Title: Requiem
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher/Year: Harper Collins Publishers 3/5/13
Length: 267 pages
Series: Delirium #3
Overview
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.
Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has transformed. The nascent rebellion that was underway inPandemonium 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 infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels.
As Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain of the Wilds, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor. Requiem is told from both Lena and Hana’s points of view. They live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.
With lyrical writing, Lauren Oliver seamlessly interweaves the peril that Lena faces with the inner tumult she experiences after the reappearance of her first love, Alex, the boy she thought was dead. Sophisticated and wide-ranging, Requiem brings the Delirium trilogy to a thrilling conclusion.
My Thoughts
You guys can only imagine how long i was waiting for this book to come out – i was sitting on the edge of my seat to get it and trying to get through my re-reads of books 1 and 2 so that i was fully up to speed with what was going on. finally – 2 days ago i started reading Requiem and i’m not quite sure what i think about it.
So at the end of Pandemonium (book 2), Lena and Julian find out that they were pawns for Raven/Tack and the resistance. it was known that they would be captured by the Scavengers who were working for the DFA (how backwards). ….so lena wasn’t very happy with the situation all around. Amidst all this though, she found that she had growing feelings for Julian and started to develop their relationship a bit. The challenge being that Alex still holds her heart and Julian was basically giving his to her. Teenage Angst right?
So, at the beginning of Requiem, we’re at the camp where Alex is now part of the group, and there’s all sorts of uncomfortable ness going on. Alex is hurt that he held on to the thought that Lena was waiting for him and when he walks in and sees that it’s not the case, he’s bitter. Mind you Lena WAS holding on to the hope that Alex was some how ok yet she assumed he was dead since she saw him get shot and captured at the end of Delirium. All that being said, lots of confusion and no one is happy.
So, throughout Requiem, we have the cooling off of the Lena/Julian relationship, the avoidance of Alex/Lena, and then a new girl comes along that steals Alex’s attention which pisses Lena off so then we have Alex/Coral. Lena is quite jealous and that’s something that manifests itself throughout the story as well.
What i liked about this story though is that we go back and forth not between ‘now and then’ like we did in book 2 but between Lena and Hana since their stories are going on at the same time. Hana’s been ‘cured’ and she’s slated to marry Fred Hargrove who is the new mayor of the town (his father was the old mayor but was killed in the Incidents). In any event, Hana’s life isn’t as glorious as it once was…yes compared to material things it’s just as grand, but the cure didn’t work as it should and she’s not happy in her situation. she’s also finding out things about her life and her match that are unsettling and cause her to re-evaluate just about everything.
As we go back and forth between the stories, i keep wondering if they will intercept. i assume they will but the stories go on completely different journeys. you learn things about each person that you didn;t expect and you get to see a bit more background of other characters which is nice.
While we’re watching things unfold in both worlds, we see that Portland is the meeting point. The Resistance are planning an attack to breach the city that Lena grew up in and met Alex in, and Hana is still living there and is planning her wedding. Things go down in Portland – that’s for sure.
To sum it up though, i’m a bit upset about how the ending netted out, and i’m wondering if there will be a book 4 since i think that the ending fell quite a bit short.
BEWARE OF POTENTIAL SPOILERS IN MY QUESTIONS BELOW
1) What happens with Lena/Alex?
2) What happens with Julian?
3) What’s next for Hana?
4) What about Grace/Bee?
5) what happens to Fred? did he stay home like Hana asked?
6) really – what happens with Portland and the cities? and what role will the resistance play in the future