Fallen
17-year-old Lucinda falls in love with a gorgeous, intelligent boy, Daniel, at her new school, the grim, foreboding Sword & Cross …only to find out that Daniel is a fallen angel, and that they have spent lifetimes finding and losing one another as good and evil forces plot to keep them apart. Get ready to fall…
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Review by L. Ross for Fallen
(2 / 5)
Rating:
The flurry of new fantasy teen romances in the wake of the ‘Twilight’ phenomenon is exciting and none more so than the quickly rising genre of ‘Fallen Angel’ fiction. A genuinely interesting concept: Luce is a troubled young girl who, after an accidental fire that may not have been an accident, ends up locked away in a reform school called Sword & Cross. On her very first day, overwhelmed by homesickness and her new scary and deliquent classmates, she meets the gorgeous Daniel and feels an irresistible attraction to him. But Daniel has a secret…..
And that is where this book lost me.
The two stars go to the great concept and the fact that despite being about 300 pages too long it was (for the first 3/4 at least) full of dark atmospheric moments. But it needs a severe edit (this is another symptom of the ‘Twilight’ effect – Meyer’s books were also unnecessarily bloated)- it lacks plot and the characterisation is almost entirely dependent on the supernatural rather than basic human relationships.
Which leads me to my main concern: the heroine of this book is so preoccupied with this random boy who is ceaselessly and unreasonably mean to her and, against her own better judgment, is happy to brood and fret over him and his every whim/opinion that she lacks a definition of her very own – and thus is instead entirely defined by her attraction to him (and therefore appears to lack any wit or rationality). I understood her reticence at first (after all, who wouldn’t be awkward on their first day in what is essentially a teenage prison?) but her continuing obsessions and melodrama made me go so far as to despise her. This is a weird trend in teen fiction – to have soppy heroines obsessing over nasty boys – and can surely lead nowhere good. This is a trend obviously at work in ‘Twilight’ and was also the main drawback of another ‘Fallen Angel’ fiction, ‘Hush, Hush’ by Becca Fitzpatrick, though to a lesser degree.
I can only ask: What happened to the pop culture feminist icons like Buffy and Veronica Mars that I loved as a teen? Or, more importantly, what happened to teenage girls in fiction being intelligent, fun-loving and witty? That’s the girl I wanna read!
Introspective melodramatic teens will appreciate this, but only if they are into leisurely-paced stories and are able to rise above the strange aspects of the romance at its heart.
Review by R. Wood for Fallen
(5 / 5)
Rating:
When I opted to check Fallen out, I did so believing it was going to be a straightforward dark fantasy adventure. Then I started reading it and began to cringe. I’d picked up a teenage romance novel (admittedly not my first choice of genre) or so I thought.
The one thing reading Fallen has taught me (and this should apply to all readers), it’s that one should never underestimate a book. Because it’s greatest power is always that it can surprise you. And that’s what Lauren Kate has done with her (quite frankly) enthralling read.
Fallen focuses on one Lucinda Price, a narcissist teenager with a horrific past. Lucinda has been sent off by her parents to Sword & Cross reform school. Immediately, Luce finds herself struggling to fit in with the strict regime of the school, as well as trying to find her place among all the other misfits she’s landed up with. And to cap it all off, Luce is head-over-heels in love with Daniel Grigori, a distant, cold teenager who couldn’t care less about her.
It may sound so simple, but like epics such as The Gargoyle (Andrew Davidson), The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) and The Kin (Gillian Wallace), Fallen becomes so much than its premise implies. And that’s because of how Lauren guides her story.
There is a plot to Fallen, but it doesn’t come into play until the last few chapters. The majority of the book is purely character-driven, with Kate keeping the primary focus on Luce and chronicling her struggles to adapt and survive in the harsh environment of Sword & Cross. Then the author throws the characters (one-by-one) into the mix, and before long, you witness a colourful cast germinate and interact before you.
It’s certainly a creative way of establishing all the characters before getting into the thick of things. In the long term, it’s a wise course of action as well, as the Fallen series is planned to span across four books. So if we’re going to go on a long journey, we want to get to know, love and hate all the protagonists/antagonists.
Throughout the novel, many supernatural elements are touched upon and hinted at, but it isn’t until the final chapters when the whole complexity of Fallen changes entirely. Revelations and plot twists kick in and will shock you to the core. And there’s nothing cheap about any of it, because the whole read is just wonderfully paced and builds-up to a rip-roaring climax that will leave you hungering for more.
Lauren Kate has certainly gotten her Fallen series off to a strong start. She certainly has a strong understanding of character. Time will tell if her plotting can pay off. I’m certainly intrigued to find out more after such a strong start. Highly recommended.
Review by booksyes please for Fallen
(5 / 5)
Rating:
I picked this book up yesterday as I saw the cover and LOVED IT – its dark, mysterious and beautiful – just like the story inside! I don’t want to focus on Twilight because nearly everyone compares their books to Twilight nowadays and there are loads of copycats out there, but as a fan of these types of books, I really think this book has everything Twilight offers and more (plus its about angels, not vampires!) It’s one of those books which you start reading and you can’t stop. The story begins when Luce, our main character, arrives at a new school under mysterious circumstances and meets a boy who she is drawn to and who she is sure she has met before. Lots of twists and turns later, the story gets more and more exciting as you go on, and has everything you’d want from a novel – gorgeous boys (good and bad!), a love triangle, romance, best friends, mystery, action and a great fight at the end! I can’t wait for the next one now ……….. hurry up and finish writing it please Lauren Kate!!
Review by Amymel86 for Fallen
(5 / 5)
Rating:
I devoured this book and LOVED it. I found that it kept me guessing (even after reading the final page). The characters were fun and lept off of the page only to sink themselves into your imagination. The same can be said of the setting, the very gothic Sword & Cross school. I would recomend this book to anyone who enjoys YA fiction! For me, it definately deserved the 5 stars and I cannot wait for the next book in the series!
Review by fallen angel for Fallen
(5 / 5)
Rating:
Hi. I just wanted to express my feelings about this book which I have been waiting for ages and ages for! This book is about a fallen angel and his lover girl reincarnated (Several times). the book is very enticing and it makes you not want to put it down so that I literally read it in two days!Now I’m a fast reader but man! I just couldnt put it down and I had to get to the end to only want to buy the next installment which hasent been released yet.,
Daniel is fabulous and beautiful displayed, his beauty is found amongst the words which the writer so beautifully uses and encaptures you to. I couldnt help but just love Luce, she was so innocent and ready to believe the worst in herself and her friends all around her all part of the past and present plot.,
I thoroughly enjoyed the book could read it again and again, I highly recommend it to anyone into angels and stuff, I just lovved! it! Super!
Lauren kate is a beautifully talented writer and someday I hope I can write as good as she does!