I didn't know that this book was part of a trilogy until I checked about a summary on the internet.. You can read independently, though. I have alsofound this hilarious summary in the internet (SPOILERS ALERT if you read it https://www.shmoop.com/delirium-book/summary.html)

Lena is just a traumatized teenager that wants to fit in society and feel safe more than anything. Her mother was a misfit who committed suicide, which is supposedly the ultimate crime in this walled world where love - and all emotions - have been forbidden and extirpated. Lena pushes herself to be a good girl to compensate for her bad genes. She is finishing high school, and she and her best friend Hana want to do things which later on will not make sense, after they get married to their pre-selected husbands.

During the oral examination before the Cure (a brain surgery) is applied, Lena's interview gets interrumpted by a bunch of cows let loose by the Invalids, people who live outside the walls of Portland in what is called the Wilds and are considered dangerous criminals (death penalty would be applied or a life sentence in the Crypts). During that incident, Alex, a young man who happens to be in the roof during the mayhem winks at Lena. She is outraged.

No surprise in Alex and Lena meeting in several places, one of them at an ilegal music party, where he also goes in spite of being supposedly Cured, as he has the three little scars that everybody gets during surgery.

Personally, I don't think it is badly written. The plot loses interest when the love story begins halfway through the book, but until then, I kept on referencing but I was reading to 1984 and Sexcrime. All emotions are supposed to disappear with this universal Cure, but if there has to be Regulators, and raids, it's because it doesn't work.

However, this book was not intended for me, but for teenagers, which are buying books and stories of a certain kind encouraged by youtube, blogs, instagram. But that is not a reason to take care of certain details: if the main character is going through an official, she should have been addressed by her full name, Magdalena, not the shorter version. I know it's nippicking, it was spelled out by the narrator. Also, she says one thing and the next second does the opposite without any explanation: she is so scared that she promises to be a good girl, and then she goes to the parties. Also, everything that Alex does would point to him remaining uncured: doesn't anybody notice?, doesn't Lena notice?

Released today.

Released today.