Book Review #10 Requiem

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 Break Down:

After two cliffhangers, nights of insomnia and several months of waiting, the conclusion to Lauren Oliver’s Delirium trilogy could not have been more coveted.

Requiem does a reputable job, of completing the plot it set up two books ago and bringing everything together. Requiem is narrated by both Lena and Hannah, and is set a short while after the end of Pandemonium. The trilogy goes full circle and we go back to the two girls at its heart. Lena may be free, but Hannah is anything but. Lena and Hannah are used to living in opposite worlds – now they do more than ever before, we see their lives collide once again, but it will not be easy to continue as they did before.

This alternating narration suits the storyline perfectly, giving us a much-needed glimpse into the opposing sides of the revolution. Many questions are answered, but sadly many more went unanswered. We get to see how complicated life is for Hannah even though she has been cured. And Lena once again struggles with her feelings for Julian and Alex, torn between whispered promises, familiarity and comfort. Beloved characters suffer greatly, some betray, and some surprise.

The one thing that truly killed me was the ending. If it even be called an ending to a book? Let alone an entire series? Lena finally decides who she truly loves, characters die and the government has fallen. BUT WHAT HAPPENS NOW? Does Alex ever find Lena? Does the war finally end? I mean go heavens sake what happens to Hana? At least for me, the end of the book left me disappointed and wanting more. It's as if pages were torn out in the middle of the action and we are only left to guess what happens.

Despite the abrupt ending, The Delirium series has such an original concept revolving around the fact that Love is a disease to be eradicated. 

“Love: a single word, a wispy thing, a word no bigger or longer than an edge. That's what it is: an edge; a razor. It draws up through the center of your life, cutting everything in two. Before and after. The rest of the world falls away on

either side.”  

 And although the ending wasn't what I needed to end the series, it was beautifully crafted:

“Take down the walls. 

That is, after all, the whole point. 

You do not know what will happen if you take down the walls; you cannot see through to the other side, don't know whether it will bring freedom or ruin, resolution or chaos. It might be paradise or destruction. 

Take down the walls.

Otherwise you must live closely, in fear, building barricades against the unknown, saying prayers against the darkness, speaking verse of terror and tightness.

Otherwise you may never know hell; but you will not find heaven, either. You will not know fresh air and flying.

All of you, wherever you are: in your spiny cities, or your one bump towns. Find it, the hard stuff, the links of metal and chink, the fragments of stone filling you stomach. 

And pull, and pull, and pull.

I will make a pact with you: I will do it if you will do it, always and forever.

Take down the walls.” 

Overall the Delirium Series is one that will sit proudly on my bookshelf. I recommend it to ANYONE who can read comprehendible English. If you’re looking for heart-throbbing, tears-running-down-your-face-like-a-freak-storm, action packed type of book, than I 100% think this book is for you.