Pandemonium

I love this series, a real crush, why didn’t I read it before?

In this second part we find Lena who is secretly in love with Alex, she discovered her feelings recently. Both of them have escaped to live off their love, except that only Lena manages to cross the border. She doesn’t know if Alex is still alive. So Lena joins the resistance. She has to carry out a mission that could cost her her life. She is forced to fight for love, does that make sense? Because in the world where she lives everyone is deprived of feelings.

This book was read in one go, so much so that I was immediately hooked on the story, which is so moving in certain passages, captivating, gripping, addictive, full of intrigue, suspense and twists and turns, with characters who are always so endearing. This second book, like the previous ones, kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end, so much so that I love the author’s writing.

Now, I rate things kinda hard. So don’t always take my advice on everything. Overall, I found this book disappointing. After Delirium I expected a grand, new continuation of Lena’s story. I was wrong. During this book, it was so similar to the second book of matched I found it boring. It did not feel original nor heart wrenching. Which can sometimes be a good thing for a book. It means you really care about the characters and what happens in their lives. I did not feel this way with this book. However, I felt compelled to finish this series since I had started it. If you feel this way too, don’t let me or this review stop you from doing so too.

After I wrote my review for Delirium, I received a few messages from people who also loved it, but highly recommend that I not waste my time on books two and three. They claimed that book two was a disappointment, and book three was, well, bad. However, I loved Delirium so much that I decided that, just because someone else doesn’t like something, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t give it a try myself.

I have to admit that I was slightly confused as to what was going on in the first couple of chapters. Like book one in the series, Pandemonium is written in first person present tense from the perspective of Lena. But Pandemonium was a mix of two stories with the chapters alternating between Lena’s present and her past (covering the time from the end of the first book until the “present” chapters). I found it kind of odd that Oliver chase to change the writing style so drastically, but I quickly caught on and began getting swallowed whole by the story- both of them.

I, again, thoroughly enjoyed Oliver’s descriptive writing and loved watching Lena’s character mature. Pandemonium is full of action and suspense and kept me reading page after page, never wanting to put the book down. When I read Delirium, I predicted the end of the book fairly early on, and when it played out that way, I hoped that my prediction for book two wouldn’t come to pass. Unfortunately, it did, but not until the absolute ending. (I know this sounds cryptic, but I hate spoilers.) Which meant three things. The first being that I was able to enjoy the entire book until the last page. Two, the ending ruined it for me- especially the way that it was executed. And three, I’m pretty sure I won’t enjoy book three.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about the the alternating “then” and “now” chapters. While reading it, I enjoyed both stories enough that it didn’t bother me. Looking back on it, I have to wonder if the author had originally planned on them being two separate books and didn’t have enough material to do so. And two novellas probably wouldn’t have been well received. Regardless of her reasoning, it still would have been another Elite winner for me had it not ended the way it had, predictable and disappointing.