Representation: N/A
Trigger warnings: Death of a friend, blood, grief and loss depiction, physical illness, military violence and war themes, explosions, fire
Score: Six points out of ten.
Find this review on The StoryGraph.

Two years ago, I read the first instalment of the Delirium trilogy, Delirium, which I initially enjoyed but I later thought it as only okay after picking out the flaws. Two years later, I couldn't delay any longer. It was time to read the next part of the series: Pandemonium. The ratings were high, but in the end, Pandemonium underwhelmed me.

It starts (more like continues) with a character that needs no introduction, Lena, picking up after the events of Delirium, living in a new society away from the dystopia that is America. Speaking of, the worldbuilding is baffling to comprehend. All the government did is ban love. What for? The government allows everything else except love. It doesn't sound like a plausible dystopian world to me. Nothing happens in the first 300 pages save for Lena residing in her new residence. However, the last 40 pages quicken the pace as the government attacks the Wilds, but that begs the question: how did the government not know about the Wilds until the events of Pandemonium happened? I don't understand. It's not clear. The conclusion is shocking and finishes on a cliffhanger, but I'm undecided on whether I should read the final part, Requiem. ( )

Nonstop peril. Which made you feel exhausted for our heroine, but it was still enjoyable. ( )

I just finished this book today so I'll do a review of some of my initial thoughts but I might reread it and review it again sometime next year just because at the time that I read this book I wasn't in the mood to read so I'm not sure how much of a fair review this will be. When I started this book I was kind of falling into a reading slump and I hadn't been in the mood to read for a couple of weeks which is why it took me 3 weeks to finish this book and because I read this book so slowly there are things I've probably forgot about. I will say it was a good book and it was interesting and there's a lot more action that happens in this book than in the first one. I didn't like how this book was set up. It goes back and forth between the past and present and I usually don't like it when books do that, every now and then it works but in this book it just didn't work for me. I liked the new characters, even though I didn't like Raven at times but by the end of it I was ok with her. I did like Julian's character but I didn't like that Lena moved on so quickly and gave up on Alex. I was spoiled on one of the "surprise" twist at the end so it didn't surprise me, though I'm not sure it would have even if I wasn't spoiled. The other twists at the end of the book I predicted early on and I'm surprised it took Lena so long to figure out what was going on. Though this book attempts to surprise you with its twists/reveals, I feel like they're pretty predictable so it took the surprise out of the reveals. Lauren Oliver does like to leave us hanging off of a 50 ft cliff so I'm definitely interested in seeing how this series ends. I've already got a few predictions, time to see if any of them are right. ( )

Enjoyed it as much at the first. Fun holiday read once again. ( )

I love Julian so much more than Alex. I need to read the third book.

Lauren Oliver's style of writing is not my favorite. Her voice is not what I really like to read, but her plots are always soooo good, so I keep going back for more. ( )