Many readers of The Indiependent will have picked up a copy of Delirium by Lauren Oliver when it received a positive review. Oliver introduces a world where love is considered a disease; those infected are condemned as invalids, liable to contaminate anyone. As a result, people are subjected to the ominous ‘cure’ in their eighteenth year: a lobotomy which leaves them devoid of strong emotions. Delirium opens the door, but Pandemonium allows the reader to delve into this dystopian future headfirst.
Pandemonium finds the protagonist and victim of the deadly amor deliria nervosa, Lena, fleeing from her regulated life in Portland and into the unrestricted ‘Wilds’, home to other invalids. Nursed back from the brink of death, Lena finds herself in a homestead with other ‘zombieland’ escapees. However, she struggles to acclimate to the price of freedom; hardships previously unbeknownst to her, such as sickness and hunger, are routine ailments in The Wilds. Following years of indoctrination, Lena also struggles to adapt to the broad expanse of emotional freedom before her. With her lover presumed dead, freedom to love unconditionally does not taste as sweet as Lena had once envisaged.
This sequel is more ambitious than Delirium in that Lena’s narrative cuts between ‘then’ and ‘now’. The chapters ‘then’ follow Lena’s life in The Wilds guided by new characters Raven and Tack, whereas ‘now’ a hardened Lena goes undercover in New York City, tracking an active ‘Deliria Free America’ leader, Julian Fineman. While this structure is initially disconcerting, both storylines become increasingly engaging as the plot progresses. Using a dual narrative tells Lena’s story succinctly, while ensuring that the lulls in action ‘then’ are quickly made up for in the following chapter.
In this novel, Oliver also introduces the concept of a wider resistance to the long-established state control over human emotions. Despite elements of this being faintly reminiscent of The Hunger Games trilogy, such as questioning who the real enemy is (alongside a predictable love triangle), the startling premise of the Delirium trilogy ensures that Pandemonium is hauntingly original. In a society where love is so integral to our individual and collective wellbeing, the concept of life devoid of all emotion but fear is unforgettable. In fact, the thought of a world where personality can be severed by a surgical knife, leaving mere shells of consciousness behind, is quite terrifying.
Character development in Pandemonium is extensive and impressive. While I struggled to warm to Alex’s character in Delirium (as his description didn’t extend beyond the colour of his hair), the object of Lena’s desire in Pandemonium is explored in depth. Roles are reversed as Lena becomes the wayward uncured leading a vulnerable member of the opposite sex astray. The development of the protagonist herself is most notable, however. Free of society’s panoptic surveillance at last, Oliver allows Lena to explore love and hate in equal measure.
With excellent writing, a surefooted plot, and a climactic cliffhanger, the second installment of this captivating trilogy leaves the reader instantly craving the finale.
Words by Rose Wolfe-Emery