Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Summary:
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.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed The New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

Review:
So the synopsis is extremely vague, especially to those who haven't read the first book. But that's good because it avoids any spoilers! Heading into Pandemonium I had no idea what was going to happen. Luckily, the novel circumvented the "middle book syndrome" and was extremely exciting and riveting.

What I really liked about Pandemonium was the time jumps. Each chapter jumps back and forth between "then" and "now" so it's almost like two different stories at once. Each time period has it's own revelations and excitement, making them both interesting to read.

Of course, there is another love interest, who I was able to pick out the first time we meet him. This romance was a little different, because it's one of the first times where the guy is the shy, unsure one. Obviously that's because they believe love to be a disease, but it was still cute and different to see the guy all nervous.

In addition to that, some of the twists I was able to guess beforehand, so they weren't quite as astonishing as they could have been. Even so, there were still some surprises that I was not expecting at all, so it balanced out for me.

I'm trying to be vague here as well, but I really enjoyed the direction that Lauren Oliver took the story. It was different than I was expecting but in a good way. Also, some similarities between this series and the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld are starting to emerge, such as living in the wilderness, an operation that changes your brain chemistry, a divide between those who've had the operation and those who haven't, and the existence of a resistance. But I love the Uglies series so I don't mind too much.

Pandemonium left off on a giant cliffhanger, so naturally I'm looking forward to the conclusion of this trilogy, Requiem (which is an awesome title).

Rating: 9 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from the library.

2012/Harper Teen/375 pages.