Stacia in Progress

Sorry folks, there might be some spoiler-age for the outcome of book 1 (the previous book) in this review because I have a wee bit of an incoming rant ready to go and I don't think I can hold it back. *edit* while this review only has spoilers for book 1, you may want to avoid the comments discussion below the review if you don't want book 2 spoiled."I'm scared."He barely whispers it; but I can feel his lips moving against my neck, as though the words are being spelled there."I know," I say. "Me too."alks;djfashawalskdfjsad;lkfjsal;dkjfasl;kdjfsljkdfThat, my friends, is my frustration over the *string of expletives removed* the Julian situation. Don't get me wrong, I like Julian. I like him a lot. But...but...he's NOT ALEX. Julian is an interesting character. I liked his part of the story with Lena. But...but...he's NOT ALEX. With Alex, my heart was racing; I was freaking out over them getting caught; I was in overdrive. With Julian, I was thinking, "That's right, girl. You school this clueless mofo." Did I say that I liked Julian but that he just isn't Alex? Did I?So here's a funny thing. Before reading Delirium, I wasn't completely sure how I was going to feel about another dystopia revolving around love choices. I was ready to start reading some "shit hitting the fan" books in this genre. Even with that, I still found Delirium entertaining. What ended up surprising me with Pandemonium, is that when I was given "more" of what I want in a dystopia (action/adventure/survival/rebellion), I found myself missing some of the magic of the first book. The "past" sections were just okay for me. Where this book really came together was in the "present," during the time Julian and Lena started leaning on one another.I'm not sure why I didn't mention this before, but is no one else thrown off by the fact that the "book of rules and power" for the government is called The Book of Shhh? Really? I'm thinking librarians now.If I ruled the world, my manual would be The Book of STFU and do what you're told. And our spokesperson would dress as Darth Vader.However, giving credit where credit is due, this isn't the sappiest story in the world for it being all about the lengths which people will go to for love. Sure, there were bound to be a few swoon worthy moments (although you can't get me to swoon over eyes that are an 'ocean of swirling color' - greens and golds and purples...because I'm pretty darn sure that NO ONE on earth has eyes like that) but this was no hippie love fest. People were too busy trying to survive for there to be too much checking out the opposite sex.Oh wait, but there was this one moment that gave me HORRIFIC flashbacks : in the pallid gray light he seems to glow slightly, like a statue carved out of white rock. He is beautiful. You wanna know a slightly embarrassing story about me? So yeah...I did actually watch the Twilight movies. I know, I know, let me hide my shame in here. Anyway, there was the scene in New Moon where Edward was about to take off his clothing and walk into the sun and everyone in the theater was screaming, "EWWW....PUT IT BACK ON!!!" I could not get that damn image out of my head after I read the 'carved in white rock' sentence in this book.Be glad I didn't actually go looking for that picture. Anyway, this wasn't a bad book 2. The ending actually got me to let out a little scream-yip thing. Because YES, just YES. Lena better not make me hate her in book 3. Do the right thing, Lena. Do the right thing.