''Pandemonium'' is a 2012

dystopian A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

young adult novel written by

Lauren Oliver Lauren Oliver (born Laura Suzanne Schechter; November 8, 1982) is an American author of numerous young adult novels including ''Panic;'' the Delirium trilogy: ''Delirium (Lauren Oliver novel), Delirium'', ''Pandemonium (Lauren Oliver novel), Pa ...

and the second novel in her ''

Delirium Delirium (also known as acute confusional state) is an organically caused decline from a previous baseline of mental function that develops over a short period of time, typically hours to days. Delirium is a syndrome encompassing disturbances in ...

'' trilogy. The book was first published on February 28, 2012 through

HarperTeen HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

and follows the series' protagonist as she explores the Wilds outside the walled community she was raised in. The book was preceded by a novella entitled ''Hana'' and was succeeded by ''Requiem'', the final book in the series.

Plot

The book follows up the events of ''Delirium''. Lena is now in the Wilds alone, and the sequel begins by switching the chapters from the present "now" and the past "then" point of view of Lena until they are joined together in Chapter 13. Unfortunately for her, the Wilds are less wonderful than she thought. She becomes very weak and is found nearly dead by a group of people. She is helped her back to health by the group, which takes place as her new family. She is now free of the "cure," but she and her acquaintances decide that they must do the same for everyone else and restore society to its former state. That is easier said than done, as Lena and her group have much standing in their way. The book also follows Lena in her life while she lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

with two other characters from the Wilds: Raven and Tack. She is part of the DFA, the Deliria Free America, and during one of its rallies, she is kidnapped by other Invalids, called Scavengers, and held in captive with Julian Fineman, the leader of the youth division of the DFA. Julian is unable to receive the procedure because he has a brain tumor. With the memory of Alex's sacrifice in mind, she navigates her way out of the place with Julian. Lena slowly begins to fall in love with Julian as he begins to tell more about his abusive father, his real thoughts in the disease, and why he really joined the DFA.

Reception

Critical reception for the novel was mostly positive, with

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

and the

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

giving it starred reviews. The Independent gave a mostly positive review, stating that although Oliver is "an adept and occasionally courageous storyteller", the story was "somewhat exhausting".

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.laurenoliverbooks.com/pandemonium.php 2011 American novels American romance novels American science fiction novels American young adult novels Dystopian novels Novels set in Maine Culture of Portland, Maine First-person narrative novels HarperCollins books