Requiem
Requiem, by Lauren Oliver, is the third book in the Delirium series, where the main character lives in a dystopian world where they have found the cure for love. By the time we reach the third book, Lena has become part of the resistance and has found herself as part of a love triangle (a staple for most dystopian books.)Personally, I was disappointed by this book. I had enjoyed Delirium a lot – the romance between Alex and Lena was wonderful, and Pandemonium wasn’t too bad. But Requiem didn’t give me enough of what I wanted. The storyline was pretty good, but slow at times, and Lena got on my nerves rather a lot as the main character. The ending is also very open, and I’m not a fan of that at all. It’s very unclear what really happens.
Cover (British Version)
This cover is pretty cool, and it’s very pretty. It all looks very peaceful and tranquil, and I assume that her reflecting on her life is going to be part of the book. The cover definitely appeals to me.
Story
Half the story is told from Lena’s PoV as she travels around with the resistance. The other half is told by Hana, who has been cured and is living a normal life in her home town. The PoV’s do vary a lot, and I found myself liking Hana’s story a lot more because there was more going on, even though she wasn’t actively trying to take down the government or anything. On the other hand, Lena’s PoV got a bit whiny sometimes, and a lot of it was her moping about Julian and Alex. She did need to make a decision about which boy she wanted, but I would have preferred to have a lot more action going on and information about their rebellion. To be honest, Raven could have been the main character of this whole series and she would have been far more interesting.
The biggest reason this book was a letdown for me was the ending. It was very up in the air. There was nothing that really ended the book – the love triangle wasn’t properly resolved, the resistance didn’t finish attacking the city, and who knows what happened afterwards. An epilogue would have worked well here to tie up any loose ends.
Characters
To me, characters are the most important part of the novel because they are the main focus point, and I tend to want to like the protagonist and to be able to root for them. This wasn’t the case with Lena. As I’ve mentioned, she did get on my nerves spending time either deciding who she liked more or hating on the fact that Alex and Coral get on well and are friends. Alex also annoyed me in this book, even though I loved him in [b:Delirium|11614718|Delirium (Delirium, #1)|Lauren Oliver|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327890411s/11614718.jpg|10342808]. He was horrid to Lena through the majority of the book (although there were some nice moments) and then there’s a sudden change of heart towards the end. Julian didn’t annoy me at all, and I like him a lot more than I did after reading [b:Pandemonium|9593911|Pandemonium (Delirium, #2)|Lauren Oliver|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1310371414s/9593911.jpg|14480923]. Although, that may have something to do with Alex being an idiot throughout the entire book. Hana, on the other hand, was easily one of my favourite characters. She provided an insight into life inside the town (which is usually ignored and forgotten once the main character joins a rebellion or a resistance of some kind in dystopian books.) Hana’s life was very interesting, and it also provided information about how the cured went about their life and how they were affected by the rebellion.
Raven and Tack get their own paragraph. They are perfect and adorable and their story is far more interesting than everything else going on. I know Raven has her own short story ebook, which I do need to get around to reading, but I personally find her far more interesting than Lena. Her relationship with Tack is really nice – the way it’s so understated and a side story, but still very sweet. I found their story far more emotional than Lena and Alex/Julian, and I’d have much preferred a series of books about them. Perhaps you’ve realized I love Raven.
All in all, it was an alright book but a very disappointing to the end of the series. It’s unlikely I’ll be rereading these books at all.
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