Delirium (Delirium Trilogy 1) [Paperback]

People used to think that Love was a good thing, a beautiful thing. That was before scientists found the cure. People didn't understand that once love or "the deliria" as the scientist renamed it, blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. That the "Deliria" takes over your life, every aspect of it until you can't function because of it, so its a bad thing, well ....the scientists say its a bad thing.....and they must be right. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena's mother had the cure over and over again until she committed suicide,her love so great for her husband that she refused to have it removed from her, but she was ill wasn't she?, she had the Deliria didn't she? but the cure is really for the best isn't it? Lena Haloway has always looked forward to the day when she'll be cured, in fact shes been counting the months and weeks that soon turn into days until her procedure. A life without love is a life without pain: it's a safe, measured, predictable, and happy, isn't it? The "Cure" is something you just have, you don't question it for fear of being declared a sympathiser. We all know what happens to sympathisers, they are taken to the Crypts and are never seen again....or worse sentenced to death.
So with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena has nothing to really worry about does she? Well she shouldn't have anything to worry about but Lena goes and does the unthinkable: She falls in love!
She falls in love with Alex the moment she see's him watching her from the observatory in the lab, on the day of her evaluation. The evaluation that is ruined because the sympathisers let a herd of cows that should be headed to the slaughterhouse into the labs. So Lena has to wait and do the evaluation all over again. The evaluation is so important because that determines your score, which in turn gives you your matches that you rank in order of preference then, the scientists collate all the information and decide who you are to be paired with. Lena was ready for all this, she was even willing and kind of looking forward to her procedure but that was before she became involved with Alex.

I will leave my synopsis there as I do not wish to let slip any spoilers. I had wanted this book as soon as it came out and loved the turquoise cover of the hardback, for some reason the paperback cover is of a girls face, I presume its supposed to be Lena. i am not so keen on this cover in fact to a certain point it kind of put me off. Anyway I bought the book in a local supermarket and decided to read it straight away, then a book came in from an author that I promised to review so I didn't get it started that day. When I started reading the book, the pace felt a little slow and I thought I wasn't going to enjoy the book, but the slow pace was necesary to show you the slow pace of the peoples life who had already had the cure. then Lena saw Alex for the first time and everything changed, Lena took risks, something she had never done before. As I said I cannot gor into great detail but Lena finds herself betrayed on more than one occasion in the book by people who she thought she could trust with her life. Help for Lena comes from an unexpected source. I loved the character of Grace who doesn't speak, everyone thinks she can't speak, but she can in fact she sometimes speaks to Lena. I think its great how little Grace is rebelling against the society by choosing not to speak. So to sum up, because I have to sum up even though i feel like I could go on forever talking about this book. So to sum up a brilliant book, that did in parts remind me of Matched by Ally Condie ~ the whole being paired up scientifically, the book also reminded me of Divergent by Veronica Roth ~ with the evaluations that have to be undertaken at a set age. As I loved both those books I loved this one too. What more can I say than go buy it and read it now!

After reading Lauren Oliver's debut YA novel Before I Fall - and loving it - I was extremely excited to find that she was bringing out a second book this year. And, to make matters even more exciting for me, the book was going to be a dystopian YA novel. As you can probably imagine, there were various happy dances, lots of childish laughter and multiple instances in which I ran around the house telling anyone who would listen.

Shortly after, I decided to have a look on NetGalley and was absolutely amazed to find that they offered a galley of Delirium for review. Yes. I was in heaven. So I requested the galley, received it, and here we are.

I started reading as soon as I could, and found that - as with Before I Fall - I just couldn't put this book down. Not that I tried that hard, mind you.

The book begins with our main protagonist, Lena, introducing us to her world. It quickly becomes known - and by quickly, I mean in the first couple of lines - that in this world, love is considered a disease and must be cured at all costs. We immediately get a feel for what this world is like, and then as Lena and her best friend Hana prepare for their evaluation we learn even more. And what an interesting world it is.

The plot takes off immediately, and doesn't stop. At no point did I find that I was forcing myself to read this book, as the non stop action and events kept me going. The characters were brilliant as well.

Lena is an interesting main character, with a complex back story thrown in. Her views on relationships and love somewhat annoyed me to begin with, but I did understand that this was the way that she had been raised. And if I had been brought up in that society, I would be hesitant to get too close to anyone as well!

Lena's best friend is a funny, bold girl named Hana. I really loved her, and although she wasn't in the book that much, each scene she was in she was pretty much the star. Until Alex came along, that is.

I won't say too much about Alex, because I don't want to give anything away, but I will say that I truly loved his character. He was cheeky, clever and also rather sneaky (you'll understand when you read it), and this made him a brilliant and attractive character.

The ending... what can I say about the ending other than it's gripping, action-packed, and left me wanting so much more due to the unexpected cliffhanger! And what a cliffhanger it was. Normally, I would be annoyed at this, but as Delirium is the first book of a trilogy, I really don't mind. I'm just so psyched to read the next book, Pandemonium, already!

There is one instance of mild language, but it's only one time, and I feel that it suited the situation. I'm not one to condone vile language, so you can trust me on this one.

I highly recommend this book to just about anyone. Those who are interested in dystopian fiction, definitely pick it up, but if you're one of those who likes a good romance, then this would also be a good book for you! Delirium definitely deserves all the hype it has been surrounded by.

I absolutely love the idea of love as a disease because I think we've all been there, haven't we? We've all had someone get under our skin and fester there feverishly like some kind of viral invader. We've all felt breathless, got a case of clammy hands and cotton-mouth. We've all had trouble sleeping, felt the lethargy, had trouble eating or focusing all because of that crazy li'l thing called love. So love as a disease? Yeah, I can buy that.

What bothered me about the book (and it's a teeny niggle because overall I liked it) was the lack of real control that the society really had over its subjects. It uses lies and fear as any Big Brother should, but there was only minor evidence that they were anything more than just a menacing bogeyman used to keep the kids in line. I found that Lena and Alex (the boy she falls in love with) got away with far too much in a society which had supposedly battened down the hatches in order to guard against the big bad wolf which is love.

Those of you who read my review of Oliver's first novel, Before I Fall, (read it here) will know that I had a problem with the protagonist of that book. Well, the same goes for Lena in Delirium. Once again I began the book despising the voice of the story. She was weak, frightened, controlled and kind of a pain in the ass! But Oliver makes you sympathise with Lena, just as she made you warm to Sam in Before I Fall. If the personal, emotional journey that characters go on is the most important part of a tale, then Oliver is damned good at spinning a yarn. In both of her books now, the character you begin the book hating, grows up, changes and learns from the conflicts thrown at them. You may not grow to love them, but you certainly grow to admire them, to sympathise with them and to cheer them on. And I like that. It's far more realistic than the overly-admirable characters of too many YA books.

Overall, Delirium is a book which justifies the current trend for dystopian fiction. It is the first part of a trilogy and. as such, ends on a painful cliffhanger which left me feeling desperate for the next installment.

I recommend this read. It is gripping and absolutely beautifully written. Oliver's writing is almost breathtaking at times and the sophistication of her prose says a lot for how much she respects her young audience.

Now to sit back, chew unattractively on my fingernails and wait for book two...