Lauren Oliver’s riveting, original digital story set in the world of her New York Times bestseller Delirium.
The summer before they’re supposed to be cured of the ability to love, best friends Lena and Hana begin to drift apart. While Lena shies away from underground music and parties with boys, Hana jumps at her last chance to experience the forbidden. For her, the summer is full of wild music, dancing—and even her first kiss. But on the surface, Hana must be a model of perfect behavior. She meets her approved match, Fred Hargrove, and glimpses the safe, comfortable life she’ll have with him once they marry. As the date for her cure draws ever closer, Hana desperately misses Lena, wonders how it feels to truly be in love, and is simultaneously terrified of rebelling and of falling into line. In this digital story that will appeal to fans of Delirium and welcome new admirers to its world, readers will come to understand scenes from Delirium through Hana’s perspective. Hana is a touching and revealing look at a life-changing and tumultuous summer
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.Note: For my Short ‘n Sweet Week reviews I’m going to cover three short ‘n’ sweet pieces from series that I absolutely love. They are all extra content or “bridge” works that connect the dots between stories. With extra content there is a wide range to the level of necessity of the piece to the series as a whole. For each review I’ll post a “level of necessity” rating at the bottom of my review.
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Sigh…Hana. After I read Delirium this summer, I had mixed feelings about Lena’s best friend Hana. I didn’t know what to think about her. Part of me wanted to trust her and feel sorry for her mixed up, socially brainwashed self and the other part of me wanted to tell Lena to run far away and stop telling her so much. I was conflicted by her and that’s not always a bad thing. It’s not always a good thing either. =) But alas, before I give away too much…
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What I liked: Getting a better idea of who Hana is as a character. Her thoughts, motivations, etc. I loved getting a chance to really feel what her character was going through. Her character development and the arc that Lauren Oliver takes her down was definitely what I suspected but still effectively and surprisingly delivered. It fit right in with the story and world that had already been created. I loved the way Oliver played out the events to lead Hana to the conclusions she came to. Everything fit together so beautifully, making it a great bridge to Pandemonium.
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What I didn’t like No…that’s not’s right…What I wish was different: I wish there was more. I could have read Hana’s perspective for several hundred pages and there were a couple of things I still have questions about with regards to Hana’s actions during the first book. I wish I knew what she was thinking through those situations. Perhaps that will be revealed in Requiem so I suppose I shall just have to be patient.
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Though very intriguing and I loved what Lauren Oliver did with Hana’s story, Hana is not essential to the series as I believe most of what is revealed in this novella will be revealed more fully in Requiem. It is however, enlightening fun and does give you a little bit of a glimpse into Hana’s mind and her motives for certain things, which I loved! So, while it does add to the story, it would not take away from the story, in my opinion, if you didn’t read this novella along with the main novels. I may be proven wrong when Requiem is released however. 😉
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Level of Necessity: 5 out of 10
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Author: Lauren Oliver
Title:Hana
Series: Delirium, Book #1.5
Published: February 28th 2012 by HarperCollins
Format: Ebook, 64 pages
Website: www.laurenoliverbooks.com
Source: Purchased
My rating: 
Happy Reading!
I LOVE this series and cannot wait for Requiem~<3 I never really thought about reading Hana, although I did like her in Delirium, maybe I'll rethink that because I didn't realize it was as short as it is and I like little glimpses into what we didn't see. Love these short reads reviews!
Thanks Misha! You should totally read it. 😉 It’s…intriguing for sure!
This story was way too short. I felt like Lauren Oliver was rushed when writing this so it didn’t come out as amazing as Delirium did. Still it was a fun short story in Hana’s perspective. The ending of it though broke my heart. I desperately need to read Requiem before I explode.
I know, right. I need Requiem so badly…I just want to cry every time I think about Pandemonium! Every. Single. Time!
I read Hana recently, too, and I absolutely agree! I loved getting to see things from her perspective and it helped me understand her a lot better. And yeah, I could have read a lot more about Hana, too.
Definitely! I’m so glad Requiem will be from Hana and Lena’s perspectives. =)
I read Delirium the other day. I wasn’t a fan of it but I did love Hana. I’d love to know more about her. She was my favourite character from Delirium.
Thanks for the review! Glad it is good =)
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Well, I’ll be interested to hear what you think of this little novella. 😉
I am really excited to see Hana in the final book. I am so curious about whether she went through with the procedure. I must say that I am so furious with her. I can’t believe what she did. Great review!
=) agreed.