Review: Requiem

Title: Requiem (Delirium #3)

Author: Lauren Oliver

Date of Publication: March 5, 2013

Formats Available: Hardcover, Paperback, E-Book

Buy This Book: Amazon

Synopsis: 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.

My Review:

After how much I disliked Pandemonium I wasn't expecting much from Requiem. However, despite it's pitfalls, I ended up liking Requiem much more than I expected to. This novel reminded my why I originally thought Oliver was such a fantastic writer and I quickly fell into the fast paced action of the story.

I liked Lena so much more this time around. I don't know what it was but this time she felt more real and like someone I could relate to. She changed a lot in Pandemonium and I feel like she finally settled into her new character in this novel and wasn't as all over the place as she was last time. Lena turned into a strong, but unsure, heroine, doing her best to be in the thick of the action but at the same time being unable to see what was right in front of her.

One of my favorite things about the novel were the changing perspectives between Lena and Hana. Hana's story was much more interesting than Lena's and watching events unfold from the eyes of  a "cured" was interesting. I was fascinated by Fred, Hana's fiancee, and his history with his first wife Cassandra. Requiem finished very open ended, which ultimately I think worked for the story, but at the same time I was disappointed not to know what happened to Hana and the crumbling remains of the society Oliver had created.

Julian played a much smaller role in this novel, which I really enjoyed, because I could just never accept him after the passionate relationship Lena and Alex had in Delirium. However, the entire novel felt like Lena trying to decide between Julian and Alex with the uprising of the Invalids in the background. There was never really a question as to who Lena would end up with so I didn't understand why Oliver had to make it so hard. Alex acts like a jerk the entire novel, telling Lena that he doesn't love her anymore for no apparent reason and Lena spends the entire novel being angry with Julian. It all just felt like a lot of unnecessary drama for a predictable conclusion.

Overall I thought Requiem was a great conclusion to the Delirium trilogy. Even though it wasn't perfect, or nearly as good as the first novel, it tied everything up nicely, left me wondering about the characters (in a good way!), and made me eager to read more by Oliver. A fun ride with plenty of twists and turns I ended up liking this trilogy more than I thought I would!

4/5