9593913They 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.

 

Requiem. The third and final book in the Delirium trilogy, and one that many have been yearning for for over a year now. The Delirium series has been an interesting journey for me. I read Delirium, and while it was interesting, it fell a little flat for me. Then I moved on to Pandemonium, and I fell head over heels in love. And finally, I read Requiem, and my overall feelings toward the Delirium series are a little mixed. Because, while I loved one book in the series with all my heart……the other two just didn’t have that wow factor.

While the first two books are told from Lena’s POV, Requiem is split equally in half between Lena and Hana’s POV. Now, I can see why some people would be curious about Hana and want to read more about her (Great, go out and read the short story dedicated about her), but there was really no need to put her in this book. The end result of including Hana’s POV in this book was that it took a LOT away from the story and the series. But here’s the kicker: Hana’s POV was the best to read about. It just really wasn’t necessary to include in the book.

Lena’s character grated. on. my. nerves! I’ve always been a fan of Lena in the previous two books, but I hated her in Requiem. You guys…she whined…Nonstop! Honestly, I cannot think of a scene where Lena wasn’t crying, moping, feeling sorry for herself, begging/yelling at one of the two guys, or throwing a tantrum because she didn’t get her way. Who IS this person? What happened to the headstrong Lena from the first two books? Lena’s character made it VERY difficult to enjoy this book.

On a positive note, there were some cool action scenes and shocker moments. On a negative note, these scenes could have been done better (and more frequently) if Hana’s POV had been left out of the book completely. There were also quite a few things in the book that were not touched on. If there was going to be a fourth book, then this wouldn’t bother be……but this is it, guys! There’s NOT going to be another book! This works out perfectly for the television show….but it sucks for the rest of us.

Ok….let’s move on to the ending of Requiem. There were quite a few people who told me that they hateeeed the ending, and there was about two people who told me they really enjoyed it. Normally I wouldn’t do this, but I’m about to give you my opinion on what happened. So, be warned, there will be spoilers after this point! You read right….Spoilers! So go! Shoo! Don’t read after this point unless you want Requiem to be ruined for you!

 

I thought that the ending of Requiem was the perfect ending. I’ll warn you, not everyone is going to like it. Most people are going to want Lena to end up with one of the two guys, but I found it fitting that she didn’t. Now, I know. We’ve followed Lena now through 3 books. We’ve fallen in love with either Alex or Julian…maybe both. And we just know who Lena should spend the rest of her life with! But let’s look at reality. In the third book, Lena’s what? 18? 19? Maybe 20? Reality check! You don’t settle down at that age. Hell, if you do, the odds of making the relationship work are not in your favor! But here’s a key fact that people seem to be leaving out a lot……Lena didn’t dismiss both guys from her life! She realized that all three of them are royally screwed up. She’s not the same girl from Delirium…and Alex and Julian are different too. And she’s too young to settle down! At the end of the book, both guys are still in her life! So what’s the issue? Her life continues from there. You decide who she ends up with and what else happens to her life.

Overall, I was pretty let down. Was it a good book? Yes. Was I blown away? Absolutely not. This series had massive potential, but I found the end of it to be a real mess. But…who am I to talk? It’s (most likely) going to be on national television. The series is obviously popular. And it was a good series to read! I’ll probably never reread it, though, and I would recommend everyone else either borrow it from a friend or get it through the library.

Pages: 391

Publication Date: March 5th, 2013

Publisher: HarperTEEN

Rating: : ★★★☆☆

 

Teaser Quote: “Stop!” His voice rings out sharply, hard as a slap. He releases me and I stumble backward. “Alex is dead, do you hear me? All of that—what we felt, what it meant—that’s done now, okay? Buried. Blown away.”
“Alex!”
He has started to turn away; now he whirls around. The moon lights him stark white and furious, a camera image, two-dimensional, gripped by the flash. “I don’t love you, Lena. Do you hear me? I never loved you.”
The air goes. Everything goes. “I don’t believe you.” I’m crying so hard, I can hardly speak.
He takes one step toward me. And now I don’t recognize him at all. He has transformed entirely, turned into a stranger. “It was a lie. Okay? It was all a lie. Craziness, like they always said. Just forget about it. Forget it ever happened.”