Review: No surprises, still beautiful writing, possibly merely a vehicle for a sneak peak into the final installment of Delirium
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 26, 2012
Annabel is another installment in the Delirium series. The last novella in the series was Hana, looking at Delirium from Hana's point of view. I will say that Annabel is better than that novella, but Oliver's strength lies in the full length novel, not the short story.Annabel takes place before Delirium, and focuses on Lena's mother and what happened before, how she was imprisoned. We get to see how she met her husband, how she dealt with other people's cures, how she broke away. Like Hana, there aren't that many surprises, we know a lot of these events or can imagine easily that this is what happened. The one thing we gain is Annabel's perspective, which seems completely self absorbed. I wonder that's the education we are supposed to get out of this novella-- that love is completely selfish.The writing is again beautiful, but seems to be a bit more clumsy than Oliver's usual work. This novella ends abruptly, and suddenly (possibly unfortunately for this novella), we get just as long as a section of the final installment of the Delirium series, Requiem. The beginning chapters are much more polished than we get in Annabel and the stark difference is immediately noticeable. I can't help but think that this short story (it really isn't long enough to be considered a true novella), is merely a vehicle for giving us a sneak peak into Requiem.Overall, again, I believe that the short story/novella is not Oliver's forte. That said, she still remains one of my favorite YA authors for her elegant writing style and her terrific books.