Book Review: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

THEY SAY that the cure for Love
will make me happy and safe
forever.
And I've always believe them.
Until now.

Now everything has changed.
Now, I'd rather be infected
with love for the tiniest
sliver of a second than
live a hundred years
smothered by a lie.

Ever since this book was published in early 2012, before they changed the cover of this book (originally the picture on the top right) I've always been a fan of how this book sounded. The book was really popular, it was the book of the month in my local bookshop the month it was published in 2011. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to pick it up. Until recently, Lauren Oliver approved to send me this and Pandemonium for review. (THANK YOU Lauren! It was very awesome of you!).

I'm really glas I read this book because I highly enjoyed it.

This book is another dystopian. You know me and dystopians. I'm in love with them. I love this book as well, which is ironic really, because this book talks about a society where love is a disease. It is like cancer, like flu. Like any other sickness. It has symptoms, and it has a cure. This disease is called amor deliria nervosa. Now, I'm not really sure what this exactly means, but the two words I can guess are delirium and nervousness. That's an epic disease name, by the way.

This book had too many great things about it, and I'm gonna discuss them below.

1-Writing Style: I think one of the best elements of this book was the writing style. It was poetic and lyrical. A sentence that could be written in a really simple way is written in a really beautiful complex way in this book. Lauren Oliver absolutely is a fabulous writer. In addition to that, trust me, by the end of a book, she will leave you wanting more. Oh boy, she, and Cassandra Clare are the QUEENS of cliffhangers. I'd also like to add that I really admired how each chapter started with a quote either from an outside source, or excerpts written by Lauren Oliver herself from what is supposed to be quotes from The Book of Shhh, which is sort of this society's holy book.

2-Plot: I have to admit, this is one of the most original YA (young adult) books ever written. Yes, there are familiar elements. Yes, there is the hot guy the girls swoon over, but it was really one of a kind. You don't see a book everyday that is both dystopian and really original at the same time.

3-Characters: Our main character is Lena short for Magdalena. She was quite well-developed. I wouldn't say Lena was my favorite character, because Hana was. Hana was rebellious. She thought outside the box. I was very pleased with her character and deeply admired her. As for Alex, Lena's love interest, I thought he was good as well. He was romantic and everything. Well, he was brave and sacrificing too.

Delirium is full of exciting and positive material, but it has a slight problem that bugged me:

Pacing: In my opinion, this book was very slow paced. It started off pretty exciting, but in the middle it felt a tiny bit like nothing was going on. I think this, though, wasn't a big problem. Afterall, everybody learns from their mistakes, and Lauren Oliver is one.

Pandemonium, the second book in this trilogy, is another exciting read. Lauren Oliver certainly is an astounding author who improves her book quality.

Memorable quote from Delirium: "Love: a single word, a wispy thing, a word no bigger or longer than an edge. That's what it is: an edge; a razor. It draws up through the center of your life, cutting everything in two. Before and after. The rest of the world falls away on either side. Before and after-and during, a moment no bigger or longer than an edge."