Book Review: Requiem by Lauren Oliver

By: Lauren Oliver
Published by: Harper Teen
Released on: March 5th, 2013
Source: arc from publisher to review
Series: Delirium #3
4 Stars: I Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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

What would you choose? Getting the cure or being free? One of the things I liked about the way Lauren Oliver wrote Requiem, is we got to see both sides of the story. One point of view from Lena and the resistance, and the other from Hana, who's part of the "cured". I really liked how Lauren Oliver paralleled both girl's struggles, and their will power to do what it takes to survive, and support what they believe in. It was interesting for me to see how both sides of this war, if you will, had similar consequences and choices to be made. We've seen what it's like being apart of the resistance. It's no walk in the park, and every day it feels like it all winds down to survival of the fittest, and the smartest. Though Lena and those she's with are free, there is a lot they have to deal with, and a lot at stake for them. With Hana she too has a lot to lose, naming herself, and she also has some tough choices to make, which could also lead to disastrous consequences. It was interesting to see just how trapped she really is on that side of the walls.

The other thing I liked about Requiem is the sense of urgency I felt while reading this book. Everything is winding down to a few key events that take place or are planned for the end of the book. Both Lena and Hana find themselves in similar situations, as each one of them has to deal with the choices they've made in the past, and figure out how they're going to allow those choices to effect them now. There were times both girls irked me a little bit in this story, but at the same time, I liked that they were characters who were learning and trying to figure out who they are now, and where their place is at with all that's going on around them. They both have guilt, and they make choices that will effect not only themselves, but those around them. 

Let's talk about the romance for a moment. If you're going to write a love triangle complicated relationship, this is how you do it. Because this Alex, Lena, Julian relationship is not a love triangle, like at all. It's clear on who has feelings for who, and it's painfully obvious that two characters are trying to come to terms with hurt, and broken hearts and hence two other well written characters are brought into the mix. While I ended up liking all four characters involved, I totally wanted to pair them all off, and keep them paired up, but we all know characters make their own choices, and well, sometimes it takes others longer to figure out how to make things work. The way these relationships were written was well done, though I wanted another kissy scene or two *coughs* What? I'm just saying. 

Over all I really enjoyed the book. There are a lot of things that happen in this book. The dangers are far greater, survival is that much more vital, and given the two there is more action, and violence. This book has a bit of a darker tone to it than the previous two books have had, which fits perfectly given the fact that things that have building over the past two books are about to happen. In the mix of the fighting, and the plotting there is a betrayal or two, and a shocking twist that I didn't even see coming. Requiem had it all, and I liked how Lauren kept the same feel through out the entire series, but with each book I felt like she amped up the danger, the urgency, and the drama that you'd except to find in a storyline as complicated and exciting as this series. 

Now that I've told you all that I liked about this book, there is one thing I had an issue with, the ending. I want to be clear that I obviously didn't hate the book, I gave it 4 stars, because I really enjoyed it. Everything up to this point was great and things started to get even more exiting, and heart pounding towards the very end, and as a reader I'm starting to wonder how things are going to get wrapped up, because there are very few pages left, and things get thrown together quickly and then it ends. I'm going, "Wait, what? No! I need a few more pages of this excitingness. It can't end there!" I did read the ARC, so maybe there's a little bit more that got added to the published book, but arc wise I felt it the ending got a bit rushed, and ended a little abruptly. Specifically I felt there needed to be a bit more dragged out with the last two pages. I felt it went from that one discovery (which I won't name because of spoilers, but I might have got a little giddy over) to the end. Like the end, end. Don't get me wrong, I did like the verbiage that ended the book, but I just needed more, like something else needed to fill a bit of the gap in order for me to feel like it was a complete ending for the series. Like something more between some characters or an epilogue or something.

Did the ending ruin the series or the book for me? Not at all. Would I still recommend the book to others? Absolutely. The ending is not a WTH kind of ending, it's one the clears a few things up, but it also leaves other things open ended and hopeful. I didn't feel like Lauren leaves her fans hanging. Many thing get wrapped up, and other things we get the general idea of where things are going. Sometimes those kind of endings really work for me, but with how much I have enjoyed this series, and the exciting things that happen at the very, very end, I wanted it to be dragged out a little more than it was. Maybe that's just me being a selfish reader and wanting more from Lauren's characters, whom I've really enjoyed reading about.