The Delirium Trilogy by Lauren Oliver

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The Delirium Trilogy by Lauren Oliver

As you can tell by my star ratings Pandemonium was my favorite book in the Delirium trilogy, but I did really enjoy the entire series. I think book two was my favorite because I am a Julian fan! 🙂 I really hope I’m not biting off too much for one blog post by doing all of these books together, but I am going to give it a shot.

Delirium is a great opening to the trilogy. The relationship between Alex and Lena and really drew me into the story. I also really like Hanna’s character in the first book. I like how we could see love in their friendship and that the “delirium” was not only found in romantic love. The ending was so good and I picked up the second book immediately! I wish I could say more, but I don’t want to give too much of the ending.

Pandemonium was my favorite book of the series! I love, love, love the relationship between Lena and Julian. He seems so sincere and authentic. I also enjoyed getting to know the characters from the homestead as we go through their trials in the wilds. And like the first books the ending was amazing in this book! It was literally jaw dropping for me.

Requiem was good and it did wrap up the series, but it was not my favorite book of the trilogy. Hanna’s character had for obvious reasons changed a lot and I did not really like her character that much. And I really did not like what happened to Lena’s family after her escape into the wilds. I also struggled with the Lena-Alex-Julian drama. I personally was a Julian fan until the very end!

Well, I’m trying to keep this review short and simple without giving away too much of the book. Overall, I really enjoyed the series! Each book had really greats parts and awesome characters. I enjoyed the premise of the “delirium” and I definitely recommend this series (probably to a female audience- there’s a lot of romance)!

Eve by Anna Carey

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Eve by Anna Carey

 

This book had such an awesome premise that I just had to pick it up and read it. However, even though I did enjoy the book it did not quite live up to the high hopes I had. It is hard for me to give any type of review on this book without giving away some important details so…

***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD***

Eve is an orphan just like all the other girls she lives with at school. After the virus wiped out much of the population most kids are orphans. Eve has always pushed herself to excel in school because she wants to be able to move to the City of Sand after graduation and serve the king and her city. However, the night before graduation Eve finds out that she will not be training for a new career across the lake, but rather she will be used to repopulate the world along with her fellow (and former) classmates. The horror of what Eve finds on the other side of the lake leaves her no choice, but to run and leave behind everything she has ever known and everything she thought was safe. The book then follows Eve on her adventures through the wilds, freedom, and love.

Like I said, even though the book was decent and the premise was great there were some things I took issue with. First, why were Eve and her classmates educated for years just to be impregnated and used for their fertility? I’m not sure I can buy into that idea. Second, Eve escaped so easily and found help without even trying. She describes how protective her teachers were and she talks about the guards and then she all but walks off of the school grounds. Third, Eve leaves her best friends behind to endure this horrific fate. I mean she does say she will come back for them, but what if it was too late then? For a girl with no family and no other friends or even acquaintances in the World would she really be able just to leave them behind? The book had flaws, but overall it was enjoyable if you didn’t try to analyze the world too deeply. I will eventually read the rest of the trilogy because I think the book was at least worth that.

 

 

The Selection by Kiera Cass

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The Selection by Kiera Cass

I have had so, so many people tell me this book was a mix between The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and ABC’s television show The Bachelor (which I have to admit is my weekly guilty pleasure). I figured if this book was any kind of combination of those two things then it had to be awesome. Well, here’s the thing the book is great, but I don’t think it is anything like The Hunger Games except for the fact that she, America Singer, was randomly (or maybe not) drawn for “The Selection” and that people are sorted into castes by the government.

But like I said I did enjoy the book, however, it is much more like The Bachelor than The Hunger Games so you guys out there might want to steer clear of this title. 🙂

***WARNING: SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW***

The Selection begins with a girl who is fiercely in love with the wrong guy. When that relationship ends in disaster she heads to the castle of Prince Maxon in order to find refuge, if not love. Once America arrives at the castle it is drama on top of drama with a little romance mixed in. If you have ever watched The Bachelor you know the show is just like that too! Slowly (or not so much), the thirty-five girls are weeded down to the “The Elite” (but not with infamous rose ceremonies). The book is just as straight forward as you would imagine, but I found myself drawn in anyways. There was humor, romance, drama, and a main character with an ever changing heart. I can’t wait to read, The Elite, the second book in the Selection trilogy by Kiera Cass!

Legend by Marie Lu

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Again, I want to apologize for not writing more frequently. I have really been slacking in the blogging part of my life. I think I am getting the hang of this mommy thing and I hopefully will be able to squeeze blogging time in regularly. I have read so many books in the past month or so that I really do have a lot to write about. So here we go…

Legend by Marie Lu

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths – until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills. (from http://www.amazon.com/)

I read a lot of dystopian books and truthfully I enjoy most of them, but I felt that this one was just a step above most and that is saying a lot. I had heard so much about that book that I was hesitant that it could really be that good, but in my honest opinion it really did live up to it’s own hype. Lu’s dystopian world has an intriguing political side that makes this book hard to put down. The characters (especially the main two- Day and June) are awesome! What I really enjoyed about them is that though they are on opposite sides you find yourself loving both of them. And then when the plot twist comes at the end you find yourself just as torn as the characters themselves. I also enjoyed how the story was told back and forth between Day’s point of view and June’s. Their stories begin so differently and how they view the world is so different that it makes the story unique in the way that one just picks up telling the story where the other left off. I have so many good things to say about this book and some are specifics, but I don’t want to give too much away. But I do highly recommend that you go read this book now!

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Reached by Ally Condie

Reached by Ally Condie

After leaving Society and desperately searching for the Rising—and each other—Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again: Cassia has been assigned to work for the Rising from within Society, while Ky has been stationed outside its borders. But nothing is as predicted, and all too soon the veil lifts and things shift once again.( Summary taken from http://allycondie.com/books )

When I read the first book in this series I fell in love with the trilogy. I loved the world that Condie created, I loved the characters (especically Xander!) and I really liked the premise in general. After finishing Matched I was psyched to start reading Crossed, but somewhere in the middle of Crossed I lost a lot of my love for this trilogy. I mean Crossed wasn’t terrible, but it definitely didn’t grab me like Matched. I was hoping that Crossed had just suffered from a little bit of middle book syndrome so I went ahead and picked up Reached. I went in with an open and I was totally hoping that Reached would redeem this trilogy. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel that Reached revived my love for this series.

***WARNING: THE FOLLOWING  CONTAINS SPOILERS!***

What I liked:

I liked that Xander found someone who appreciated him

I liked that Cassia finally found it in herself to dance and sing

I liked that Cassia, Ky and Xander all played a part in finding the cure

What I did NOT like:

I did not like that Ky and Cassia’s story was so bland…there was never a moment where I questioned whether they would end up together…I guess to me that was boring!

I did not like that Indie died

I did not like that Hunter went crazy

I did not like how the Rising ended up just being the new society

I did NOT like how the trilogy ended…Cassia and Ky standing on the stairs looking out at the city with their future still unknown….that is just too open ended and predictable for the end of a trilogy…

Overall, I was just disappointed in the end of this trilogy. It started out with such awesome possibilities and then it just tapered out after that. I mean it wasn’t terrible or anything, but it also wasn’t anything spectacular.