Requiem the final book in the Delirium Trilogy by Lauren Oliver has been released today!
We have brought in a guest reviewer who had access to an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) and is part of our bookclub that spawned this blog!
Kelli Spear, who lives in the Chicago area, is an avid reader and has given us her best spoiler-free review of the final installment of the Delirium Trilogy. If you have not read any of the series yet (what are you waiting for, go buy Delirium & Pandemonium) this review will not spoil the plot as much as the book synopsis might.
Author: Lauren Oliver (Twitter, Facebook, website)
Published: March 5, 2013 by HarperTeen
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance
Synopses: Goodreads
Pages: 400
Purchase: here
[book rating=4.0/5.0]
They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.
But we are still here.
And there are more of us every day.
Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.
After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.
Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.
Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.
But we have chosen a different road.
And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.
We are even free to choose the wrong thing.
Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.
The first two books in the Delirium series had me captivated. I put off reading Delirium for so long because it didn’t seem to be a theme I’d be interested in. Once I started, I found myself addicted and couldn’t stop reading. The thought of love being forbidden was scary and fascinating at the same time. Pandemonium was a great middle book, which I find to be quite rare. We are introduced to new characters and fall in love all over again. The cliffhanger ending really set the stage for the final book and it was quite epic.
For me, Requiem was the hardest to read in the series. It’s split into two viewpoints and for some reason this ups the intensity. I felt myself torn throughout ‘Requiem’ but it ended up being satisfying. After the cliffhanger we are left with in Pandemonium, I knew this final installment was going to be filled with heartache.
In Requiem we follow Lena and Hana through their conflicting worlds. A great number of secrets are revealed, some surprising, others expected. With the re-entrance of old characters, conflicts arise that only add to the rest of the drama faced by all. My heart was pounding in many scenes and I found myself struggling to take reading breaks. It’s that good.
I found Requiem to be a good ending to a series I have come to love. My only complaint would be the final few pages. I won’t offer up why, but allow everyone to judge on their own. Oliver has proven that she’s an exceptional writer. I’m definitely looking forward to the TV series and watching Delirium come to life.
I agree with you- I love Alex, but even Pandemonium made me stray a little bit… but just a bit 😉 I rtlenecy reread Delirium (after I read Pandemonium) and fell for Alex alllll over again. I just adore him. But I’m also very nervous for Requiem- I know it’s going to be so much for emotionally painful than the first two!
This is a really good read for me, thank you!