Requiem (Delirium #3) by Lauren Oliver

Description from Goodreads:

The final instalment in the internationally bestselling Delirium trilogy.

It is the rule of the Wilds:
You must be bigger, and stronger, and tougher.
A coldness radiates through me, a solid wall that is growing, piece by piece, in my chest. He doesn't love me?
He never loved me.
It was all a lie.

'The old Lena is dead', I say, and then push past him. Each step is more difficult than the last; the heaviness fills me and turns my limbs to stone.

You must hurt, or be hurt.

Lena can build the walls, but what if there's no one left to take them down? The powerful, heartbreaking conclusion to one of the most eagerly awaited, talked-about series is here.

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Finally finished with the series! What a ride it was. I'm really glad I found this trilogy, even though it took me a little bit of time to finish it from cover to cover. Delirium and Pandemonium definitely are my favourites, but Requiem is my least favourite. I did like the third book, but there were somethings that didn't really please me too much and the book as a whole was some what anti-climatic. However, I did find myself enjoying the book and it I think Requiem was reasonably okay ending to the trilogy, even though I was hoping that it would end up with a bang.

Requiem is told from two different perspective: from Lena and Hana's point of view. Surprisingly, I enjoyed more Hana's story than Lena's. Every chapter that was told from Hana's p.o.v kept me intrigued and wanting to know more, and I think at one point I actually counted the pages of Lena's chapters so that I would know when can I read again about Hana's life. The main reason probably for this was that Lena's chapters seemed to repeat themselves, as they were all about the revolution, survival, or the love triangle which started to feel a bit dull after a while, whereas with Hana the readers got inside information about the cured society and their plans. Also the internal struggle Hana experienced was interesting to observe and I grew to like her a lot more than previously. She experienced a really wonderful character development which completely overshadowed Lena and her story. However, one of my favourite chapters of the book was from Lena's point of view so I have to give credit for that.

I was rather bummed how the love triangle turned out to be. I can totally understand Lena being torn between two guys, but at times I became rather annoyed with the whole situation. It is rather obvious which of the guys Lena really loves and I hated seeing her playing with the other guy. I really liked both the guys as their characters are sort of silent, strong, suffering types, and even though I didn't really care for the love triangle in this particular book, I did like how I myself became really attached to both guys. I just wish there were more scenes of them in the book.

I think everyone who has read some of the reviews of Requiemmust have come across how some people were disappointed with the ending. I have to admit that at first I though "Is this really it?" as I would have liked the trilogy to end with a big (maybe a surprising?) bang, but all of it was rather predictable even though there was left a little bit of room for the reader's own interpretation. Now that I have gotten a bit of time to think about the ending, I like it more now, even though I'm still not fully satisfied with it. I understand why Oliver would have wanted to write an ending like that and I think it was rather safe way to end the trilogy.

Even though the structure was very clear and focused, Requiem lacked a bit of depth. Quite many things felt rushed to me - like she ran out of ideas. I think some of things like the love triangle and the relationship between Lena and her mother would have deserved more time and exploration. Oliver did address all the major themes presented in the trilogy, but she just scratched the surface in the third book. There was so much material to make some really touching and deep comments, for example about greed and lost. I would have liked to know more about how much Julian was affected by being thrown into the Wilds and being separated from his family. The readers never learn what he was really feeling if the indirect grunts and dark looks he had from time to time aren't counted.

I did enjoy reading this book, but I have to admit that the last 25% of the book was way better than the rest 75%. At points it felt like the book was jamming in one place but luckily Hana's p.o.v did give some relief. I do want to reread the trilogy at some point again just to get the overall picture as there were pretty long pauses between the books. Nevertheless, I really recommend the trilogy and Requiem for those who are interested to read it!

☆☆☆