Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Genre:  YA Dystopian

Delirium Trilogy, Book 3

Lauren Oliver's website

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Description (taken from Lauren Oliver's website):

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has transformed. The nascent rebellion that was underway 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 infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels.

As Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain of the Wilds, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor. Requiem is told from both Lena and Hana's points of view. They live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.

The epic conclusion to an awesome trilogy.  But this book is different.  Not only is it from two different points of view: Lena and Hana, it's center isn't about lovey-dovey love.  It's about loving something so much, you're willing to fight for it.

The number one thing that bothered me so much about this book is what really happens to a cured?  What changes them?  Because some of the cured people in this book have plenty of emotion and don't behave the way a cured person would (in my mind).  But towards the end of the book, I can kind of see the difference.  So here's what I've figured out happens to someone who is cured:

• The cure dulls emotions.
• The cure does not cure the hunger for power nor the need to be better than your neighbor.
• Once cured, your reactions to difficult situations are calmness.  These situations don't seem so difficult anymore.
• Once cured, you really don't care.  Life is just a long, dull ride.
• The cure enhances your sense of self-preservation.
• To expand on this: when your house is burning, do you save your loved ones first or yourself?  I would like to think that I would be willing to die for my husband or my loved ones.  If you're cured, it's all about saving yourself.  You don't care enough to save your pair or your kids.

This story is so bittersweet.  From Hana's point of view, we see her reminiscing about her past and trying to reconcile it with her life now as a cured.  And Lena is just fighting to survive and somehow managing to figure out this love triangle of hers.  But what I loved so much about it was the emotions.  The emotions are of this world; the reactions are true reactions.  Some parts of the book, I had to stop reading.  I had to put the book down because I felt like my heart was breaking.

And the ending doesn't really wrap things up.  We're kind of left with assumptions and guessing.  Does love prevail all?  We'd like to think so.  But what if it doesn't?  What if the cureds' power is too overwhelming?  (I don't know if I like this ending.)

Challenges:  Dystopia Reading Challenge