The author: Lauren Oliver
The rating: 3 stars
I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that Pandemonium was even worse than Delirium, but it certainly wasn't any better. All the failings of the original were back in full force, coupled with a few new transgressions.
The twists still were dull and predictable, although Oliver does not have Lena figure things out until chapters after it has become blatantly obvious to the reader. This contributes to Lena's downward spiral into a completely grating, intolerable heroine, although her slowness does not hold a candle to the awful romantic plot of Pandemonium. I mentioned in my review of Delirium that the Lena/Alex romance was painfully instantaneous—her entire view of the world, morality, and herself is utterly transformed in just a few days with a cute boy? Really?—but having suspended my incredulity over this unlikely instalove and accepted the fact that Lena and Alex simply had some sort of deep, pure, unfathomable love that seventeen-year-old, never-been-kissed me cannot even begin to contemplate, I found the new romance between Julian and Lena to be completely nonsensical. It hasn't been years and she is finally healing and moving on—it has been six months, for goodness sake! Unless Oliver is trying to make a commentary on the shallowness of teenage love (which is doubtful, considering how heavily her novels are leaning on the whole true-love-romance shtick), I cannot comprehend the rationale behind Julian's inclusion in the narrative other than to force our 'completely ordinary' heroine into a love triangle with two incredibly kind, funny, attractive guys. Oh, how will she ever cope?
My second gripe about the novel is that it seems to have caught the 'overly convenient' bug. Our heroes are able to guess four-digit, numeric passcodes (twice!) using rather implausible logic; on multiple occasions Lena happens to overhear exactly the piece of information she needs at exactly the right time, like when a guard just happens to mention Julian's hospital while she's eavesdropping. No mundane, unhelpful chitchat about Joe's new cocker spaniel or how Ann traded Larry for the night shift; the only thing she overhears is exactly what she needs to know. I understand the need to trim the fat and conserve plot details, but really? It all oozes of contrived.
I suppose we have time for one final complaint: Oliver's stock purple prose. If I have to read one more teen novel where the heroine describes her male love interest as smelling of 'boy,' I am going to puke. Seriously, was this descriptor in some writing seminar I missed? Is Chapter ten of Writing Teen Romance for Dummies titled Male Olfactory Attractiveness? I am finding it just a bit strangely specific.
Despite my general dislike of everything to do with this series, I've already downloaded the trilogy's final installment onto my eReader. I'm not optimistic enough to chalk Pandemonium up to Middle Novel Syndrome; I'm almost certain that my opinion of this saga won't be saved by reading Requiem, but at least there's something cathartic about a surefire chance to complain.
My second gripe about the novel is that it seems to have caught the 'overly convenient' bug. Our heroes are able to guess four-digit, numeric passcodes (twice!) using rather implausible logic; on multiple occasions Lena happens to overhear exactly the piece of information she needs at exactly the right time, like when a guard just happens to mention Julian's hospital while she's eavesdropping. No mundane, unhelpful chitchat about Joe's new cocker spaniel or how Ann traded Larry for the night shift; the only thing she overhears is exactly what she needs to know. I understand the need to trim the fat and conserve plot details, but really? It all oozes of contrived.
I suppose we have time for one final complaint: Oliver's stock purple prose. If I have to read one more teen novel where the heroine describes her male love interest as smelling of 'boy,' I am going to puke. Seriously, was this descriptor in some writing seminar I missed? Is Chapter ten of Writing Teen Romance for Dummies titled Male Olfactory Attractiveness? I am finding it just a bit strangely specific.
Despite my general dislike of everything to do with this series, I've already downloaded the trilogy's final installment onto my eReader. I'm not optimistic enough to chalk Pandemonium up to Middle Novel Syndrome; I'm almost certain that my opinion of this saga won't be saved by reading Requiem, but at least there's something cathartic about a surefire chance to complain.
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