Delirium (Delirium, #1) in Fans of Angelfall

Oct 26, 2010 Stacia (the 2010 club) rated it liked it

Shelves: dystopia-or-apocalyptic, science-fiction, young-adult

3.5 stars. If I really want to be fair, I should probably go a full 4 stars because I liked the story. In fact, I think this book was executed so much better than Matched, Wither and Uglies were (bringing up these three over other dystopia books because they all have similar plot points somewhere that parallel this book).

In fact, I will even give the fast, hard, and all-consuming love a major pass because I think in this particular instance, to love would be to rebel and it's in our nature to be ...more

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Jul 05, 2011 Lizzie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya-fiction, romance, dystopian, in-a-series, summer-11

Wow. Okay. So.

Delirium. I don't really know how to put Delirium into words; I suppose I should start by saying that when I heard about this book (I stay more up to date with paranormal YA releases than dystopian, so it took me a while to find this one) I was really looking forward to it. Much the same I was with Ally Condie's Matched, actually. And the books are very similar in some ways; they both involved being Matched to a partner - essentially, your future husband/wife is chosen for you by Wow. Okay. So.

Delirium. I don't really know how to put Delirium into words; I suppose I should start by saying that when I heard about this book (I stay more up to date with paranormal YA releases than dystopian, so it took me a while to find this one) I was really looking forward to it. Much the same I was with Ally Condie's Matched, actually. And the books are very similar in some ways; they both involved being Matched to a partner - essentially, your future husband/wife is chosen for you by higher powers. Not in the Godly sense; in the 'we're-adults-and-we-know-what's-best-for-you' sense. I'll go ahead and admit right now that I have always been fiercely in love with love, which is probably why I enjoy these kind of books so much; they entwine love with the anger and passion of dystopian fiction, fiction that screams at you from it's very pages to change, to warn you of what the world we know could become. The books were also similar because the lead female characters went from agreeing with their oppressors - they were raised to do so - and then they fall in love, causing them to rebel. They just seem like similar stories in my head, but while they both have awful things in them - in Cassia's world you literally have no choices at all, while in Lena's, love is just simply wiped from your brain - they are both about preserving love and saving it.

Delirium, then. As I read more of the book, I'm not sure why, but my mind was almost not 100% there. I don't feel like I connected with it as much as I have some other dystopian fiction and I read it over a couple of days instead of all in one go. That disappointed me a little, because I firmly believe that dystopian fiction should rile you, make you furious; after all, it is the readers entire world being changed, ripped away from them - in the pages of a book, maybe, but do we not read to live our lives as someone else, for a breath in time?

However, it really hit me, how awful this world was when Lena was captured outside 37 Brooks. When she was attacked by a large group of men brandishing bats and guns and dogs. When she was knocked cold, for experiencing the most beautiful thing on earth. Part of being a teenager is surely falling love, the rush and the excitement and the freedom, for the first time in your life experiencing something bigger than yourself. I felt myself burning, raging with anger. I physically wanted to punch something. I felt such an anger towards those men, I wanted to hit them and hurt them and I wanted to shake some sense into the whole damn system. I cannot understand how anyone could believe that removing love could be something positive. Love is the root of everything and you wouldn't just lose romantic love; the love for your family, your favourite things, your memories, all the little things that make life worth living. I agree with Lena. I would rather die than live that passive existence.

And then, oh God, then - the ending. I knew that Alex wouldn't escape. I thought he planned it, to not escape and maybe he did. I admit that I cried, which is out of the ordinary for me because I usually take longer to get invested in a character, in a story. I don't know how Alex can survive this. The part of the text where Lena talked about sacrifice as she looked into his eyes through the fence broke my heart. There are some wonderful quotes in this book, which is another thing about dystopian fiction that I love.

I read the summary for Pandemonium and I'm a little confused ~~(furious)~~ "could Lena be falling love again?. I am not okay with this. Alex sacrifices himself for her and she falls in love with someone else? There are so many questions left open at the end of Delirium that I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book, but not if Lena is going to meet someone new and forget about Alex. She has to go back and find him.

As a character, I felt I connected to Lena more than any other character I've read about. Personally, I feel we are very similar in a lot of ways and I liked her and the way she went about things, because of that. I'm looking forward to seeing her as a warrior in the future.

He is looking at me through the smoke, across the fence. He never takes his eyes off me. His hair is a crown of leaves, of thorns, of flames. His eyes are blazing with light, more light than all the lights in every city in the whole world, more light than we could ever invent if we had ten thousand billion years.

...more

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Sep 17, 2012 Meghan rated it liked it

3.5 /4 stars

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Apr 23, 2012 Dandelion rated it it was ok

Shelves: unable-to-finish

don't understand the hype about it ~ "love is a disease" is an interesting plot but no convincing elaboration found in the book ~ actually i could only finish half and won't be able to continue... if it is the same story about a teenage trying to overthrow a dictating government, then i will recommend people to read the Uglies trilogy or something that will make you think like the Giver. ...more

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