Requiem by Lauren Oliver

I finished reading Requiem by Lauren Oliver on the day of its release and I held off posting about it because I really wanted to sort my feelings out about the ending before saying anything. I am glad I waited because my initial reaction was the one Lauren Oliver wanted, according to a video she posted this week about why she chose to end the series the way she did.

Requiem picks up shortly after where Pandemonium left off. Lena is traveling with the Resistance, including Julian and Alex, trying to find a safe location to stay and also attempting to join forces with other people who want to fight back against the "zombies." (Just to be clear, these are not flesh-eating zombies. They are people who have received the cure for amor deliria nervosa--love.) The Wilds are no longer a safe zone for the uncureds, which is difficult enough to handle, but imagine being there with your supposedly-dead first love (you know, the one you never REALLY got over) and the boy you promised to stay with while your first-love was listening. That is essentially what Lena is struggling with throughout the majority of Requiem. Survival and the fallout of a "disease" she did not want to be cured of.

If you think Lena has it bad, just wait until you read the chapters from Hana's POV. (Not that you'll feel too bad for her during most of Requiem, after reading the Hana novella.) Her story focuses on her wedding preparations to Fred Hargrove, who is running for mayor after his father is killed. She is arrogant. And content with her new life and social standing. Until the car she is in almost hits one of Lena's cousins one day. Then she begins having dreams again, even though she has been cured. She slowly starts to unravel and as she does, she finds out that the man she is supposed to marry has a few secrets he's been keeping from her.

For anyone who purchases a first edition of Requiem, there is an Alex short story that explains what happened after he was shot and captured, how he escaped the Crypts, and how he eventually managed to track Lena down.

Overall, Requiem was a very interesting read. It was never boring, it kept you wanting to know how the series would end...But during the last twenty pages or so, panic sets in because you think, "There's no way Lauren Oliver can possibly wrap everything up with so few pages left!"

And that is where the controversy over Requiem comes into play. From this point on, there are SPOILERS. Turn back now if you don't want to know the ending to the Delirium series.

Unlike other dystopian series, I think it really is okay to focus on the love triangle here because Delirium is about love, at its core. About how far you are willing to go to protect the freedom to experience love. It only makes sense that after everything Lena, Alex and Julian have been through, people want to know what happens to them.

Well. You never really find out who Lena ends up with, even though it is heavily implied. And initially, I liked that better. For one, because even though this is a story about the freedom to love and be loved, there's still a larger story at hand and Lena still has more to fight for, so even though I just said it's okay to be invested in the love triangle, it makes sense that Lena cannot commit to anyone at the moment. And for another thing, I love Alex and Julian so much that I did not want to read about Lena having to leave one of them heartbroken. This way, I can just imagine it however I want on any given day. And that is what Lauren Oliver said she wanted to accomplish with this ending. She wanted people to be able to continue this universe in their minds and their hearts and if she had written a less ambiguous ending, it would have all been laid out for us and it really would be over. I am [mostly] okay with her reasoning, in regards to the love triangle. However...

There is no closure. Sure, the Resistance made some headway in Portland, but the entire country still believes in the cure, so what happens next? Don't you think the troops will come for them? This is where the ending falls short for me. I need to know how they plan to end the cure once and for all. I want to know who survives. And I want to know what happens to Julian regarding his disease. The series feels incomplete without some sort of outcome either way, whether the Resistance wins or the zombies win. The good thing about how Requiem ended is that if Lauren Oliver ever wanted to continue the series, she could (and I'm really hoping she will one day because I am not ready for it to be over).

All of that being said, I still think Requiem was an incredible book. Lauren Oliver has ruined my life with this series. And I mean that in the best possible way. It is beautiful and heartbreaking, and any book that can evoke such strong emotions from its readers is doing something right. It was perfect and as happy as I am to finally have read the trilogy's conclusion, I am really sad to see it end.