Review: Requiem by Lauren Oliver

DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ DELIRIUM & PANDEMONIUM

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.

So the layout of this one was much different from the previous books. Delirium & Pandemonium were told from only Lena's POV (although Pandemonium was past and present). Requiem is told from Lena and Hana's POV. At first, this did annoy me because I honestly didn't care about Hana's life. But as the story went on, I realised just how important Hana's story was and I started to enjoy it.

OK, so this one picks up after that massive cliffhanger at the end of Pandemonium when Alex returned. I was so excited that Alex was back and I just couldn't believe it! I couldn't wait to read about him and I was keeping my fingers crossed for a Lena and Alex reunion.

Unfortunately, Alex had changed. He was no longer the sweet, caring, lovable boy he was in Delirium. He'd hardened after spending time in jail and kept his feelings hidden. He was kind of arrogant and I didn't like his attitude towards Lena. He did start to redeem himself throughout the book, but I didn't feel the same way about him as I did in Delirium.

I felt really bad for Julian in this book. He was having to adjust to the wild and living with the rebels and Lena was distancing herself from him because of Alex, and it wasn't fair. Julian was sweet and lovely and he was determined to do everything he could to help the rebels.

Lena started to slightly annoy me in this book because of the whole  Julian/Alex thing. She was stringing Julian along, but wouldn't be close with him because of her feeling for Alex. I wish she would have just stopped moaning about the both of them and thought more about what was going on with the rebels. To me, it was clearly obvious that she loved Alex more than Julian and she wanted to be with Alex. So I don't really understand why she didn't figure it out sooner! 

Poor Hana. I really felt for her in this book. She was discovering things about her soon to be husband and she had no one to turn to. Her cure hadn't worked as well as it should have and I'm actually glad it didn't. Hana was still there and I really loved reading about her story.

I loved the scenes between Lena and her mother. I liked seeing their relationship re-build and I hope that they'll be able to be a family again in the future.

The was a lot of action in this book, with the government hunting the rebels and the rebel attacks on the cities. It was exciting and I was hooked throughout the scenes. The big fight at the end was thrilling and heartbreaking.

I didn't really enjoy the way the book ended. It was too open. It didn't give me what I was looking for and I was pretty annoyed about that. I still really enjoyed the book though which is why I gave it:

I'm really glad I decided to pick up Delirium this month because the whole series was fantastic!