Delirium - Lauren Oliver

I received this book at work months and months ago, before it came out. That's one of the perks of working at a bookstore - you get Advance Reader Copies (ARCs, as they'll be known on here!). They're always uncorrected proofs, so there are occasionally typos or mistakes, and the cover is not always the final one (as it was in this case). However, it's a free book, an EARLY book, and I would never turn down something like that!

So, let's get cracking. The premise of this book was certainly an interesting one - not one I'm sure I'd ever seen done before. I would consider it to be teen science fiction; it's not paranormal, but it is certainly not your average story. Without giving too much away, here's the basic plot:

Lena lives in a world where love is a disease, and has a cure. When someone nears their 18th birthday, they have to have an interview to help them find a potential mate for the future. After this is done, as soon as their birthday happens, they go in for surgery to 'correct' the disease. People then either go to college, if they're smart enough, or go directly to their new life with their new spouse. 'Cured' people all bear a similar scar from the surgery, and go through life without ever experiencing love. Life is considerably boring for these people, but once the surgery's been done, they see their lives as happy and fulfilling.

Those who are not fixed by the surgery either die, or live in "The Wilds". The Wilds are barren, destroyed, and - according to the government - nonexistent. They are kept out of the rest of the USA by electric fences, meant to keep out both their disease and their ideas.

Lena, however, does the unthinkable right before her birthday... she falls in love with a boy from the Wilds. Hiding their romance is hard as they are constantly surveillanced, and as Lena gets to know the boy, Alex, she begins to question the surgery, her ideas, and her government.

I won't lie - it was a bit slow at the beginning. I knew from the back of the book that Lena would meet a boy, and I spent the first bit of the book waiting for it. Once it finally introduced him, the book took its time creating the romance between Lena and Alex. Once it got started, however, it was SO worth it. The book picked up and I found myself so caught up in it that I didn't sleep one night! The characters were well written, though I wish the character of Hana would have been in it a bit more; she was a main character at the beginning, but then disappeared and didn't come back until the end of the book. I guess this is what the sequels will be for, though! Alex had a fantastic personality, and I was glad to see that he had a back story and real motives, unlike many male characters.

I'm looking forward to reading the following two books in this series. I wish they were out now... I'm not sure I can wait for them! In the meantime, I think I'll pick up Oliver's previous work, Before I Fall.

SCORE: 9/10
IF YOU LIKE: Matched (Ally Condie), Gone (Michael Grant), Uglies (Scott Westerfeld)