And because of what she had been taught coupled with her family’s history, she is terrified of Deliria. Those who were thought to be sympathizers were executed, and those who were unable to be cured were sent to prisons. Now there are no wars, no crime, no pain, and no suffering. The towns that survived were few but made up a new nation of people who supported the mandate. When the government decided to mandate it, there was a great war and many lives were lost. In this future, scientists had found a way to remove the ability to love. She has been taught her entire life that love is something to be feared. But Lena can’t wait because she is terrified of the disease. It is a treatment that is required and forced upon the unwilling. As soon as she turns eighteen, she will be allowed to have her treatment – a brain surgery that will completely remove her ability to feel love. She carefully monitors herself for any sign of Deliria – the disease that causes love. Lena Holoway is a seventeen-year-old girl who is grounded by a simple metempirical truth: love is evil.

Set not too far in the future, this series paints a gray and meaningless life with the eradication of an illegal emotion: love. Delirium is set in Portland, Maine while the second book Pandemonium, as I’ve recently discovered, begins in Rochester, New Hampshire. The best part for us is that it’s fairly local. The Delirium series by bestselling author Lauren Oliver is another extremely popular set of dystopian young adult books.

Lauren oliver delirium series