More Than Just Magic

Requiem by Lauren Oliver
Series: Delirium #3
Publisher: Harper Teen
Genre: Dystopia
Page count: 400
Source: Received copy from publisher in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: March 5 2013

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.

“Who knows? Maybe they’re right. 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.”

My Review

This is a really difficult review to write. The Delirium trilogy has meant a lot of me and I’m sad to see it come to a close. I still remember when I first picked up Delirium on a whim, during a Borders closing sale. I had no idea what the book was about or who Lauren Oliver was – I only knew I had seen the cover on some blogs and people seemed pretty excited for it. I had no idea I was picking up what was soon to become one of my favourite books and that Lauren Oliver was about to become an author I would never forget.

I had a lot of expectations going into Requiem. And a lot of fears too. Would the series end the way I wanted it to? Would my heart end up smashed into a million pieces? It was a lot of pressure for one little book.

There’s really not much I can tell you about the plot of Requiem without giving anything away. I will say that there was a certain direction I thought this book would go in and it didn’t. But that isn’t a bad thing. I like the direction Lauren Oliver chose to take series in. It was different and unexpected and because of that it kept me guessing. It wasn’t what I expected but that worked out for the best because that meant I was just as obsessed with finding out what happened next as I had been in Delirium and Pandemonium.

The unique thing about Requiem was the addition of alternating chapters between Lena and Hana’s point-of-view. I have to say I really enjoyed Hana’s chapters. Having read the short story, Hana, I found I wanted to know more about her character and what she had been up to. But even if you haven’t read the story, you’re going to be heavily invested in her chapters. There is some crazy stuff in there! And as always I enjoyed Lena’s voice. I think she’s grown a lot over the series but she’s still not perfect – which in my opinion is how it should be. She’s still so young and has so much ahead of her, it would be crazy for her to have it all figured out.

However, I do have one criticism of Requiem. It doesn’t change my overall feeling about the novel/series but it did leave me a little disappointed. I found there are certain issues that don’t get addressed until late in the book. And because they are presented so late they really don’t get as fleshed out as I would have liked. There are two in particular that kind of bugged me and left me wanting more. I think there was so much potential to explore the effects of certain relationships and it just wasn’t met. I know I’m being super vague but I don’t want to give anything away. If you’ve read the book I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Perhaps a discussion post is in order?

Reservation aside, I do think Requiem is a beautiful end to an amazing series. Lauren Oliver has brought to life some amazing characters, she has made me cry sob, kept me up until all hours of the night, eyes glued to the page. She has given me a series that I want to re-read over and over. The Delirium series is a powerful story of love and resistance and freedom with universal themes everyone can relate to. So this isn’t so much a review as it is a love letter to Lauren Oliver. <3

Recommendation: A hard breaking but strong end to a fabulous series. A must read.

About the Author

Lauren Oliver comes from a family of writers and so has always (mistakenly) believed that spending hours in front of the computer every day, mulling over the difference between “chortling” and “chuckling,” is normal. She has always been an avid reader. She attended the University of Chicago, where she continued to be as impractical as possible by majoring in philosophy and literature. After college, she attended the MFA program at NYU and worked briefly as the world’s worst editorial assistant, and only marginally better assistant editor, at a major publishing house in New York. Her major career contributions during this time were flouting the corporate dress code at every possible turn and repeatedly breaking the printer. Before I Fall is her first published novel. She is deeply grateful for the chance to continue writing, as she has never been particularly good at anything else.

More From Lauren Oliver

Delirium Read-a-long

Review of Hana (Delirium #1.5)

Review of Pandemonium (Delirium #2)

Also Available For: Kobo / Kindle