Well that was disappointing.
I've finally finished it. It's been about 2 years since I started this trilogy, I believe. Now it's over and done with, and I am not impressed by that ending.
((Okay so right about here this review deteriorates into one long rant with a sprinkling of spoilers, so you may just want to stop reading))
I liked the alternating chapters, that some chapters were told by Lena and others by Hana, and eventually the storylines cross over - but oh my what an anticlimax! And all the way through the book, the author is planting seeds toward what will happen in the end... Lena has a tough decision to make... what will she do? Oh well, Lauren Oliver wasn't entirely sure either so just decided to leave us all hanging.
What???
Not only did it feel like terrible planning on the part of the author, but it also made Lena's character seem even weaker than she already was.
Main thing I was disappointed with, though, was the character interactions. Lena's chapters were almost entirely monologue. Her dull interpretation of the world around her, with very little happening between her and others in the story. And whenever there was interaction between Lena and, let's say, Julian or Alex, and they're finally about to start talking properly, Oliver causes another character to jump in and cut them short. Personally I feel that this just shows lack of writing ability on Oliver's part. Some parts of a story are going to get messy and uncomfortable - but that's what makes it real. For goodness sake, don't just take the easy option every time! It leaves the reader with frustration and underdeveloped characters.
And then we come back to the ending. It was so rushed, so out-of-character, so... terrible. This story, this fictional world, had so much potential. Unfortunately it was ruined by the overly dramatic love triangle (during which, Lena becomes the most unlikable character of them all) and a really oversimplified ending.
Ugh.