The Delirium Trilogy by Lauren Oliver

Now, before I begin my review, I just want to make everyone aware that this is my favourite book series of all time. I believe that Lauren Oliver is one of the most fantastic authors I have ever come across as all of the characters she has introduced me to; I have fallen in love with immediately. So, rather than a review, this instead will be a short dithyramb of why I love this series so much. Hopefully, through my enthusiasm and excitement, some of you will read this fantastic series that altered my perception on so many things. Especially love.

The main protagonist throughout all three novels is Magdalena Ella Haloway Tiddle, or Lena, a seventeen year old girl who has waited her whole life for  the cure.  This is the cure for the deadliest of all deadly things, the thing that kills you both when you have it, and when you don’t. Love.

Lena is by all means average in her own mind, she feels blessed that she will be given a pair rather than having to find someone to choose her like it was in the days before the cure. Her best friend, Hana Tate, on the other hand would have no problem finding somebody to choose her. Hana is undoubtedly beautiful, smart and friendly but she is beginning to doubt the cure and beginning to doubt the way she has always lived. Lena thinks that Hana is crazy; until she meets Alex Sheathes. This beautiful boy changes her mind about everything that she has ever known, even the cure. Risking their lives to be together, the ending to Delirium left me in tears, although I did not know that the next book would introduce me to a character that I would love even more than Alex.

In Pandemonium Lena becomes part of the resistance, fighting for the love that Alex taught her to believe in. She becomes reintegrated in the ‘Zombieland’ and plays spy for the Invalids that live in the Wilds. She is told to watch the son of the president of the DFA (Deliria Free America), Julian Fineman. Thrown together in a small, cramped jail cell, emotions blossom between Julian and Lena. They have to work together to escape their imprisonment, but as they break free from confinement, they find themselves helplessly falling for each other. Julian gives up all the morals he has ever known and been taught, to fall in love with the 5’2” ‘average’ girl that is Lena Haloway. Lena lets him love her although, there is always one name in the back of her mind. Alex.

 In the conclusion of this amazing trilogy, Lena, Julian and Alex all have to learn to get along together for the sake of the others in their group. They have to work together to survive. All of the Invalids continue to wage their battle for love and the freedom of choice, with ever-growing support, they make plans to tear down the walls of the society that imprisoned them. Meanwhile, in this novel, you also see the perspective of Lena’s old best friend, Hana Tate, who has been promised to the cunning, evil and manipulative new mayor, Fred Hargrove. Although Hana is cured, she doesn’t think the cure has worked for her completely as there are still doubts and dreams in her mind that should have been erased with the procedure.

Although the series comes to an inconclusive ending, I really admire Lauren Oliver for being brave enough to do that. I think this way, the readers can imagine how the story unfolds, and it leaves the fans space to write their own ending as it were. In my ending, Lena would end up with Julian and live happily ever after. I hope to write a fanfiction for Delirium some day, but I don’t know if I could do it justice.

In summary, I would recommend this series to anybody that enjoys romance, excitement and complex characters in their books. The Delirium Trilogy has had a massive impact on the way I look at life, and the way in which I see myself in the world. I am so lucky to be able to live free and to be able to stand up for what I believe in. Lena, Julian, Alex, Hana, Raven, Tack and Gracie will all stay with me throughout the years. I can ask no more from a series than that, an impression to last a life time. This series gets a Delirious rating from me!

Thank you, Lauren Oliver. You are an inspiration.

I love you. Remember. They cannot take it.

Happy reading!

Review by Lauren Goodfellow

Perfume by Patrick Suskind

Originally penned in German under the name Das Perfum, this classic piece of mid-eighties literature shows France for all it's fetid and reeking glory. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is a strange child, death seems to follow him wherever he may go, any time he leaves the company of someone, they seem to die a rather horrific death. You may think that this smell of death would linger around such a person, but not Grenouille, he has the best nose in Paris, possibly even in the world, but he himself has no outwards scent to the world.

In this novel, we follow Grenouille through eighteenth-century Paris, not through his visual narration, but instead through his olfactory instincts. Grenouille collects the scents and odours that he comes across, and builds them up in his mind until he can remember them so clearly he can concoct the most wonderful perfumes ever created just using his imagination. All Grenouille wants to do is create the physical embodiment of these perfumes, and no fatal illness or fatigue will stop him.

What is quite a simple idea, a boy with a fantastic sense of smell, turns into something so exciting. Slightly twisted, but completely clever, this novel will certainly entertain even the stranger parts of your fancy. Throughout the novel, there are twists and shocks and reveals that you would have never expected. There is never a peaceful moment in Jean-Baptiste's life until the very end.

If you want to try something different, I would definitely recommend this book. Although, you may find it a little too strange for your liking.

I would give this novel an Original rating, as I believe it is completely different to anything I have ever read.

Thank you to Miss. Hall for giving me this book to enjoy.

Happy Reading!

Reviewed by Lauren Goodfellow