Hey Now Books! Delirium (Delirium Series #1) Review
After I finished City of Lost Souls I knew I wanted to take a plunge into something YA again so I scoured Barnes and Noble to find something similar, maybe a little less supernatural and found this series. It’s the first of a trilogy (the second book Pandemonium was released earlier this year) and is about a dystopian version of the United States where love is considered to be a disease that must be cured. Bestselling Author Lauren Oliver throws us into a world similar to the one we know now, but without having the basic ability to love it’s not the same.
It’s very clear from the beginning that we are entering a world where the Government is in full control and the people are so far gone that they believe everything they say. When one is out of control they are taken and cured once more. It’s not just romantic love that is considered a disease, its the love of a mother, the love of a friend. If a mother cares that her child falls and kisses the tears away she is considered a, “sympathizer” or “invalid” as Oliver calls it in the series. I fully enjoy the little pieces she puts on top of her chapters which you have to read closely to see are skewed versions of what we know, for example a piece from the bible is sourced to be part of a history of the world. It’s clear that the forces that be have turned theology into fact and they use that and fear to control their subjects. There are others though, people that live on the outside of the boarder that live free from government sponsored raids, curfews, and lobotomies.
Our main character is Lena and through her we see the world, and what’s great about having someone like her as protagonist is that she is under the spell and she wants to be cured. Most characters are outright rebellious from the start but Lena is not. She is an emotionally scarred girl with a lot to learn, but there is something different about her. She wants to be cured because of her past, she uses it as an excuse to forget not because she actually feels love is the root of all evil. It’s very clear from the beginning Lena’s destiny is meant for something more than being a mindless drone.
The book does start off a little slow but it’s seems to be so because Oliver wants to introduce us to the world, she wants us to understand it before we get to the gritty stuff. Yes the book is very much character driven, but we are also meant to know the world around us before we see the impact that the people on the outside will make. There are clear political implications conveyed in this book, but it is a dystopian series so obvious some allusions to politics will be involved. However, once the action gets started it doesn’t stop from there and you are instantly hooked to the point where you can’t stop reading.
Despite the slow start Delirium is still haunting, Oliver creates a world where we almost get nervous for the people in it, we sympathize for those that are no longer able to feel and worry for Lena and her fate where love is cut out of you like your tonsils. I hope the next book Pandemonium keeps up with Delirium’s momentum.
