Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication date: February 1st, 2011
Pages: 441
Cover: 2 stars
Plot: 4 stars

Everyone in Lena's post-modern world fears a disease. It plagues the mind and drives you insane. The people in her brainwashed city of Portland can't even bear to hear the word. Love. "Luckily," they have developed a cure that is administered to everyone on their eighteenth birthday. It's not very long until she will get hers and rid herself of any dangers once and for all. She is looking forward to it, until she meets Alex. And she does the unspeakable.... she falls in love with him.

  Earlier this month, the sequel, Pandemonium, hit stores. I've also read a lot of raving reviews about this book, and so I figured it was about time to pick it up. My hopes were really high. But the truth is, it was average. It wasn't mind blowing, but it wasn't mind numbing either. I had a difficult time getting into it.

  The one thing I loved about this book was the concept that love can be portrayed as a disease. Genius! I know I glorify the themes of every dystopian book I read, but Delirium is a whole new world of epic! The people in Lena's world believe love is extremely deadly. It's brilliant how Lauren Oliver brings this idea to life. The symptoms can actually be closely identified as if you have contracted "amor deliria nervosa" in real life! The author just shows you how love can be shown in a negative light, and that twist was what really caught me.

  Lena didn't believe she was special. She thought she was a mundane teen. Personally, I really connected to this. Most people don't feel as if they are important, and Lena proves that even ordinary people can do great things. I really adored how her character developed through the book. At first, she actually believed in the everything that was fed to her. After meeting Alex, her whole perspective on life changes. She starts to doubt the system and takes chances. She starts to believe in love, and hope.

  The book picks up a bit slow, but the ending is incredibly fast paced. I flipped through the last few pages in a frenzy, and I can promise you, it was intense!  If you have any reasons for wanting to drop this book, I suggest you abandon them because the sequel should be worth waiting for!

-Palak :)