Delirium: 1/3 (DELIRIUM TRILOGY)

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Requiem: This exciting finale to Lauren Oliver's New York Times bestselling Delirium trilogy is a riveting blend of nonstop action and forbidden romance in a dystopian United States. But I was so very, very excited for this that I think I was even more let down by it than Matched, which was also something I was eager for. Before I Fall was fresh and compelling, and I felt like so much of Oliver, so much heart and so much work, went into it. I didn't feel the same about Delirium. I'm not going to accuse Oliver of selling out or hopping on a trend, but I do wonder how much passion was behind this story. It seemed sort of sloppy (and yes, I know, I read an ARC, and that may account for some of it). But there were so many inconsistencies and questions I had that I couldn't ever commit. I could only go along so far until logic would intrude. I would be forced to ask myself things like, If Lena was just bitten (badly) in the leg by a dog, why does Alex kissing her seem to erase not only any pain, but even any mention of the bite, until it's like an afterthought? How does her family not notice that either a) she's wearing pants in the middle of sweltering August, and limping, or b) she's not wearing pants and the scar is showing and she's limping? Because it has to be one of those 2 things. And though the "cure" may not make them care for her safety so much, it doesn't take away their suspicious natures. [Also, setting aside the fact that she walked home, how did they just walk home? Just like that. With raiding parties everywhere, and her bitten terribly, they just strolled on home, illegally, down the street? How do they get away with all the shit they get away with, in this repressive society? Hmm...] Things like this were peppered throughout the story, and they just made it nearly impossible to buy in to what was going on. Delirium is the first installment in the Delirium trilogy. Two books set between the first and second books, Hana and Annabel, were released on February 28 and December 26, 2012, respectively. The second novel in the trilogy, Pandemonium, was released on February 28, 2012. The third and final book in the trilogy, Requiem, was released on March 5, 2013. Another book, set between the second and third books of the trilogy, Raven, was also released March 5, 2013. That’s an interesting word to use. Very interesting. Perhaps you find suffering beautiful? Perhaps you enjoy violence?”

And Alex...I like to think of him as an alternate version of Kent from Before I Fall. I loved the latter so so much, but there wasn't enough of him in BIF, so I liked pretending Alex was actually Kent in spirit. I'm deluded, I know. While I don't think it it is as good as Before I Fall, I will read the sequel because c'mon Lauren Oliver, that ending was just harsh! Lol. The water is an enormous mirror, tipped with and pink and gold from the sky. In that single, blazing moment as I came around the bend, the sun – curved over the dip of the horizon like a solid gold archway – lets out its final winking rays of light, shattering the darkness of the water, turning everything white for a fraction of a second, and then falls away, sinking, dragging the pink and the red and the purple out of the sky with it, all the colour bleeding away instantly and leaving only dark. In an alternate United States, love has been declared a dangerous disease, and the government forces everyone who reaches eighteen to have a procedure called the Cure. Living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in Portland, Maine, Lena Haloway is very much looking forward to being cured and living a safe, predictable life. She watched love destroy her mother and isn't about to make the same mistakes. The original concept of this book was at first compelling and interesting. The idea that love is a disease that has, in the near future, been cured. The fact that love has been classified as "the most deadly of deadly things" and that the government is sanctioning and actually requiring all citizens to undergo a lobotomy at the age of 18. After which they will be assigned a mate. The original concept is a bit incredible, but I am actually ok with “incredible” as long as it is portrayed in a believable way. And for the most part, it was. As the book progressed however, I kept finding undeniable parallels to Matched and Uglies.However, only months before her scheduled procedure, Lena falls in love with an Invalid (a person who has not taken the Cure and lives in the Wilds), Alex. He was born in the Wilds outside the city and pretends to be cured to live undetected in the city and to partake in the resistance. He offers Lena the means of escape from the procedure that will destroy her ability to love.

Alex, Lena’s love interest, though I found his character very flat, he has been Lena’s driving force in her constant development as a person. Because of him and his knowledge of the cure’s corrupt nature, he was able to turn things around, pushing Lena out of her comfort zone. I admire him for being patient with Lena and for being very careful when it comes to their plans for the two of them. Both of their lives could be compromised, but Alex was never afraid as long as he could give Lena the love that he thinks she deserved. For him, it was the only thing that mattered and nothing else. Delirium is a wonderfully emotional, heartbreaking love story set in a dystopian future. It’s both a gritty and mellow experience. If you’ve not yet jumped on to the dystopian bandwagon, I’d suggest that reading Delirium is a very good start indeed. This collection contains the complete text of the three bestselling Delirium novels plus three short novellas about characters in the Delirium world. Lauren Oliver's powerful New York Times bestselling dystopian trilogy presents a world as terrifying as George Orwell's 1984 and a romance as true as Romeo & Juliet.En este mundo distópico el amor ha sido considerado una enfermedad mortal llamada delirio o amor deliria nervosa. La cura es obligatoria para el amor, que todos deben recibir al cumplir los 18 años. La idea detrás de la cura es que eliminará las emociones intensas y los sentimientos románticos para lograr una sociedad más estable y segura. Sometimes I feel like if you just watch things, just sit still and let the world exist in front of you—sometimes I swear that just for a second time freezes and the world pauses in its tilt. Just for a second. And if you somehow found a way to live in that second, then you would live forever.