Review: Requiem (Delirium #3) by Lauren Oliver

Goodreads Summary:

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.

Publication Date: March 5, 2013

Although I saw many of the reviews complaining about the ending of Requiem, I was still hoping I’d end up loving the final book in one of my favorite YA trilogies. Unfortunately I was disappointed along with many other readers and this book certainly left me leery over reading any future series by Oliver.

What I Liked: I love Oliver’s writing style—girl knows her way around a metaphor. Like the previous books, I felt completely transported to this dystopian society. There was a lot of action in the final book and the suspense was phenomenal. I had no idea what was going to happen and whether or not the Resistance would be able to defeat the society.

The dual POV was also enjoyable. I liked seeing things from Hana’s POV and being able to get a glimpse inside the head of a “cured.” Since I never read any of the novellas, I had missed Hana’s character since she was last seen in Delirium.

There were a few heartbreaking twists and the appearance of a few surprise characters I was happy to see pop up.

What I Didn’t Like: The characters became very unlikable in the final book. Alex was a jerk to Lena and Lena was a jerk to Julian and Julian was just kind of there. I sympathized with all that they had been through, but their selfishness made me less invested in what happened to them.

SPOILERS

The romance was my least favorite part of the book, I disliked it almost as much as the open-ended conclusion. I liked Alex and Lena in the first book and Lena and Julian in the second book, but there was no chemistry between any of them in this book. I didn’t feel the fight for love message that I assumed was the point of these books.

After three books, readers are left not knowing how the romance turns out or if the Resistance wins. Several other character’s fates are left hanging too (Tack? sob). On Oliver’s blog, she says that she wrote the ending because she wanted readers to be able to continue imagining what happened next for the characters. Really? I have my own characters in my head, I don’t want to do any work to figure out what happens to fictional characters, especially in the final book of a series.

END OF SPOILERS

This is my least favorite book in the trilogy and I had a hard time figuring out a fair rating. I’m going to go with three stars because the book isn’t terribly written and it’s still an interesting story.

Rating: 3/5 Stars

I received a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.