Fallen (Fallen #1)by Lauren Kate
What is it about:
There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.
Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.
Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce–and goes out of his way to make that very clear–she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.
What did I think about it:
Warning: this review is a bit ranty.
This could have been a nice read.
I enjoyed the writing, the story and the characters, even though it's another one of those books where I was left wondering why immortal beings who've lived for hundreds of years would go to school of all things. I mean: they might look like teenagers, but they're not teenagers, so why go back to school?
But I've learned by now to not let a story be spoiled by little things like that, so I ignored that inconsistency and even though the story was a bit predictable, I lost myself in the teenage squabbles, the teenage drama and even the love triangle.
And then... near the end of the book there was this one remark, this one revelation, that ruined the entire book for me.
I can't even go into it, because it would include some huge spoilers, but let me just say that it has to do with certain world views and that it enraged me and made sure I will not read another book in this series.
I'm pretty sure the author probably didn't mean to insult me as a reader and most probably didn't think about how this part of the story could come across to some readers. I will even state it might be just me who takes offence, but it left me feeling angry and annoyed. A shame as up until that one event I was enjoying the story.
Why should you read it:
It's (mostly) a nice paranormal YA read
9 comments:
I had that happen with a different book. Good writing, good characters - fairly enjoyable until near the end when the worldview ticked me off. Sorry it happened to you, too.
I haven't read this one, but I'm sorry that thing ruined it for you :( I'm now actually intrigued what that is.
Thanks :-)
Ugh..well I for one HATED Fallen. After all the hype, praise, excitement I was curious and after I went through such length and got myself a copy excited to discover it I found the writing flat, the characters cliché and not well developed, so I didn't find anything redeeming about this book other than its eye-catching cover, the only good things about it IMO. So now I'm curious what statement irritated you, can you share via a private e-mail?
+JMJ+
I was a little surprised to see this review, Sully. Two years ago, when you read my own (equally ranty) review of Fallen, you said you'd stay away from it! =P Who changed your mind? (And more importantly, how are you going to kill him? LOL!)
The immortal-beings-pretending-to-be-teenagers-in-school trope kind of makes sense here, because it's their "front" for meeting Luce. (And the universe begins and ends with Luce, apparently. =P) If they go there years in advance, that's like "Sleeper" spies infiltrating an enemy country and living there as ordinary citizens for years in advance. So I could suspend disbelief there, especially given Luce's significance in their world. What really got me, though, was the same trope in Twilight. Those vampires simply had NO REASON to keep going back to high school. I'm seriously stunned that they were willing to put up with it after the third or fourth time. If they have to pretend, then they can pretend to homeschool!
End of ranty comment. ;-) Don't these books just get us going??? LOL!
to be honest: I was away from home, hadn't brought a book and could pick either Fallen or Mockinjay at the bookstore.
I clearly picked the wrong book :-p
I would love to win Afterlife! Actually I haven't read either, so I wouldn't care. Either one is good.
I didn't like Fallen because it's formulaic and practically a carbon copy of Twilight. I'm sure you won't miss anything by not reading the rest of the series. I bought the first two books in the series at a signing for Lauren Kate largely because of the cover appeal and it seemed like a good read. Now I can't really bring myself to read the second book.
Sorry you got burned that much. But like Stella, you made me curious. Although I am not a YA reader at all.
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