Panic by Lauren Oliver

Summary:
Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most. (from GoodReads)

Review:
I was really excited to read Panic because I love Lauren Oliver and it was marketed as a Hunger Games-esque novel. Though it wasn't science fiction (which I was expecting) I still really enjoyed Panic.

This novel details what the Hunger Games would be like if it was present day and organized by high schoolers. I thought the concept was fascinating and pretty ingenious. The challenges are extremely dangerous and I'd probably never participate, but I can see why teenagers would do it: the prize is $67,000! I thought the tasks were pretty clever if not totally stupid and life-threatening. I still can't believe that the adults/police could never figure out what was going on with Panic, even after participants and bystanders are paralyzed, injured and even killed. If this was the real-world, the police would have figured it out immediately, especially in such a small town. Either way, I was able to suspend my disbelief and still enjoy the story.

I liked the dual perspectives of Heather and Dodge but for some reason couldn't stand reading them in third person point-of-view. Most of the time I don't care about first or third person and couldn't even tell you what I was reading because I don't pay attention to it. But in Panic I did not like the third person - it should have been written in first. I also liked that the romance was unexpected and not clichéd as usual. Heather and Dodge could have benefitted from more character development though. I also thought the last challenge, the Joust, wasn't as exciting as it could have been.

Those are just my nitpickings, but I actually really liked this book and thought the concept was really cool. I can't wait to see what Lauren Oliver writes next.

Rating: 8 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from the library

2014/HarperCollins/408 pages.

Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Summary:
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. (from GoodReads)

Review:
When I read Pandemonium I was dying to finish the trilogy. That book left off on a huge cliffhanger and I had to see what happened next. The beginning of Requiem was amazing but the ending left me disappointed.

It was easy to get back into the world of Requiem. even though I haven't read these books in awhile. It pretty much begins were Pandemonium left off and Lena is still in the woods with the other Invalids.

I was surprised at the change in narration - Lena's friend Hana now gets chapters dedicated to her. I actually really liked them. Hana has had the operation but she still doesn't think or feel like the others. She is being forced to marry the soon-to-be mayor of Portland, Maine so she's always in the spotlight. Since Lena is mostly in the forest throughout Requiem, I actually enjoyed Hana's sections more. It's a nice change of pace and I loved seeing Hana try to figure out some mysteries surrounding her fiancé.

It's hard to discuss this book because I don't want to give anything away but there are some big revelations throughout Requiem and some issues will be resolved. However, as I was reading I got the sense that this could be a filler novel before the actual conclusion. When I finished Requiem, I was so disappointed because it just kind of ends. There's no meaningful resolution to the romance and we never find out what happens to the characters. That's not okay! I don't mind ambiguity but the reader is just left hanging. Is there another book? There really should be. I also enjoyed the short chapter from Alex's point-of-view but that's not enough!

It's so funny examining this trilogy as a whole because the second book, Pandemonium, is definitely my favorite and that never happens. Remember the middle book syndrome? I don't know what to think of this. I love the story so much and I wish we were given more resolution. I still love Lauren Oliver but I'm not satisfied!

Rating: 7 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from the library.

2013/HarperCollins/391 pages.

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.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Summary:
Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love - the deliria - blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love. (from Goodreads)

Review:

I think I'm going to have a fangirl moment while reviewing Delirium. Because it was AWESOME!!! And I really want everyone to their hands on a copy but it isn't released until February, so no ardent encouragement for you to get in your cars and drive to the nearest bookstore. Not yet, at least. Okay, so let me tell you why I loved Delirium.

You guys are going to get really tired of hearing me talk about dystopias, but alas, Delirium is a dystopia. I'm trying to write a dsytopia for NaNoWriMo, and let me just say, it's is really hard. The world building is actually really difficult; you have to have all these rules and then the characters have to follow them and then they have to make some sense and it's a big ole mess. So now that I've attempted to write one, I have a newfound respect for any author who writes a believable dystopian novel, Lauren Oliver included. Lena lives in the United States but it's so different that it takes a lot of work to successfully set everything up.

But I was really interested in the fact that love has been outlawed. It's kind of hard to believe, but is there anything bad about love? The government in Delirium wants to get rid of the negative emotions that can be experienced with love: jealousy, longing, sadness, the famous lovesickness (loss of appetite, concentration, etc). Also, in eradicating love, the country is also hate-free, which I guess could be a good thing. But what you notice about people who have had the operation is that they are kind of emotionless. At least they are free of extreme emotions. They may care for their family members and spouses, but there is no actual love. All the characters at some point say that they are happy now that they have the operation, but it's more of that they are content, which is not the same thing as being happy.

I found some similarities between Delirium and the Uglies series: an operation that takes place only at a certain age, two protagonists who want the operation at the beginning, all characters who have the operation say how happy they are, the operation actually changes your brain chemisty, etc. I don't think these were intentional, but it's interesting to compare the two.

I should probably mention the love interest: Alex. He was a pretty interesting character, he has some secret history which you'll learn about. It's kind of ironic that Lena falls in love just as she is saying how she can't wait to get the operation, but it really changed her. In the beginning, Lena truly believes that her life will be better once she doesn't love anymore, but by the end, her outlook is completely different. Which is a good thing, in my opinion.

Another thing I loved was that each chapter was headed by a little excerpt from some history textbook or book that is prominent in their culture. It just made the world Lena was living in more believable and realistic, like I could see some future society writing those things. I also loved that the characters read Romeo and Juliet as a cautionary tale, even though the readers know it's anything but.

All in all, I absolutely loved Delirium. It has excellent world-building, realistic characters and an interesting plot (all prerequisites for a great book). It's also a trilogy, which I didn't find out until I finished it, but I am so excited to read more about this society. I definitely recommend this, but unfortunately you will have to wait a few months for the release date.

Release Date: February 1, 2011

Rating: 9 out of 10.

FTC: provided through One ARC Tours.

2011/HarperTeen/440 pages.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

It seems like Samantha Kingston has it all: three best friends, a cute boyfriend and adoring students at her high school. Sam is popular, and though she feels guilty at times for the way she and her friends treat other students, she still loves her life. That is, until Friday, February 12, when Sam and her friends get into a car accident, and now Sam is reliving the day over and over again. She doesn't know what to do or how to break the cycle; all Sam knows is that she's been given a chance to do-over her last day, and she better make the most of it.

I really enjoyed reading Before I Fall. The novel was so original, because even though I have read books that involve a dead protagonist, this one had one day repeating over and over again. This concept might seem boring, but each day Sam does something different and the author reveals new information that makes you want to keep reading. I also really liked Sam as a character. In the beginning, she's not the nicest person: she's rude to other students at school and shows no respect to her parents at all. I liked that Sam wasn't perfect; sometimes you read these books where the protagonist is pretty, nice, has a normal family. Sam had all these things but she was just a jerk to a lot of the other kids at her school. However, as the novel progresses, Sam begins to appreciate life more and see the mistakes that she has been making. I also loved that the book didn't have the normal, cookie-cutter happy ending. It was unexpected but the author took a different route than most other people would, which I liked. Overall, I thought Before I Fall had a great message, to appreciate every day, and I think the author executed her ideas flawlessly in a well-written story.

8 out of 10.

FTC: This book was provided to me through the Flamingnet Student Review Program.