Book Review - Pandemonium

image via goodreads

In the world of dystopian YA novels with a female lead, it's getting hard to keep track of what is what.  Someone told me to read Delirium, which I did last fall.  I thought it was pretty good, and figured I'd pick up the rest of the trilogy at some point.  When I decided to drive to Indy for Labor Day weekend, I searched the library for audiobooks and found Pandemonium was available.  It seemed like a good option to make a long drive more bearable.

So, here's the thing - I don't know how to review this book without completely spoiling the first book.  You've been warned.  If you haven't read Delirium and you think you might want to, stop reading now!  I'll even add a jump so it's easy for you to move along.




We pick back up with Lena in "Then" and "Now" chapters.

Then - this is immediately following book 1.  Lena is physically and emotionally a mess (100% sure that Alex is dead), and some of the other invalids (I keep wanting to call them wildlings, like in GoT!) take her in and get her back to health.  I thought these chapters were kind of boring, but it was good to see what life is like outside of the confines of the city.

Now - Lena is undercover in NYC as part of the resistance fighters.  As expected, danger and excitement follows.

So now for my spoilery comments about book 2 in white font:  Everything that happened was SO predictable!  Is this because I'm 29 and not 15?  Do teenagers not get the super obvious foreshadowing??  I had no doubt that Alex would show up alive at some point and that Lena's friends were responsible for the kidnapping plan.    

For the most part, I don't mind Oliver's writing style.  I did get annoyed at how many times there were birds twittering.  So much twittering.  And the romantic scenes make me cringe, but that's pretty typical of any YA novels.  They have to be fairly innocent, so they just come across all awkwardness and adjectives.  I don't want graphic love scenes, but there has to be a better way.  I'm just glad this book wasn't as awkward as the "play me like a cello" scene in If I Stay.        

Anyway, this book was just okay.  I'll probably read Requiem at some point, just to find out how the love triangle resolves itself.