25.12: Pandemonium, by Lauren Oliver (2012 hardcover)

In recent posts I've complained about the fact that the romance aspect of some of the recent teen novels I'd read had become overplayed. This is particularly true in sequels, where each book seems to get more and more focused on the characters' relationships and less on the societal constructs established in the early books. I'm a long way from being the target audience of these books, but I can't help wondering why this happens. If the teen readers liked the early books enough to continue with the series, didn't this indicate that they, too, were fond of the actual premise of the book? Why sideline the exploration of dystopic societies and ethical problem solving in favor of rated-PG kissing?

I can't really complain about the trend with this sequel, as I was forewarned by the very subject matter of the first. In fact, while getting ready to write this review, I went back and read my discussion of Delirium, the book before Pandemonium, and had to laugh at this observation: "This one leaned a bit too far toward the romance end of things for my taste; I can tolerate the romance as long as the world developed behind it is interesting and compelling.  In this book, however, the romance is center stage." Over the course of the review, though, I explored a few things I really liked about the book, and I suppose that's what I responded to when I saw it available at my local bookstore. Fortunately, in this book, Lena is on her own for the first half--which flashes back and forth between her life in the Wilds, beyond the fenced-off community of the standard society, and her reintegration into that society as a secret rebel. She may be pining for her lost love, but at least she is taking action and becoming a strong person as well. And, by the time the new boy comes into the picture, there's been time for Lena to explore the novelty of a society that allows self-expression and emotion and to see how the lack thereof is affecting the regime inside the walls.

I'm really hoping that Oliver's next book in the series (The ending of Pandemonium implies that there most certainly will be one.) continues in this direction. For now I'm trying to decide what the next book's title will be, seeing as it should really end with an -ium suffix.