Pages: 400
Published: March 05th 2013 by HarperTeen
# in Series: #3 in Delirium Trilogy
Source: Purchased at Indigo Spirit
Amazon | The Book Depository | Chapters/Indigo | Kobo
Summary from Goodreads:
“They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.
But we are still here.
And there are more of us every day.
Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.
After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.
Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.
Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.
But we have chosen a different road.
And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.
We are even free to choose the wrong thing.
Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.”
My Thoughts & Review:
**This review will contain spoilers for the previous books it in the series**
Ok, so just a forward note on Requiem and the events that occurred. I am obsessed with this series. Like cold sweats type of obsessed, so naturally I had to book the day off to read it, HAHA. I knew there was no actual way I could have made it the entire day at work knowing this book was out so I used an extra vacation day, got up super early and went to the bookstore to pick it up. Cassie was also reading it, and let me tell you… we blew up Twitter. And then had to switch to DM’s because we were spoiler-ing all over the place!
Requiem completed Lena’s character development for me. She grew so much as a person from Delirium to Requiem, it was amazing to watch her transformation in the pages. She was so strong, so tough but also still had that softness, the kindness that she did in Delirium. I love her character through and through. Alex made me so sad. So freakin sad. He was so rough, and hard and not at all like the Alex I knew from Delirium. Obviously, I expected that because he was in the Crypts but… it was tough to actually see it play out. I still love him all the same though. Raven was solidified as one of my favorite characters in this series. I absolutely loved her. She was so rough and harsh but with this amazing soft interior that you only caught glimpses of. Her and Tack’s relationship was so special, because it was mostly private – just between them. I was also pleasantly surprised that I loved Hana. After I read the novella, Hana, I absolutely despised her so I expected nothing less for Requiem as well. Not so… I really enjoyed seeing her growth and development as a person after she had the cure. Cassie made such a great point after we had finished reading: that Lauren Oliver has this amazing ability of making ALL of her supporting and even just fly by the moment characters so IMPORTANT. You just cannot help to emotionally latch on to them, you ache for them at every moment. Good or bad. Every single character was developed to perfection.
I loved the dual point of view between Hana and Lena. I was actually upset when I initially found out it was dual POV, especially with Hana(as I said above) but I was shocked to discover I loved it. It opened up so much of the story line and obviously as it says in the synopsis, their stories converge, so it’s amazing to see that play out from both characters. Hana’s perspective was very interesting because I expected her to be a lot different after the cure. She still has an underlying of the old Hana and that was very refreshing. I also loved seeing the first hand effects of the cure, as opposed to seeing Lena’s perspective of interacting with cured individuals. It made it so real to experience it along with Hana.
There was a certain incident that shook me to the core. It absolutely devastated me, and made me feel like my heart was tangled up in my chest about to stop beating. I want this to be completely spoiler free, so I won’t say what it is however it actually made me like Requiem a bit less than I originally would have. The “incident” as we will call it, is done to proper Lauren Oliver form, in the fact that it was flawlessly done however I disagree with it taking place at all. I feel it didn’t add anything to the story, it more so took a piece away from it. I will be inserting a spoiler comment into my Goodreads review so if you would like to know click here.
The writing was amazing. I almost feel like I don’t even need to comment on that. Lauren Oliver is a beautiful writer, and that hasn’t changed for Requiem. In fact, certain parts of it are so heart wrenching, so poetic that I was practically gasping. I’m not sure what it is with this series but I actually lose my breath at times, the prose is just beautiful. I was shocked, I was fell in love, I cried, I screamed… I ran through every possible emotion.
In summary, I loved Requiem. I loved it as a continuation of the series but I didn’t love it entirely as the final book. I wish there was a fourth book. There are things that I would like to know but unfortunately this is the ending. Of my favorite trilogy, of the journey of my favorite characters. It’s over. I expected to be disappointed by Requiem and thankfully I wasn’t. However… because of some unanswered questions and the above said event, it is my least favorite of the three.
My Rating:
AHHH! A dual POV with Lena & Hana?? I had no idea! I need to start this one soon. I loved the first two books, but you’re not the first one to say it was your least fave of the three, so I’m mentally prepared.
Great review!
It is dual POV 🙂 It was the least fave of the three but I still really enjoyed it. I went in expecting the worse so I actually think that helped me in liking it 😀 I cannot wait to see what you think of it !!
[…] it in one sitting, and ended up loving it(but not as much as the first two… see my review here). Did anyone pick up Requiem this week? Was it what you expected? I’ve loved reading all the […]
I’m not reading your whole review because I haven’t read the book yet, but can I just say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that you booked a day off work just to read?
Bahaha… I did. I honestly just couldn’t contain myself. The day Finale came out(Hush, Hush) I sat at my desk all day as it mocked me and I could barely focus. I didn’t want to have to do that for Requiem, haha. I never use all my vacay days so this was a perfect excuse 😀
Oh, Requiem! I’m completely overjoyed Alex came back at the end of Pandemonium(I never really assumed he was dead like Lena did). Great review! I’m unfortunately still waiting for my copy from The Book Depository. 🙁
I was overjoyed as well… but small secret. I did have mixed thoughts on thinking he died in Delirium. :S I love Alex… love him. I hope you love Requiem too !!
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