Actual rating: 3.5I really enjoyed this one! Buuut, reasons for why it's not a 4 star are down below. Spoilers ahead. I tried to hide them, but if you're really scared of them, don't continue on just in case.There. Must. Be. More. After convincing myself that the publishers have not ripped me off on my copy of Requiem, I'm half begrudging respect for Lauren Oliver for taking a risk in that ending, and the other half is pissed off and annoyed. Endings to a series are tricky, especially with dystopias where the author does not only have to conclude the characters' lives but also suggest the changes (or not-changes) the dystopian world is headed towards. The ending to this novel and this series was simply unsatisfying to me. I didn't fully expect that the society will be overturned as it did in The Hunger Games/Mockingjay, but I would have liked a more concrete ending of what will happen to this society where love is eliminated. I can only assume that the Resisters are going to try to take down deliria-free communities/cities, symbolized by the taking down of the wall, but we don't hear another peep about DFA and the government again only that the Resisters won in Portland, but what about a national turn in events?. :/ Notice how I'm not even mentioning the lack resolution of the love triangle?Unfortunately, Alex and Julian faded to background characters that only seemed to be in the peripheral vision. However, what I loved about Requiem was Lena and Hana's journey. Lena has changed so much since Delirium, and even from Requiem when she is more naive to the wilds and human nature. Now, she truly wants to be a part of the movement and have a chance to love. For Hana, she was conflicted over keeping up with appearances and hiding her less-cured-like emotions. While some other readers didn't really like Hana's POV, I thought it was a good edition to the story to create more suspense from the back and forth POVs, and it was interesting to see how Hana dealt with her inner conflicts of what she should do and what her heart tells her to. I wished Lena had more time to realize that Hana isn't another zombie with the cure. Another note, how awesome was Hana when she convinced Fred to stay at the house for him to blow up? Too bad we never know what happened to her in the end This novel was Alex-lacking. *pouts* This was such a huge disappointment for me, not only because I like him as a character and want him to end up with Lena, but we don't see any fuzzy heart-warming Alex-Lena moments until the end. I also hoping for more of a confrontation between them about his time in the Crypts and her relationship with Julian. I guess I'll just resort to writing fanfiction in my head for this. Also, though we all guess that Lena will end up with Alex, what's going to happen to Julian?? We'll just never know.With this series, I've always thought it had a lot of potential. I was incredibly impressed by Pandemonium with the complete change in Lena as she fights for survival and what she believes in. I see that still in Requiem, thankfully, but it still feels like it's missing something. Though most of the books I read are for pleasure, so they don't send me into a frenzy trying to analyze it, with dystopias, I've come to expect an ultimate message about/to society, which I didn't really get out of this series. Sure, love is not a disease. Okaaaay. But it's not until literally the last pages that I get the feeling that the message may just be: Don't build [the metaphorical] walls around yourself to avoid pain and passion. I'm glad to have something to hang on to now besides "love is not a disease," but I really wished that Oliver made this clearer (or at least what the message she wanted to convey if this is not it) earlier on.Last note: For those who read the spoilers, I apologize for the rambling. :')
