Review: Fallen by Lauren Kate

Fallen

by Lauren Kate

Release Date: December 8, 2009

Num Pages: 452

Links: Goodreads/Purchase

There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori. Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on the first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah. He's the one bright spot in the place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are screw-ups, and cameras watch every move. Even Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce--he goes out of his way to make that clear. But she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, Luce has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret...even if it kills her.

*synopsis copied and pasted from Goodreads.



I was kind of nervous about reading this book, since I'd heard some mixed reviews on it, and the synopsis sounded ok, not that interesting. But my library had it in stock, and the cover is really pretty, so I decided to give it a go.

    It's kind of hard to write a review on this book.  For one thing, the characters are kind of bland, as is the writing.  I didn't feel like I knew the characters at all, yet I hated Luce. She was, in a word, pathetic. I just didn't get her obsession with Daniel. Stalking is only ok to a certain point, and there's a point where it just gets weird/creepy. Luce crossed the line for me and I just couldn't take her personality for some reason. The writing doesn't connect you or engage with you in any way, it's like Lauren Kate doesn't really care about her readers that much.

   Another thing I didn't love about this book was its plot, or lack thereof.  The story didn't get going until the end of the book, which really disappointed me.  I was expecting way more action, but things were kind of slow until the end. I had an idea this book would be about angels, but nothing about angels was mentioned until the last 50 pages!!! Wait... did I miss something?!?!

   And there's the love triangle. Sometimes I don't mind love triangles; in fact they are ok, I am not a love triangle hater. But this one was just, ugh.  I didn't like either of the guys in the love triangle, which is rare for me.  In the end the love triangle kind of collapsed, so I don't even know if there is going to be a love triangle in the next book (which I probably won't read...).  Both of the guys were such douche-bags to Luce even though she semi-deserved it.  I think I like Daniel a touch better but I really don't like either Daniel OR Cam.

   I gave this book 2 stars, so I think I'm going to have to explain why it wasn't 1 star.  I think Lauren Kate did a good job putting her readers in an interesting scenario so that they would keep reading,otherwise I would have put this book down long before the end of it.  I wanted to find out what the deal was with this weird boarding school and what Luce's problem was. So I think the whole premise seemed kind of interesting. The way the author delivered it, though, not so much.  I was really torn between giving this book 2 or 3 stars, because really it wasn't that bad. I just think it could've had some things in it that would have made it a MUCH better book.  Sorry to say that this wasn't the best book I've read this month but hopefully I will have some better reads next.

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2/5 stars