Requiem

 Lauren Oliver

Rating: ⭐⭐½
Genre: Dystopia + Young Adult + Romance

Requiem is the conclusion to the Delirium series. In this book, the conflict between the Wilds and the cured society reaches turmoil. The story alternates between Lena, who continues fighting alongside the resistance, and Hana, now living the life the cure was supposed to guarantee and questioning her new life.

The revolution takes over in this installment, and the story focuses more on the political unrest and the characters' relationships. Lena (like most YA books of that era) is torn between Alex and Julian, while Hana is trying to figure out the society that promised her hapiness once she is cured. Seeing events unfold from both sides adds some welcome perspective, gradually revealing the cracks beneath the polished surface of the cured world.

The story builds toward a large-scale confrontation, trying to balance romance, revolution, and personal growth all at once. Whether it succeeds probably depends on what each reader was hoping to get from the finale. Rather than wrapping everything up neatly, the ending leaves several threads unresolved, inviting readers to imagine what comes after instead of providing clear-cut answers.

I rated Delirium 3 stars, Pandemonium 2.5 stars, and now Requiem lands at 2.5 stars as well. Looking back, I don't think the trilogy ever settled on a clear identity. In some ways, it feels like Lauren Oliver was experimenting with different ways of telling the story. The first novel stays entirely with Lena's perspective, the second jumps between two timelines, and the finale introduces alternating chapters from Lena and Hana. I can appreciate an author trying something different, but the constant shifts in narrative structure made the series feel a little disjointed. At times, it almost felt as though each installment belonged to a different version of the same story. Ironically, the straightforward approach of the first book still worked best for me.

The surprise for me in this installment was how much more I enjoyed Hana's chapters. I think her perspective brought a sense of mystery and tension that Lena's storyline often lacked. Lena's chapters frequently circled around the same familiar emotional conflicts, whereas Hana's struggle between duty, expectation, and her own sense of self kept me far more invested.

Like so many Young Adult dystopian novels from this period, the obligatory love triangle once again becomes a major focus. Sometimes it feels as if publishers believed a YA dystopian novel simply wasn't complete without one. For me, that's where the story loses some of its potential. 

The political conflict and the questions surrounding the society are far more interesting than the romantic drama, yet they often take a back seat. It doesn't help that Alex and Julian never really developed into especially memorable characters. Across all three books, they remain surprisingly one-dimensional, which makes the emotional weight of Lena's choices feel less convincing than it probably should.

Lauren Oliver's writing is easy to read, and I think it is accessible to most readers. The ideas are certainly there, but they never felt as fully explored as the premise seemed to promise. I kept waiting for the series to dig a little deeper, and it never quite did.

Now that I've finally finished the trilogy, these books will be moving on to a new home. They're part of my summer shelf-cleaning project, where I'm revisiting older purchases and deciding which ones have earned a permanent place on my shelves. Unfortunately, this series didn't make the cut. I'm glad I stuck with it to the end, if only to satisfy my curiosity, but I can't see myself returning to it. The first book remains the standout, while the trilogy as a whole never quite lived up to the potential of its premise.

Key Themes;

• Love 
• Control
• Survival
• Resilience
• Freedom
• Grief
• Resistance

Pandemonium

 Lauren Oliver

Rating: ⭐⭐½
Genre: Dystopia + Young Adult + Romance

This is the second book in the Delirium series. The story continues with Lena escaping the society that was controlling her, including her emotions, and running in the Wilds, where she is forced to survive in the harshest conditions. Living in such conditions with other fugitives who rejected that same system is a big challenge. Every single day is a test of her endurance, resilience, and identity. 

Unlike the first book, which was linear, Pandemonium is split into two timelines: “Then” that is the period which follows Lena’s life in the Wilds after her escape. “Now” is the time Lena is taking a new identity and working in disguise for the Resistance. In the “Now” period, Lena becomes involved with Julian, the son of a powerful figure tied to the old system, complicating both her mission and her emotions. Meanwhile, the Resistance prepares for larger moves against the government, but nothing is simple or stable.

As usual for young adult books of that era, a love triangle is thrown into the mix. It feels very cliché and predictable, and honestly, it doesn’t add much beyond manufactured tension. The emotional conflict often feels like it is being prioritized over the actual dystopian world-building, which weakens some of the stakes.

While the pacing is noticeably better than book one, the dual timeline structure didn’t really work for me. I was genuinely tempted more than once to just read all the “Then” chapters first and then go through the “Now” sections afterward. The constant switching broke the flow instead of enhancing it.

I can clearly see Lena’s character development and how she becomes more decisive and resilient compared to the first book. However, the supporting characters don’t get the same attention for such development or growth. To me, they often felt like they were fixed most of the time. I was hoping for some meaningful evolution. 

