.png)
Series: Delirium #1
Publication date: February 3rd, 2011
Pages: 480
Synopsis:
The first book in Lauren Oliver's New York Times bestselling trilogy about forbidden love, revolution, and the power to choose. Now with a brand-new cover and an exclusive-to-this-book sneak peek at her next novel for teens: the ambitious, wholly original masterwork Replica.
In an alternate United States, love has been declared a dangerous disease, and the government forces everyone who reaches eighteen to have a procedure called the Cure. Living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in Portland, Maine, Lena Haloway is very much looking forward to being cured and living a safe, predictable life. She watched love destroy her mother and isn't about to make the same mistake.
But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena meets enigmatic Alex, a boy from the Wilds who lives under the government's radar. What will happen if they do the unthinkable and fall in love?
Available at:
Review:
When I read the description of this book I had a flashback of the Pretties series by Scott Westerfeld. In Lena’s world adolescence is measured in the number of days until her 18th birthday when she can finally accept the cure and become one of the masses who will never be plagued with the heartache that befalls people in love. She thinks the most important day of her life is when she goes for the evaluation that chooses the path of her life from the moment she completes the procedure. She will have a husband chosen from her, a college handpicked for her, and the number of children dictated to her. She will have to make zero choices and live a life of blissful ignorance and a numbing lack of strong emotions.
Then she meets Alex. Her whole world gets turned upside down and the government she has known all her life starts to be questioned. She wonders whether the procedure is truly as good as everyone who has undergone it claims it to be. As her feelings for Alex grow, her faith her dystrophic society sway. How can she give up the boy she loves for a life she thought she wanted, but isn’t so sure of now?
This book was pretty much what I expected of it. There were a few surprises along the way but it was pretty predictable from the beginning. That does not, by any means, mean it was boring or made me cry any less. I am a softy when it comes to love stories and especially when there are obstacles for the couple to overcome. This is no lock of obstacles for Alex and Lena, that’s for sure.
The end of the book leaves the reader on a cliffhanger. What will become of all my favorite characters? Hana? Lena? Alex? Gracie? I can’t wait to pick up the next book and delve back into the world Oliver created for Lena and Alex.
