Began reading: 28.6.2017
Completed reading: 4.7.2017
Overall rating: 3 stars
Some angels are destined to fall.
Instant. Intense. Weirdly familiar...
The moment Luce looks at Daniel she knows she has never felt like this before.
Except she can't shake the feeling that she has... and with him - a boy she doesn't remember ever setting eyes on.
Will her attempt to find out why enlighten her - or destroy her?
Fallen by Lauren Kate is a fictional young adult novel that contains fantasy, paranormal and romance themes. I decided to re-read this novel after 7 years, mainly because I haven’t been reading many paranormal novels and thought, why not? Overall, I enjoyed it but there were quite a few times where I noticed that it resembled Twilight and made me want to cringe.
After a tragic accident involving the death of a friend, Luce is transferred to Sword & Cross – a school for delinquents. Upon her arrival, Luce meets a group of students who share a secret that dates back to a war in Heaven, but one student in particular holds a deeper secret. As Luce struggles with adjusting to the new school system, she meets two boys with opposing personalities and finds that she is attracted to both of them for different reasons. As Luce gets to know them, she begins to experience flashbacks that explore past lives with one specific boy. Confused, Luce tries to confront him about these visions but he refuses to tell her anything. It’s up to Luce and her friend Penn to discover what it is that Luce’s love interest is hiding. As the weeks pass, a battle between good and evil erupts and Luce realises that not everyone at her school can be trusted. As she navigates a maelstrom of chaos, she will discover just how important these new people are in Luce’s life – and just how quickly someone can betray you when driven to desperation.
The book was well-written, especially in terms of structure. The introduction, complication, resolution and conclusion were clearly defined, emphasising Kate’s proficiency in writing. The use of literary techniques were also evident, especially metaphors, similes and setting. They were beneficial for creating a detailed plot, as well as in-depth characters. I was surprised to notice how the male characters were depicted and how this was reflected in the locations that Luce chose to meet them. For example, Cam was considered the dark, bad boy and he met Luce in the cemetery, whereas Daniel appeared to be pure and met her by the lake. I really enjoyed seeing how such elements of the novel contrasted. There were also a couple of great quotes throughout the book, including:
‘People who are chronically tardy never understand the many ways in which they screw up the schedules of people who are punctual and normal’ (p. 108).
[…]being in his arms made her feel like the sea finding its shore, like a traveller returning after a long, hard, distant trip – finally returning home (p. 389).
More quotes from the book can be found here.
A range of characters is really important for a novel because it allows readers to relate to one. This novel was successful in creating a variety of characters for Luce to associate with, and they were created with interesting back-stories to heighten intrigue. The reason why I liked the diverse group of characters most was because I enjoyed seeing how they interacted with each other and the relationships that they formed. I would have liked to have learned more about some of the other characters, like Molly, but I think that Kate did a pretty good job of creating detailed characters. I’m eager to see how the characters in this book will develop in the next one!
A protagonist in ANY story must be likeable, or at least tolerant, for readers to even begin enjoying the narrative. In my experience, I’ve read books that have likeable and unlikeable protagonists, and this has affected my outlook of the story. If a protagonist is irritating, the reader is stuck with them for the rest of the book (or series, which is worse!). Unfortunately, I did not like Luce as much as I’d hoped to because she was uninspiring, clingy, dumb, foolish and inconsistent – basically, the complete opposite of a badass heroine that is usually found in young adult fiction. I found Luce to be disagreeable, with the exception for her love of the library:
A warm feeling came over Luce as she looked around the library. She’d always loved the faintly sweet musty way that only a roomful of books smelled. She took comfort in the soft occasional sound of turning pages (p. 74).
I’m really hoping that Luce’s character develops more of a backbone in the next book because I don’t know if I can stick around if she continues like this.
The theme of love is something that should worked up to as the novel progresses. This is something that didn’t happen in this book, which was disappointing. I can see why Kate tried the insta-love, but instead of making the relationship swoon-worthy, it appeared unrealistic and off-putting. I tried to accept Luce’s insta-love, but I just couldn’t – it was way too soon (pretty sure it took them two days from meeting to saying, ‘I love you’) and there was basically no romance at all, so what inspired Luce to declare her love so soon? Knowing that this insta-love has occurred has kind of put me off Luce’s relationship, but I’ll do my best to ignore it and continue on with the series.
Ok, let’s move on to something just as weird: stalking. Now, I’m not perfect – I went through my teenage years with Facebook and other forms of social media (no, Instagram wasn’t around at that time), so I admit that I cyber-stalked some of my crushes. This involved scrolling through their timeline or looking at a couple of their pictures. NOT ONCE did I cross the line by looking up their parents, grandparents or anyone besides the guy. With that out of the way, I want to ask Luce: what the hell were you thinking? Does she not once consider just how creepy she’s being by looking up Daniel’s ‘ancestors’. I understand that he was being mysterious and Luce wanted answers, but she definitely crossed the line.
One of the most disappointing things about this book was how much it resembled Twilight. This book came out a little after Twilight, and many paranormal novelists used that book as a foundation for their books, hoping to ride on Twilight’s success. I would argue that this method might have worked at the time, but reading it seven years on has put things in perspective – it’s far too cliché for my liking. When I first began reading it, I thought that there would be one or two similarities but that wasn’t the case. I’m not happy, but I’m trying to remain positive for the remaining books in the series. Hopefully, the next book will begin to branch off from the stereotypical tropes that were found in this text.
My favourite character was Penn because she was loyal, sweet, non-judgmental and easygoing. She was a true friend to Luce from the beginning, and I could relate to her more than any of the other characters. I really did try to like Luce’s character by overlooking her flaws, but I guess there were too many so I couldn’t.
I was surprised by the plot twist, despite having read the book once before. The betrayal was fairly unexpected, as I was growing on this character. I really don’t have anything negative to say about any of the characters, but I will say this: Penn deserved better.
My favourite parts of the book were Luce’s start at Sword & Cross, and when Daniel briefly told Luce about her past lives. First of all, I liked the beginning of the book because Sword & Cross sounds like an interesting place (a church converted to a gym with a pool? Hell yeah), and we were given some insight into some of the prominent characters. I enjoyed reading about Luce’s past lives because reincarnation has always fascinated me and I liked imagining Luce in different time periods, living a different life.
Recommendation time! If you like the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, The Hollow series by Jessica Verday, and the Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick, you will love this book. Also, I recommend this book to anyone who likes Fallen, the Twilight series, Lucifer tv series, The Vampire Diaries tv series, and Tuck Everlasting.
I will also be reviewing the rest of the Fallen series, including Torment, Passion, Fallen in Love, Rapture and Unforgiven. Keep an eye out for those!
Happy reading!
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