Review: Raven (Delirium #2.5)

Raven (Delirium #2.5)

Lauren Oliver

Published By: Harper Collins

Publication Date: March 5, 2013

Date Read: May 19, 2020

Genre: YA - Dystopia

Source: Bought

Format: E-Book

Pages: 55

 

From Goodreads:

This captivating story set in the world of Lauren Oliver’s New York Times bestselling Delirium series focuses on Raven, the fiery leader of a rebel group in the Wilds. 

As a teenager, Raven made the split-second decision to flee across the border to the Wilds, compelled to save an abandoned newborn—a baby girl left for dead and already blue from the cold. When she and the baby are taken in by a band of rebels, Raven finds herself an outsider within a tight-knit group. The only other newcomer is an untrustworthy boy known as the Thief until he finally earns himself a new name: Tack.

Now she and Tack are inseparable, committed to each other, the fledgling rebellion, and a future together. But as they both take center stage in the fight, Raven must decide whether the dangers of the revolution are worth risking her dreams of a peaceful life with Tack.

As her story hurtles back and forth between past and present, Raven transforms from a scared girl newly arrived in the Wilds to the tough leader who helps Lena save former Deliria-Free poster boy Julian Fineman from a death sentence. Whatever the original mission may have been, Raven abides by a conviction that she believes to her core: You always return for the people you love.

By turns surprising, revelatory, and poignant, Raven’s story enriches the Delirium world and resonates with a voice that is as vulnerable as it is strong.

Note: Spoilers from Pandemonium, the second book in the Delirium series present in this review. Read on at your own risk if you haven't yet read Pandemonium.

I wasn't the biggest fan of Raven when we first met her in Pandemonium. I thought she was super harsh and a bit nuts. As we went through Pandemonium I started to like her and then was super angry at her (if you've read this series you'll know why!) and then back to liking her again. Because of this I was quite excited to read this novella and get to see things from her perspective a bit more.

Raven is essentially a back story of Raven as we see what she was like before we meet her in Pandemonium and how she got to that point. This novella made me love Raven so much. There's so much more to her that we never got to see. There's reasons behind why she is so harsh; really she's quire a softie at heart. Reading this novella made Blue's death in Pandemonium so much more heartbreaking... and it was already heartbreaking enough.

Raven was such an enjoyable novella and I'm really looking forward to seeing how her story ends in Requiem.