Review: Pandemonium

Interestingly enough I read Pandemonium and Insurgent at the same time. Even though I preferred Delirium to Divergent by a long shot, I think Insurgent wins the battle of the sequels. I enjoyed Pandemonium but it didn't bring the magic of Delirium along.  Come back for the Insurgent review tomorrow (please!).

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
Series: Delirium #2
Genre: Dystopia, Yound Adult
Pages: 375 (eBook)
Source: eLibrary
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Description:

I'm pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

My Rating:

My Review: Lena has made it into the Wilds but things aren't what she expected.  She expected it to be hard.  She expected it to be different.  But she expected to be with Alex.  She learns more about the Wilds and the tough life.  She wants to do her part to help those that have taken her in, but it seems that there are few she can trust.  She must decide whether she can go at it alone.
I'm going to start with the bad.  Pandemonium switches from "then," the time period when she first entered the Wilds, to "now," teh time period where she has returned to the society that requires the cure (though she is in a different city where no one knows her).  this format is the only downside to this book.  Because of the continuous time jump every chapter, I had a difficult time settling in Len'as head.  I could connect with her on the same level as I did in Delirium.
That being said, the writing is still gripping and beautiful.  The plot is more fast-paced than Delirium.  Oh and the twists and turns were exciting.  There's a bit of heart breakage but I'm really starting to expect that in Dystopians.  But probably the most important part of the books is the very last word.  All you fellow cheaters out there who flip to the back to see what will happen...DON'T DO IT.  Just don't.  Luckily I didn't, but that was pure luck.
This book ends with a cliffhanger of all cliffhangers.  I wanted to be mad.  I should have been mad, but it was  oh so exciting.  I just couldn't help myself.  Pandemonium set the stage for Requiem in the most epic way.
P.S.  This goes toward that Dystopia challenge that I forgot that I committed to.  I wasn't kidding when I said there were more to come.