiction, and this is a series that’s worth taking a look at if you’re on the fence about the genre.
When it comes to dystopian future, I'm a massive fan of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and would highly recommend it to all who enjoy this series.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver at Amazon.com.
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