Tweet

Would you still love if it was illegal?

In Delirium by Lauren Oliver, Lena lives in a world full of safety. Years ago, love was said by the government to be a fatal disease known as “deliria-nervosa.” They then, a few years after, created a cure, which was given at age 18 and afterwards. Teens were then evaluated and given four choices of partners for the rest of their life.

Being cured meant being happy and safe. However, you were different after you were cured. Distant and emotionless. It’s hard to imagine living in a society like Lena’s.

Lena’s mother was a hard case of deliria, and no matter how many times they “cured” her, she still loved her husband and her daughter. Her last words are repeated throughout the story; “I love you. Remember. They cannot take that.”

Lena is prepared on her 18th birthday to be cured and paired—a safe life. However, she meets an uncured boy named Alex and catches deliria. Now, Lena would rather be in love than live a lie for the rest of her life. She begins to learn about the outsiders—the ones who choose to love. Lena must choose. Safe life or love? We follow her dangerous conquest and inner battle for love in a society where there is no music, no love, and no dancing.

Pandemonium is the sequel to Delirium.  The moment I started this book I’ll admit that it confused me a bit. However, as I read on things were explained to the point I could not put the book down. Lena is making her way through the wilds as this book begins, the uncured area outside of the city walls, and finds fellow invalids to help her survive a life as an outsider to the cured—as one of the diseased. This book gives you a feeling of what it is like to be rejected and different than anyone else, and to be strong enough to fight for it.

Lena thinks of Alex to push herself on her trip through the wilds. He gives her strength to make it to a camp of invalids (those who are uncured of deliria-nervosa) who are kind of enough to tend to her and save her—and soon become her family. Or, the closest thing to a family.

She learns the way of life as an outsider, filled with struggle of rationing supplies and loss by disease or getting caught. Running—that’s all they know. Running. There is no “then” to them. Only “now.” She gets kidnapped by scavengers—a different type of “invalid.” She wakes up in a room with a boy named Julian—the son of the leader of the DFA (Delirium Free America) and the spokesman for the youth group that is made up of uncured children who want to see America made better through the cure. Julian and Lena survive by running and locating different places to be safe, and just as they fall in love they are caught. Lena is separated from him and is rescued by her family of invalids, but does not know where Julian has gone. Will she rescue him? And will the invalids finally rise? You will find out as you read Pandemonium, which ends with a plot-twisting ending that leaves the reader in high suspense for book number three in the series, Requiem.

I rate both of these books a 10/10. If you are a reader who likes adventure and suspense or a futuristic storyline, I recommend them.