review - Requiem

	Requiem by: Lauren Oliver | Website | Twitter Publication Date: March 5, 2013 Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books Series: Delirium #3 Format: Hardback Page Count: 391 Genre: YA, Dystopian Get your copy: Amazon | B&N
Summary: They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past. But we are still here. And there are more of us every day. 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 fiancée 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. Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge. Summary and cover image from goodreads.
While Delirium and even Pandemonium had my complete attention, Requiem seemed to lack that same spark that initially captured me. There were some great scenes, but as a whole it was not what I was expecting. Part of this could have been to the additional POV, Hana, Lena's best friend. To all of a sudden have Hana own half the final book, left Lena's story reduced. This was most noticeable in her interactions with Julian and/or Alex, in that they were shortened to one or two paragraphs and contained the following paraphrased lines, "Julian and I are now back to normal." What? Can you explain normal? We didn't get to see any growth or real give and take in Lena's relationships. Very frustrating! The story progressed and decisions were made, but the love was just not there. It almost seemed that Lena had truly given everything to the resistance and that there were no spare emotions available to be freely given elsewhere. The story was so concerned with getting to the end that the LOVE that started this whole revolution seemed abandoned. Ironically enough, the epic conclusion and rebel resistance were the strongest parts in the final book. In the end, I was indifferent (leaning on the more accepting-side) of the conclusion and Lena's choices, but I just don't know how Lena got there.
Have you read the Delirium series? What did you think of the final book? Disappointed? Happy?