Okay, to start with... I had been waiting on DELIRIUM to come out for a long time. Ever since I read the back-of-the-book description... before (I think) the cover art was even released, I KNEW this would be first on my to-be-read list of February 2011. 
 In case you haven't heard anything about the plot thus far, DELIRIUM is a dystopian YA novel about a world much like our own, except LOVE has been classified as horrible disease. It has been decided that all of the emotional, mental, and physical maladies of the past are actually symptoms of a larger cause which can really all be boiled down to LOVE. Anger? War? Anxiety? Depression? Greed? Hate? All impossible without love. 
 So, what is a society to do? Lobotomize people to "turn off" the chemical reaction that causes that which we label love? 
 Yes, that's what happens. Around the 18th birthday, young adults are effectively lobotomized and they lose the ability to contract the disease of love! (Although, it seems they lose any real emotionality or empathy or individuality at all, which gives LOVE an all-powerful role in this novel!) Once the individuals are free from the possibility of death-by-love, they are formulaically matched with both a suitable partner and a predetermined career. (Does this happen a lot in YA dystopians? lol) 
 "Regulators" police this society, making sure that no untreated teens are out beyond curfew or are otherwise engaging in any activity that may simulate or lead to the appearance of LOVE. Literature, music, and the internet are highly censored, leaving only that which evokes no emotion. Dangerous electric fences surround the towns, promising death to any who attempt to leave (or to fall in love). 
 Our heroine, Lena, is fine with this when we meet her in the opening of DELIRIUM. She has been highly indoctrinated in the ways of her government, and she's counting down the days until she will be free from LOVE. After all, her sister "caught" LOVE and had to be physically forced into her own lobotomy, and her mother was so resistant to the procedure (and actually had multiple attempts) that she actually ended up committing suiide. So, Lena is ready to rid herself of the demons of her past and begin a new, safe, unemotional life after her 18th birthday. 
 Then, of course, she meets a boy who winks at her and throws everything off balance... 
 To be completely honest, it took me a good 100 to 150 pages to get into this story. It was never bad... it was just slow for me. I know that this is the first book of a trilogy, so I'm willing to let it slide that so many things are so unexplained. I did, however, have a hard time seeing the justification for all of the militant regulation in the name of LOVE. What series of events led to this dystopian reality? Is this society justified at all in their extreme reactions? How did the citizens come to so easily believe that love is so dangerous, given that the reality doesn't seem to be all that far in the future? 
 Since there are two books remaining, I'm willing to be patient. 
 Once the novel picked up, though, it was actually a real page turner! There's a ton of action here, secrets are revealed, conflicting motives come into play, and of course there's (forbidden) romance. It's all very exciting if you're willing to suspend reality for a few hours or so. 
 I think I'd give this 4 stars. While the concept was intriguing, the characters were interesting, and the plot was great once things picked up, there were a few things that did bother me. First, it DID take a little while for things to pick up. Also, I'm personally not a fan of anything, be it books or movies, portraying animal cruelty or anything bad/sad happening to animals. So, a scene in the first quarter of the book where a family lets authorities brutally abuse a dog and leave it to die was almost enough to make me stop reading this book. I understand that this was intended to show that a society without love is emotionally and morally void as well, but it was too over-the-top to me and could easily be upsetting to sensitive readers. 
 Even with its flaws, I am looking forward to the 2nd book in the Delirium trilogy... although, I'm stumped as to where this one will go, given that the ending changed my expectations for the direction of the second book....