Delirium

Fans of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies (forced operations on teens; scary government control tactics) or The Hunger Games (scary government ruling a new America with an iron fist--although no arena games) will surely like Delirium by Lauren Oliver. I started this a few days ago and am racing through, despite that it's 440 pages.

I first discovered Lauren Oliver's work when I read When I Fall, which I blogged here some ways back, giving it a high recommendation. I can do the same for Delirium. Lauren Oliver's writing just pulls you in. Very different from her first novel, this one sets our female main character in a future and very changed America. An America whose borders are closed. An America that requires all of its citizens to have an operation at age 18--brain surgery that protects the patient from the most feared disease of their age, amor deliria nervosa. We know that as "love." Yup, in this future love has been not only outlawed but labeled as a fatal disease. But of course there's more to the story than the sheep-like citizens are being told. Isn't there always? And as our main character counts down the days until her operation, she begins to question the very foundation of her society, especially after she meets an intriguing boy. Is she falling prey to disease, or are these feelings real?

I say, "Read it!"