Requiem by Lauren Oliver (review)

The hotly anticipated conclusion to Oliver's Delirium trilogy (following Delirium, BCCB 2/11, and Pandemonium, BCCB 4/12) finds resistance fighter Lena reunited with her first love, Alex, whom she thought was dead, only to realize that battle scars and broken hearts may have made their future together impossible. After escaping the government-mandated Cure that eradicates a person's ability to love, Lena has been working for the resistance, living in the unregulated Wilds, and falling in love with Julian, a newbie to the cause. Now Alex's return complicates all that, requiring the rebels to decide what their next move is and Lena to figure out where her heart lies. Meanwhile, her best friend, Hana, has undergone the Cure but still seems strangely aware of her feelings, particularly her guilt in regards to Lena's escape. In this title, Oliver calls into question the romantic choice that Lena made in the series opener: it is one thing to run off and fight for love when it promises you starry nights and lusty sighs, but it is another thing entirely when romance leaves you emotionally gutted and threatens to collapse the rebellion into chaos. The love triangle between Lena, Alex, and Julian is dramatic, bringing so much pain for all three of them that it almost makes the case for the Cure; the focus shift to Lena's relationship with her mother, her friend, and her cousin reminds readers that romantic love is not the only type that is abolished in the Cure's quest for order. The alternating viewpoints between Lena and Hana expand the world, and Hana's experience in particular brings to light the cold, sterile place the Cure has created. The battle may be won, but the war and the fates of Lena and Hana are far from decided by the book's close—an ambiguous ending that may not satisfy all readers but certainly stays true to the book's insistence that love and relationships are messy, complicated works in progress.