Book Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver *spoiler free review*

By: Lauren Oliver

Published by: Harper Teen

To Be Released on: February 28th, 2012

Source: ARC from publisher to review

5 stars: I Loved It!

Pre-order from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

Series: Book #2 in the Delirium Trilogy

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. -quoted from Goodreads

Wow! I'm seriously at a loss for words on how to describe Pandemonium in three words or less and all I can come up with is WOW. This sequel is awesome! Lauren's writing never ceases to amaze me, and she really blew me away with what she does in Pandemonium. Similar to what she does in Delirium, she goes against the norm and what I expected and pulls me into an ever more surprising world. Pandemonium introduces readers to new emotions, a slightly different world, new characters, a stronger Lena who's defiance and inner strength blew me away, and well balanced look at what shaped Lena into the person she becomes in this absolutely brilliant sequel!

Lena herself really surprised me in this sequel and I have to say this girl has courage and a will to survive that shocked me. I loved the way Lauren allowed me as a reader to see why she changed so much. It's not just her grieving heart for Alex that changed her, but the world she's now apart of. An equally dangerous place where your former self can't exist. I completely understood the anger, hate, courage, drive and defiance that replaces her more former innocent self. Together these things drive Lena to action and to do the things she does in this book. I felt like I was able to understand the emotions Lena felt through out the course of her story, and they're definitely justified by what she deals with.

I loved the unique way in which Lauren tells this story. Each chapter alternates from "Then" or from "Now", which allows Lauren to take readers further into her well structured, fast plowing story line. In doing so, readers get to see how "the Wild" and now Lena's new society have shaped her. This worked perfect for this story, and I didn't find it confusing at all. Seriously, this story line was nothing at all what I was excepting it to be. Once I started this book I couldn't put it down. Lauren Oliver's writing in this series has really blown me away. She strips you of everything you knew from Delirium and throws you into a whole new world with even greater danger, a bit more action, romance, twists and a book that's filled with defiance, change and some surprising secrets.

If you loved Delirium wait till you pick up Pandemonium. This title lives up to it's name in this book, and the things that happen will shock you! I loved the new characters that Lauren introduces into the story series and the turn of events that happen. For the sake of no spoilers I'm not going to mention of any of them, because some things will seriously surprise you! I won't even mention that killer of a cliff hanger. Requiem's release date can't get her fast enough! I have a feeling things are going to get a lot more interesting in that book. There is some very mild language in this book.

Lauren's going on TOUR! Don't miss her tour dates here!

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Don't forget, if you want to read HANA for free for 4 days on MTV.com / Hollywood Crush on 2.14.12 be sure to be one of the 5,000 pre-orders for Pandemonium!! You can read the details here, along with 5 star review of Delirium.