Many parts of the book also felt repetitive, especially in the Wilds sections, where survival struggles and camp life start to blend together after a while. And with Book 1 ending on a cliffhanger and Book 2 doing the same, it becomes frustrating. This isn’t a TV series—each book should feel like a complete story rather than a setup for the next installment.

Overall, Pandemonium is an improvement in pacing and gives Lena a stronger arc, but it is weighed down by clichés, structural choices that don’t fully land, repetitive sections, and an overreliance on cliffhangers. A 2.5-star read: readable, sometimes engaging, but uneven and frustrating in key areas. Now only book three is left to finish this series. 

Key Themes

• Love 
• Control
• Survival
• Resilience
• Freedom
• Grief
• Resistance

Delirium

 Lauren Oliver

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 

Genre: Dystopia + Young Adult + Romance

This is my first time reading a novel by Lauren Oliver, despite having owned the entire Delirium trilogy in hardcover first editions for years. For whatever reason, I kept putting it off, but finally decided to start the series now. Going in, I had some expectations based on the popularity of YA dystopian fiction, and while the book didn’t quite live up to all of them, it still offered a reasonably engaging experience overall.

The story is about a dystopian society in which love is considered a disease. People need to undergo a procedure in their adulthood to eliminate it once and for all. The protagonist, Lena, is a girl who believes in this system, and she is very eager to get fixed and cured, but when she meets Alex, her life changes completely.

The two grow closer, and the story starts shifting into a romance that is forbidden by their society. Here is when Lena questions her society and their view on love and the way they claim it is a disease that people need to be cured from. As the story progresses, it turns into a dramatic conclusion that puts Lena on the ground where she has to face a new reality. The ending has a cliffhanger that sets up the continuation of the series.

What really attracted me to the story is its premise. I can easily say it is the strongest aspect of the novel. I think the idea of love being treated as a disease is not just intriguing but also gives lots of potential for storytelling, as it can offer lots of emotional and philosophical exploration. I feel this idea would be a great concept for a movie or TV show adaptation.

Where the book suffers is in its first half—it’s slow and takes a long time to get to the point where the plot starts moving. Lots of that part focuses on the protagonist’s inner thoughts about herself, her family, her friend Hanna, and society. Yes, it is important for character development, but the repetitions felt tedious for me. 

I also felt that the book was somewhat overwritten for what it ultimately delivers. Unfortunately, a lot of those pages were about Lena’s perspective and emotional state rather than worldbuilding. This is expected in most dystopian books of that era. For a story built on such a strong dystopian concept, I expected a deeper exploration of how this society actually functions beyond its core idea.

That said, the writing itself is very accessible. Despite the book’s length, it reads quickly and smoothly. The prose is easy to follow, making it a fast read once you settle into the rhythm, especially in the latter half, where the pacing improves significantly.

The novel ends on a cliffhanger, and I find myself a bit conflicted about it. I can’t say it strongly motivates me to continue immediately, but at the same time, it doesn’t put me off either. Since I already own the second and third books in the series, I will continue with them. Overall, this was an okay read—interesting in concept, uneven in execution, but still worth experiencing.

Key Themes

• Love
• Control
• Fear
• Dystopia
• Emotional Awakening
• Rebilion
• Resistance
• Self-Discovery

Vanishing World

 Sayaka Murata

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Science Fiction + Literary Fiction + Dystopia

Vanishing World is a dystopian story set in an alternative Japan where love, marriage, sex, and procreation have totally transformed into something different from our current world and definitions of all these things.

The story follows a woman called Amane, who now lives in this world where sex between married couples is something prohibited and considered like an assault! She is shocked when she knows that her parents conceived her the natural way for our world, but not for the main character’s world!

Not only that, but Amane and her husband, Saku, have a sexless marriage where the wife also can date other men openly! As we follow Amane, we get to see the conflicts inside her, whether those are related to her personal identity or to the norms of the society. In a society where men can also get pregnant, Amane as well as the other characters have many challenges to face.

This was a crazy read! Of course I mean it in a good way. I’m sure the original Japanese version must be better because, no matter what, some sentences and meanings change during translation. But even if this version was the original version that was written, it still has a lot to offer.

The book is atmospheric and has many ideas, some of which can be considered bizarre. And I guess that was one of the main things that made me enjoy reading this dystopian story. The concept is bold and quite unique, making this book a very original work of art. The author's beautifully blended themes will make you pause and think. I love it when stories provoke my thoughts in this way.

I’d recommend this book for any reader who has an open mind and can get into the story without being too judgmental. Indeed, the topics discussed here and their treatment in this alternative Japan may not resonate with all readers.

Note: What irritated me while reading the book on my Kindle, and this is not the fault of the book or the writing, was the format. More specifically, it was the absence of appropriate formatting. It is not OK to send ebooks even if they are ARCs in this way. No matter how hard I tried to ignore the problem, it still affected my reading experience.

This is a picture of my Kindle to show one of the pages. Not all the pages are like that, but many of them are.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC of this book.