Pandemonium (Delirium #2) Review

TITLE: Pandemonium (Delirium #2)
AUTHOR: Lauren Oliver
PAGES: 256 (ePub format)
PUBLISHED: February 28, 2012 by HarperCollins
READ: March 11 - 13, 2012
BUY THIS BOOK AT: Amazon / Kobo / Chapters.Indigo

SYNOPSIS I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.
Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

Pandemonium does not suffer from the dreaded second book lag that is evident in many series.  This book is a worthy follow-up to its awesome predecessor Delirium.  Pandemonium takes place in the 'then' and 'now', the 'then' is immediately following Delirium chronicling Lena's life in the Wilds and her adjustment to the new life. The 'now' is about a year later and explores her involvement in the resistance in New York. The world has changed since Delirium, radical acts carried out by the Invalids have made it impossible for the government to deny their existence any longer and the DFA (Deleria Free America) is determined that the cure needs to be administered earlier (but is that safe?)

Pandemonium is much more action packed than Delirium, I was on the edge of my seat for most of the book.  Lena starts off in a foreign life stuck in a depression, a haze of her former self and we get to watch her slowly come back to life, be reborn a brand new Lena.  The characters that she meets are great full characters that I sympathised with. I loved seeing the other side in this one, learning about the Invalids way of life, how they survive, their motives and just how far they will go to achieve their goals.

It also explores more heavily the sense of detachment that people are plagued with following the cure.  Julian Fineman's memories broke my heart, and made me feel as if I needed to revolt against the DFA and the government. Once again we are left with a gut wrenching cliff hanger that is going to make the wait for Requiem almost unbearable!  Lauren Oliver has once again wowed me with her way with words and her mastery of a great story.  I will be recommending this series to anyone looking for an Alluring Read.