Pandemonium (2012)

Finally continuing the Delirium trilogy.  Book two shakes up the narrative, fleshing out hitherto-unseen parts of its world and taking Lena farther into discovering herself, her feelings, and how she fits into society.  In order to give even a basic premise, I have to spoil some major events from the first book, so be warned.  Some spoilers for this one, too – it’s just that kind of story.

In my Delirium review, I mentioned that this series is less action-heavy than some other popular YA dystopian series out there.  That’s still essentially true here, even though Pandemonium ups the action quotient from book one.  Lena, having narrowly escaped the established city borders at the cost of Alex, the boy she was escaping for, makes her way into the Wilds, the home of the uncured “invalids.”  She meets a whole new cast of people who’ve fought, run, and sacrificed for the right to feel love, and through them, she takes her first steps toward larger goals.

Don’t get me wrong – being able to feel love is obviously a huge thing, and Lena gave up the only life she knew in order to keep it, but it’s also a very intimate, personal thing.  It’s about her.  Her feelings, her body, her life.  The uncureds introduce Lena to the resistance, those seeking to overthrow the destructive government that makes citizens cut out parts of themselves.  The fight against the propaganda of the deliria begins in the self, but if it stays there, it will forever occur piecemeal, person by person.  The only way for the uncureds to bring about real change is to organize and attempt to shake up the status quo.

So that’s what Lena starts to involve herself in.  The narrative is split between her arrival in the Wilds and her work with the resistance, jumping between the two every other chapter.  It’s less guns-blazing and more infiltration/information-gathering, a nuts-and-bolts underground movement which, again, makes a nice change for a story of this kind.  And even as Lena becomes stronger, harder, more physically capable, I like that she’s still not an important figure within the resistance.  She’s integral, but she’s a cog in a machine much larger than her.  She’s not a savior or a rebel leader; rather, she’s simply one person’s story of waking to love and gradually discovering that her society’s way of life cannot justly go on. 

I also find it interesting that Alex is shot at the end of the first book.  Because dissidence here is all about love, resisters are very tied to other people, and to have Lena’s love torn away from her right as she’s irrevocably breaking from society is a bold move.  Obviously, it starts her off heartbroken, but beyond that, it changes the focus from giving everything up for love to giving it up for the right to feel love, and which I like.  Even without the boy she loves, the cause is still worth fighting for, and even if it were possible for Lena to go back to her old life, she knows she couldn’t abide it.  Similarly, I’m intrigued that she starts edging toward a new romance in this book.  Julian, the poster boy for the Deliria-Free America movement who’s not as far above reproach as people think, is ripe for teen romance drama.  I mean, she’s a rebel against everything he stands for, they’re thrown together into a dangerous situation, he’s increasingly spellbound by her world?  It’s practically a dystopian Romeo and Juliet (the star-crossed lovers bit, not the mutual suicide bit.)  Furthermore, it avoids the typical “first love = soulmate” idea that’s popular with teens, and it also shows that, having loved deeply and lost brutally, it’s possible to love again.  I like that.  Unfortunately, the last word of the book makes me worry that that’s not where the story’s ultimately going with it.  Fingers crossed, but it doesn’t look great.