Book Review…. Fallen by Lauren Kate

Fallen

By: Lauren Kate
Series: Fallen Book 1
Publisher: Delcorte Press, Dec. 2009
Pages: 452, Hardcover
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fallen Angels, Dark Fantasy

First Line:

Around midnight, her eyes at last took shape.

Why the Mad Scientist Read this Book:

I am so horrible but I admit I picked up this book purely because of Cover Lust… Nephilim themed read for Morbid Romantica Challenge. Swapped for it months ago, unsure of details now.

Concoction of a Review:
     I'm going to start off this review with the most positive thing I can say about the book. The cover is simply darling. *swoon* Gothic meets dark & twisted! I do believe the person who designed this cover really created a beautiful piece of work. The Mad Scientist is in love with the fact that I can go wild with facial images for Luce. Thanks for keeping her face hidden.

     Lauren Kate's first in the Fallen series did not thrill the Mad Scientist into becoming a fan by any means. I found the writing to be ok and the plot to also be just ok with nothing stand outish for me to latch onto. Many scenes were drawn out and repetitive which made about the first half of the book to be quite boring for me... until I found myself at page 182. Finally, some words that pulled me out of my must keep reading coma. Now I hope the story can move forward!

     All he was doing was shaking the water from his wet head, but a glare if droplets seemed to hover over him, outside him, defying gravity in a wide span across his arms.
The way the water shimmered in the sunlight, it almost looked like he had wings.
Page 182

     Lucinda Price (AKA Luce) gets dropped off at Sword & Cross by her parents, at less than traditional boarding school located in Savannah, Georgia. After getting to know Luce, I found out that her protagonist character is even more annoying than Bella Swan from Twilight. If I was her parents I would drop her off too! Things seem bleak for her here. She tries to get herself settled among the other students and appear normal. Luce meets some interesting people while she is at Sword & Cross. I loved Arriane's character because she was a bit out there. It is always fun when you find a character that is NOT one dimensional.

     Not only does Luce see shadows but she is internally battling with herself over her possible involvement of a mysterious death of a classmate/boyfriend. This I could understand but almost as soon as she walked into Sword & Cross she was swooning over two fellows. How badly could she feel bad about the loss of her old boyfriend? Magically, healed and ready for more action, it was seriously creepy how she was able to move on... Does she have no heart?

     Her heart or lack thereof did help the story move. The love triangle was the most interesting part of the story. Daniel, Cam. Cam, Daniel. Now it would not be fair to you if I elaborated on their differences or let you know which one happens to be the one. But it is indeed intriguing. Just not nearly enough to have to book be what the Mad Scientist would consider good reading.

     Perhaps, part of the problem lays in the book I read beforehand, Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. Her book probably made the Mad Scientist like this book less than if I would have read it first. Either way it should not take 1/3 of the book to finally aim in the direction of going somewhere. The book was defiantly missing a whole lot for me. I really hope that Kate can provide more plot and dynamics to her characters in Torment. Character development would be the key for me, I just want to see more from Luce.

Rating: 2

Overall, this was not my cup of tea!  There was no sugar, lemon, or milk.  Where was the crumpet?

I realize that I'm an odd ball on this book.  I find that most have enjoyed it.  

What do you think?

Well, I'm off to my first class of the semester.  Before I'm late.

*grin*

Take care.