Requiem (Delirium, #3) in End of the Series Reading Challenge

Oct 20, 2012 Zey rated it it was ok

Shelves: ya, disappointing, annoying-heroine, dystopia, action-packed, just-ok, boring

EDITED

Okay, a week after I’ve written my hate letter to Ms. Lauren Oliver, I decided to post my actual review of this book to be able for readers to understand my animosity towards that dreadful (But, yeah, I know, still very talented) author.

It broke my heart to give this book a less than stellar review, but this needs to be done. Lauren Oliver gave me no other choice. To be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever buy her books ever again. That’s how angry I am about this book.

Let me start by say ...more

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Jun 29, 2011 Lisa ILJ rated it it was ok

Shelves: ebooks-i-own, arcs-i-own, 2013, ala-mw-13, purged

I just finished, I'm kind of enraged so before I rate and review this I need to calm down.

So I slept on it, and I'm still enraged. So 2 stars it is. Longer review to follow.

My Real Review: Also posted on my Blog, I'll Tumble for YA

I’m having a bit of difficulty thinking about how I want to write this review. The end of the book is of course the most important part, discussing that, which I really want to do, would spoil the whole thing.

First things first: if you haven’t read any of these books ...more

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May 02, 2013 Paula Phillips rated it really liked it

This is a hard review to write as I have been dying to read the third book in the Delirium series and have had it for a couple of months and you know how life just chucks obstacles in your way and you find yourself a bit waylaid and then when you finally get around to it , you are like omg , feverishly reading it as you just have to know what happens and then you get to end and you are like ... speechless and you don't know what to say but all you can do is scream. That's what I felt with the bo ...more

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Feb 08, 2013 Priscila Patatas rated it it was amazing

SPOILERS!!!
This book was amazing! And amazing is only a bit of what I want to say about this book. It was surprising and unpredictable. It was more than I was hoping for. Still, I gave it five stars because the story was perfectly written and imagined. Not because of the characters themselves.
I was pissed off. I spent the whole book pissed off with every character of this book.
First, Lena. She was amazing in strength and bravery but she was awful as a person. She changed her feelings according t SPOILERS!!!
This book was amazing! And amazing is only a bit of what I want to say about this book. It was surprising and unpredictable. It was more than I was hoping for. Still, I gave it five stars because the story was perfectly written and imagined. Not because of the characters themselves.
I was pissed off. I spent the whole book pissed off with every character of this book.
First, Lena. She was amazing in strength and bravery but she was awful as a person. She changed her feelings according to her mood and people (Alex and Julian), innocent people, were, are and will be hurt because of it.
Alex: he is amazing and my favourite male character since Delirium. But it was badly conceived the part where he survived the shot. He should have died. Not that I would like it, but it was the fair and logic ending. Still, in this book, I was'nt expecting his behaviour. I was surprised and not in the good sense. I mean, I get that he's different and that he suffered a lot. I get that maybe he had lost the ability to love again. But then he jumped head first into a poorly made-up romance with Coral, ending up hurting her, Lena and himself.
Now, Julian. He became obsessed with Lena. Everything he did was for her, everything he fights for is because of her, doesn't matter how much she hurts him. He just smiles and loves. I'm like: Could you just grow a backbone already??!! Learn to stand up! To say what you feel! To confront her!
And finally, Hana. She is a broken character. It was predictable. She had her soul messed up. Everything went wrong for her. But the thing is, she just bowed her head and closed her eyes. She didn't fight, she didn't do anything to repent for her sins besides watching from the sidelines and give a hand here and there. It's like she has a gun pointed at her head and she is the one who pulls the trigger.
At, last, I wanted to congratulate Lauren Oliver. She did an amazing work as a writer. Her books are phenomenal. I am honoured to have had the oportunity of reading her books.

P.S. I still believe and will always believe that Raven is still alive. ...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Sarah Kalaitzidis rated it really liked it

Shelves: dystopia

I was really expecting something more from the ending of the series finale, but instead, we get a cliffhanger that hardly answers our questions and instead leaves us with even more. If they were creating another installment to the series, then the cliffhanger provided would have been perfect. Who does Lena end up with? Do they take over the city? Does the rebellion fix anything in the long run? So many questions that will be forever unanswered and it annoys me to no end.

