Oh Pandemonium, how I love thee. How I adore thee, and crave thee, and wish there was more of your story. You certainly had a challenge living up to your predecessor, the beautiful, wonderful Delirium. Delirium, which captured my heart. And while there was no real fear that you would betray me, I still worried that Oliver could pen another novel such as Delirium. There was a possibility you could have been part of the dreaded middle-book-syndrome, where you were only brought to life to fill space and leave the rest of the action for the final book. But I never should have feared. You proved that Oliver can do no wrong. You were an essential part of Lena’s story. You had a plot, and a reason, you shone with magic and beauty and excitement. You took me on a wonderful journey that spoke of loss, and challenges, and trying to overcome the loss, and fighting the challenges to prove the worth of people, and self-discovery, and love. Always love. Because that is the heart of you story. That is what drives your story forward and gives it life. Without it, well, your story would have no point. The way you express love, and the fear and pain that can come from love, but also the beauty and pure joy it can bring, was perfect. So I thank you, for showing me that love will always prevail, and that when you have love, anything is possible.

Lena is such a wonderful heroine. Yes, she is weak in physical strength, and she can be timid and unsure of things, but that is what makes her so real. She has faults, but she is fighting to overcome them! And through Delirium and Pandemonium, you can see the trying journey that is bringing her to the place she is at the end of Pandemonium, and the person that she is trying to find in herself. She’s trying to cast off the old Lena. That Lena is in the past, and a mantra of the Invalids is to forget the past, and look to the future. The layout of Pandemonium was quite intriguing, and may I say very well executed. It is told in Lena’s viewpoint and goes back and forth from the ‘before’, (the point she and Alex were separated and her journey in becoming an Invalid and starting a new live), and the ‘now’, (which is the time after Lena has settled into her roll of being an Invalid and is now a member of fighting for its cause). The way Oliver wrote this was spellbinding. She effortlessly slipped from one point of time to the other without a hitch, and managed to connect the two times, in this way giving you a greater understanding of who Lena has become and how she got there.

The beginning of Pandemonium shocked me. Seriously. Major shocker. Because SPOILER! (view spoiler)[Alex apparently died at the end of Delirium! Oh the agony and the pain I was feeling. I couldn’t believe it! He wasn’t supposed to die! He was supposed to live and find Lena so they could be together and love each other. Oh my goodness. Even now, after finishing the book and that heart stopping cliffhanger, I’m still a little upset about it! Oh wow. (hide spoiler)] So this ‘spoiler’ happened, and my heart broke. It was crushed and I thought all was over. What could possibly happen now? But Pandemonium showed me there could be so much more. That this was certainly not the end. It was just the beginning. And slowly, ever slowly, as I journeyed with Lena and her dealing with this, my heart started to mend, as hers was slowly mending. As she learned more about love- that love will always live on, and that love can be found in other places- she starts to discover more about herself, and to accept love as it comes, because you never know how long you’ll have it.

So the romance. Ah, the romance. I can’t say anything lest I give something away! All I can say is that Alex, he is my love in these books. He’s my hero, and I wish… Well, I wish that something will happen with someone because, I just love Alex! Oliver, do you see what you’re doing to me? You’re playing these tricks on me, and messing with my mind and heart, and you, like certain evil authors *cough*houck*cough* slam us poor unfortunate readers with literally heart stopping endings that just get me, so, twisted with anxiety! Torture I tell you.

Alright, enough of my bemoaning. Onto my praise.

I don’t know what more I can say about this book. I just love it so much. It met all of my expectations I had after finishing Delirium and didn’t leave me wanting in anything. (well, you know, besides wanting MORE ASAP) Fans of Delirium I dare say will love Pandemonium. If Delirium wasn’t quite your thing, then most likely neither is this. But you’ll never know unless you try! You could very well end up loving it, or at least liking it. As for me, these books are treasures. For some reason, my heart latched onto this series, and Oliver’s words and stories have taken root inside me, like they’re a part of me. Once in a while, a certain book will do this to you, and maybe you can’t quite explain it, and all you know is that that book has become a part of your life, and you wonder what you ever did without it.

So, Oliver. Once again my expectations are high, but if what I feel about you is true, then I know Requiem will steal my heart, yet again, and you will have secured a position on my absolute favorite authors list. I await ever anxiously the release of the conclusion of this wondrous series.