Girl Kicked Ass! | Pandemonium


Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: February 28th, 2012
Genres: Sci-fi, Dystopian, YA
Pages:  329
Source: Bought it
I’m pushing aside 

the memory of my nightmare, 

pushing aside thoughts of Alex, 

pushing aside thoughts of Hana 

and my old school, 

push, 

push, 

push, 
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.
I read Delirium a couple years ago and really loved it. I picked up Pandemonium a while ago, started it, got bored of it, and dropped it. This summer, I decided to pick it up again and give it another shot.

What I Liked
Lena kicked ass! I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by her being a kick-ass heroine being able to fight for herself deftly. She used her brains adeptly as well with clever thinking to get herself out of tricky situations. She definitely developed a lot as a character, from being a naive product of her society to being fierce and independent.
I never thought I could see Lena with another guy after how cute she and Alex were together, but when Julian came into the picture, I really liked the idea of Lena getting together with him. I love star-crossed lovers, and Lena + Julian was no exception. I loved how they started out as enemies, then grew to trust each other. I swooned when he shared things about himself and his childhood with her. I felt like their romance was really smooth and really rooted for them to fall for each other. I especially liked how Lena ended up saving him. They're too cute together and I ship them so hard!
I found her dynamic with the leader of her "Wild" gang, Raven, to be pretty interesting. Raven is very hardened and fiercely independent, and she really influenced Lena to be "stronger", yet they also brushed against each other the wrong way over their ideological differences over the revolution. I found that to be an intriguing relationship.
I loved Lauren Oliver's writing style. Her descriptive language is impeccable and her at times poetic style is so beautiful. The narrative voice of Lena was pretty enthralling.
What I Didn't Like
Lena's attitude towards Julian at first. It was so unnecessarily rude and hostile to me. I didn't get her animosity towards him. It kind of made me want to shake her a little and I found it really annoying.
Some parts of the book really dragged on and were quite uninteresting, particularly earlier on during the Then parts. It got better when the Then parts got shorter, though.
I sometimes didn't like Raven because of how emotionless she seemed to be. I gradually got to understand why her character was so hardened, though. She was a good leader, yet highly flawed. Her strength derived from stamping down feelings of care about others, which, although wise in their situation, I didn't like.
The Twist
I did not see that coming. The revelation was really infuriating to me, yet somehow ingenious. It was actually a brilliant twist, no matter how maddening it was.
The Ending
Lauren Oliver really gave us readers the illusion of a happy ending. I felt so elated that Lena and Julian could be happy and free together. It was so intensely disrupted by the return of a very important person from Lena's past, who she'd spent much of the book pining for. I'm kind of sad that Lena and Julian didn't get much time together to be a blissful couple, but still ecstatic to read what happens next with Lena juggling two people she's grown to care about dearly.
Favorite Quotes
"I wonder if this is how people always get close: They heal each other's wounds; they repair the broken skin."
"We have picked each other, and the rest of the world can go to hell."

My rating: ★ ★ ★ . 5

Reviewed by Kelechi

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