Putting the ending to th ...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Jen rated it liked it

-to be posted on the blog soon-

I have to admit this: I was very disappointed with Requiem.

Yes, I'm shocked too, with the awesomeness that was Delirium and Pandemonium.

Now, I'm not saying that it was a terrible book. It was kinda okay, actually. My only problem was that it didn't live up to my expectations, and it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be after Delirium and Pandemonium.

It was the pacing of the plot that kinda drove me crazy. It was a little bit slow paced for the first half of the b -to be posted on the blog soon-

I have to admit this: I was very disappointed with Requiem.

Yes, I'm shocked too, with the awesomeness that was Delirium and Pandemonium.

Now, I'm not saying that it was a terrible book. It was kinda okay, actually. My only problem was that it didn't live up to my expectations, and it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be after Delirium and Pandemonium.

It was the pacing of the plot that kinda drove me crazy. It was a little bit slow paced for the first half of the book. The book was narrated by both Lena and Hana: Lena is now living in the Wilds with Julian and Alex, while Hana is preparing for her wedding with Fred. Lena's side of the story is supposed to be the action- packed one, right? And it is, really, but honestly, I thought that her side of the story was kinda pointless in the beginning. Lena and the rest of the Uncured are just walking around in the Wilds, meeting fellow people who resist the cure, and escaping the ocassional brush in with death. It just felt like it was lacking direction until the last few chapters where they finally take some action.

Hana's side of the story intrigued me a lot more, even if the danger present in her life was much more subtle. She's preparing for her marriage with the mayor, Fred, and surprise surprise, he's not exactly the perfect husband-to-be. I loved all the suspense and mystery surrounding Cassie as well, Fred's former wife, and the way the Bluebeard tale was used as a reference. Yep, it was interesting to be able to get a glimpse into Hana's head.

Wait- remember how I said it was the pacing that drove me crazy? Scratch that. It was the romance that I didn't like. The Delirium trilogy is being pitched as a dystopian romance, right? Honestly, it had more drama than romance. The love triangle between Alex, Julian and Lena? It was... odd. And very, very frustrating. You find out literally in the last few pages, and it isn't even wrapped up very well! (view spoiler)

I'm happy with the guy Lena ends up with though. I've always been on his team, and even with the presence of the other guy, I firmly believed he was the right choice. So even though I had to wait until the very end, I'm pleased with the way things turned out. And the Solomon reference was a bit sweet, actually.

And was it only me who felt like the ending was a bit rushed? It was like Lauren Oliver spent the first 3/4 of the book slowly- and I do mean slowly- building things up, and then BAM! Rush whatever needs to be tied up in the last quarter. Things weren't even properly answered. We don't know what happens to Hana, whether the Uncureds will be accepted by the society, whether they'll stop treating love as a disease- she just left it all hanging for us to draw our own conclusions! It's a unique way of ending things I guess, but I prefer having solid answers. There should be a fourth book, in my opinion.

I'm not sure how many stars to give this book- somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, I guess. I know my review was mostly about the negative stuff, but inspite of that, Requiem was a pretty fast and fun read. I just guess my expectations were too high, and I just got really disappointed. So do I recommend this? Well, Delirium is really good- it's just more of romance than dystopian though, but I honestly liked the romance and I loved the book. Pandemonium's more action packed, even though my heart got crushed at Delirium's ending. So if you haven't yet, give this a try and see what the hype is about. Just lower your expectations for Requiem so that you won't be so disappointed. While a good read, it wasn't as mindblowing as the first two books.
...more

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Jun 04, 2011 Louisa rated it it was amazing

Such a great book, though the ending for Hana was a bit strange, that she'd walk to the end of the world, and that it was just left off like that, and Lena's choice at the end, was obvious, but at the same time, it came on very quickly, and I would've liked to know more, and the one death...but she was a good character, why did she, and probably him, have to die? But good book, and good end to the series! ...more

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