Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Pandemonium 

Author: Lauren Oliver 

Release Date: March 1st 2012

Publisher: Hodder

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia

Series: Delirium

Pages: 329

Format: Hardback

Rating: ★★★★

"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. " Source Goodreads

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Now because this book is the second in a series it means that I cannot discuss or review it without spoiling the first book, Delirium. So if you've not yet read Delirium please save this post and come back to it once you've read it, ok? Ok. Now everyone still reading this has read Delirium or doesn't really care about spoilers?

Pandemonium continues where Delirium left off with that killer cliff hanger. Yep, you know the one where we don't know if Alex has survived. Except we're still unsure as to what has happened to our beloved character. We continue to follow Lena's journey after her decision to escape to the wilds with the  wonderful writing style of alternating chapters between the past and the present, continuously keeping you on the edge of your seat with the need to keep reading just to find out what's going on. 

The story has developed in the present with Lena moving back to the city, still uncured and working undercover to discover more about the government and it's plans, but with scenes flipping back to the past as Lena learns to adapt to life in the wilds.

We meet many more characters in Pandemonium all of which quickly force their way into your heart and not always with that happy ending. We watch our main character Lena's grow from someone weak in both body and mind to someone brave and very determined. I've always personally liked Lena's character but her strength within this book takes that to a whole new level.

I have got to say that the romance within Pandemonium is extremely predictable with plot introductions that I personally hated and felt were rather unnatural, but when I think back over this book I have to subtract these to remember how truly incredible it really was. The plot development was fantastic experiencing life from a completely different angle from Delirium. This second in the series is definitely much more mature and more serious that the first with a much more addictive plot. I remember giving Delirium a 5 star rating, and though I loved Pandemonium so much more I have to begrudgingly subtract a star due to the romance.

I really loved Pandemonium and remember telling my husband numerous times whilst reading how amazing it was, much to his annoyance. haha. I would definitely recommend picking this one up as it really was great continuation of the Delirium trilogy and I cannot wait until the third is released, though I'm predicting a very long wait. 

If you've already read this one then I'd love to know what you thought, 

but until then happy reading! 

Katie