Full review on my blog The Dancing Nerd Writes Again.

Initial Thoughts:

I was very nervous to start this novel. I’ve been a huge fan of the series ever since I read the first two books back in November and they mean a lot more to me than some of the other books I’ve read recently. They were the first books I’ve read in a while that gave me hope and made me believe in love again (ironically enough since the books say that love is a disease), which obviously places them close to my heart and makes me feel a little protective over them.

I trusted Lauren Oliver as an author and knew she couldn’t screw this up too badly, so with that mindset I went ahead and slowly made my way through the last book in the Delirium series.

Spoilers!

This book oscillates between Lena and Hana’s point of views. At first I was bored with Hana’s parts and just wanted to figure out what was going on in the wilds with Julian and Alex and Lena, but eventually I became just as excited to read about Hana’s life, especially after the HUGE reveal on page….okay so I’m not telling you what page but you’ll know it when you read it.

There were a few grammatical errors which irked me, because I don’t recall there being any in the last two novels. Another thing that stood out to me was the use of the same imagery or metaphors. Like I said earlier, I feel really protective over this series and was hyper critical. They weren’t huge downfalls, but I felt the novel could’ve been improved upon regarding these literary elements.

The story itself flowed relatively quickly. I was a little dismayed because so much of the focus was on the plot and we didn’t get to see a lot of character interaction like the interaction between Alex and Lena in Delirium or the interaction between Julian and Lena in Pandemonium. I felt like every time the plot started to slow down, and an emotional scene was coming up, the action got in the way again. I wish we could’ve seen more scenes between characters. I think the only real emotional connection I felt in the whole novel that was new and expanded upon, was with Hana because we got to see her side of the story told through her point of view.

The ending: It didn’t really feel like an ending and it very much felt like the author came out of character and was talking directly to her audience, which I wish would’ve been included in the acknowledgements instead of the actual story. It was left very open ended and almost felt like the author herself didn’t know how to end the novel or couldn’t decide for Lena. I guess I liked that, because it leaves it up to the imagination of the reader and it lets us interpret what will happen to the characters in the future.

Conclusion:

I hope my review doesn’t come off as being too harsh or negative because Lauren Oliver is one of my favorite authors and Delirium is one of my favorite series. She created amazing characters that are easy to fall in love with and a world that is totally and uniquely her own.

I read Requiem during a really tough week and didn’t have the best focus while reading it, which I’ll be honest, may have affected my review. I tried being as objective as possible and commented on the things I thought of while I was reading the book. Although Requiem wasn’t my favorite book in the series it was still an enjoyable read and I can’t wait to read it again once I have the whole series (I borrowed Delirium and Pandemonium from the library).

I’d recommend this series to anyone who is coming out of a break up, doesn’t believe in love, or has lost hope. At the same time I’d recommend this book to someone who wants to explore a new type of dystopian world where love is a disease and people are fighting for the freedom to choose their own destiny. I think there are a lot of great little hidden messages and morals throughout this series that are universal and relatable to anyone.

I’m even more excited after finishing Requiem that Fox is making Delirium into a T.V. series, to see how they will expand on this story and the characters. Even though the series of books may be over, the story will continue on screen as Alex, Lena, and Julian’s journeys continue.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

I normally don’t leave any sort of comment in my rating section, but I wouldn’t say that I loved this book. I couldn’t give it just the “I liked it” rating because this book, along with its predecessors will have a special home on my bookshelf and I do plan on reading it again in the future.