Book Review: Delirium Stories: Hana, Annabel, and Raven – Lauren Oliver

Delirium Stories: Hana, Annabel, and Raven

Originally published as digital novellas, Hana, Annabel, and Raven each center around a fascinating and complex character who adds important information to the series and gives it greater depth.

Hana is told through the perspective of Lena’s best friend, Hana Tate.  Set during the tumultuous summer before Lena and Hana are supposed to be cured, this story is poignant and revealing look at a moment when the girls’ paths diverge and their futures are altered forever.

Lena’s mother, Annabel, has always been a mystery—a ghost from Lena’s part—until now.  Her journey from teenage runaway to prisoner of the state is a taut, gripping narrative that expands the Delirium world and illuminates events—and Lena—through a new point of view.

And as the passionate, fierce leader of a rebel group in the Wilds, Raven plays and integral role in the resistance effort and comes into Lena’s life at a crucial time.  Crackling with intensity, Raven is a brilliant story told in the voice of one of the strongest and most tenacious characters in the Delirium world.

4/5 stars (really liked it)

I read this book after I finished Requiem and I don’t know if I would have felt differently about this book if I had read it before Requiem.  I had read the Hana story before but I read it again.  After events in Requiem I really like to hear about Hana and her thoughts on the cure and her friend Lena.  Lena’s mother, who we only really knew through memories Lena had was so different.  I love that we get a glimpse of her as a teenager and as a prisoner.  Raven, who we saw a lot of in Requiem shows us what it was like when she first got into the Wilds.  Although I would have loved to find out more about her.

Book Review: Requiem - Lauren Oliver

Requiem - Lauren Oliver

They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.

But we are still here.

And there are more of us everyday.

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed.  The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.

After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds.  But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven --pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids.  Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancee of the young mayor.

Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.

Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.

But we have chosen a different road.

And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.

We are even free to choose the wrong thing.

3/5 stars (liked it)

I liked the second book in the series the best.  I felt like not much really happened in this book, although I thought it was a good wrap up to the series.  I really liked how the story is told from Hana and Lena's perspective.  It was nice to see what had happened to Hana and what she is like now that she is cured.  Also what happened to Lena once Alex came back.  My book also included a short story of Alex and what happened to him when he was imprisoned in the Crypts.  Some sad deaths occurred too and glad for some reunions.  

Book Review: Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver

Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver

I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.
Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

5/5 stars (It was amazing) 

I liked this book a lot more than the first one.  The chapters are labeled "then" and "now".  In the "then" chapters you follow Lena right after she left Alex on the other side of the fence and how she adjusts to life in the Wilds.  We meet a woman named Raven and a man named Tack.  They are kind of leaders in the settlement and help Lena.  She also becomes friends with a  girl named Sarah.  Life in the Wilds is not easy and it takes Lena time to adjust.  In the "now" chapters we see her living in NY and attending school.  She is "cured" and living undercover with Raven and Tack posing as her aunt and uncle. 

It was like reading two stories in one and I was invested in both.  I would finish a chapter to only to anticipate what would happen next.  And the some things she finds out and the ending were surprises that make me want to read the next book now!