Delirium - Lauren Oliver

Title: Delirium

Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 480

Genre: YA, Dystopian, Romance

Rating: 5 stars

When first starting this book, I found it to be extremely slow moving and just dragging on. But once I got towards the middle I was just sucked into the story completely. I was seriously loving this book..up until the last few pages. Although I don't agree with the ending, it was far from boring and was a good twist to the story line. The concept of this story was also very original to me because lately there are so many dystopian themed novels/series, it's easy for a book to get lost in the fray.  

The main character Lena, lives in a society where love is considered a disease. After everyone's 18th birthday, the government makes them undergo "the procedure" which extracts the part of the brain that allows a person to feel love. When first starting this book, I just assumed they weren't able to feel love love, like marriage/relationship love. BUt they aren't able to feel any type of love, not for their families, friends, pets..nobody.

Lena, obviously falls in love, you knew it was going to happen or there wouldn't be a story. But the way she evolves throughout the story really pulls you in. She starts out as completely for the procedure, literally counting down the days until her procedure date. But then she meets Alex, an "invalid" or uncured, who was just as sweet as can be and starts to question everything she's ever been taught. THe development of their relationship is really captivating as well.

I really loved the variety of characters throughout the story, also. Usually you just get to know one or two main characters and the rest are just background noise and there to further the main characters story line(s). But the other characters in Delirium really have their own stand alone stories. Such as Lena's detached, sometimes cold and extremely pro-cure aunt. Also, Lena's best friend Hana, who begins to question the cure too but in different methods than Lena.

What also hooked me was the fact that Oliver doesn't always go for the happy ending like most novel/series do. I found this be clever and risky because of the uproar it could of caused with readers. This was her way of sucking the readers in and guaranteeing that they'll come back to find out what happens next. I really loved this book, I find the idea to be original and just really intriguing.