Requiem by Lauren Oliver Review

"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."

I remember Delirium and its sequel. I read that book two years ago, so it's easy to say I practically remember nothing of this series. Thanks to a quick summary from Epic Reads, I kind of caught up. Sort of, I guess, but not really. I still don't remember the details except that there's a Resistance and a love triangle involving Alex, Lena, and Julian.

Requiem came a out last year? Or the year before? Honestly, I can't remember anything about (and partially because I hated how the love triangle was front and center; also the books themselves were annoying to me) this series. The only thing of interest is who Lena ends up with, either herself (Kelly Clarkson style) or Alex or Julian. I could had simply looked at the end, but instead I read the entire book to see why Lena choose __________,

The ending says to "Take down the walls." Or something like that. The message of the series didn't stick too well with me, but I didn't really care. Delirium is an annoying speck of dust among my library of books. (It's nowhere near the center of my heart, I will admit). I'm just saying this because I'm telling you how biased I am already.

Requiem is sort of exciting, told from two girls named Lena and Hana. Truth be told, I liked Hana's POV better than Lena. Lena is fretting over her love life and the resistance while Hana is actually going behind her husband's back and doing awesome. Hana's the one digging up the dirty secrets of the psychopath while receiving death threats. Isn't that amazing? Well, sort of. But it's kind of creepy when Hana was about to *draws a line across my throat with my finger* Lena. I kid you not, but she almost did. 

Hana v. Lena. Well, if I'm the judge, I would vote for Hana. Like what I said in the previous paragraph, Hana was better but Lena learned more. ("Take down the walls." That was Lena's lesson to the readers. Hana, eh...I'm not sure what's she trying to teach us, but Lena's message was obvious). Lena is braver and deadlier, but Hana is more compassionate. Hmm...I think I need to analyze this book a little more, but I believe Hana is the nicer one despite her betrayal and her sorrow over her betrayal. 

Lena's choice. Did I just read that? Oh, well. Alex v. Julian. Alex is better suited for Lena because he was her first and also her favorite. Julian? Eh...he was Alex's replacement. Nothing of him could compare to Alex. It was always Alex from beginning to end. 

Rating: Three out of Five