lyolyi
Written on Oct 12, 2022
What if the person you were meant to be with could never be yours? 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 & evil forces plot to keep them apart. Some angels are destined to fall...
- ISBN10 0385618026
- ISBN13 9780385618021
- Publish Date 17 December 2009 (first published 1 January 2009)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 15 May 2014
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Penguin Random House Children's UK
- Imprint Doubleday Children's Books
- Format Paperback (UK Trade)
- Pages 464
- Language English
Reviews
CrowNoYami
Written on Feb 23, 2021
This novel was a pain to get through. I had to DNF it twice while listening to the audiobook and only just got through the remainder of the book on paperback after serval days. Giving it a two-star review is generous. The main problem with this novel is the length, the only interesting parts were in the last fifty or so pages. It's over four hundred pages long. Is it worth it? You do the math.
While I am interested in knowing what Luce has that a bunch of angels want, it's not enough for me to pick up the next book in the series. Ever.
Luce herself is a boring character who becomes infatuated with a boy so much that even when he is outright rude to her she falls for it every time. She supposedly witnessed another love interest dying before her by being burnt alive only months before and now she's perfectly okay to pursuing Daniel and Cam at the same time? There are mentions of her past love having negative reactions to her present but in no way is it realistic.
Nothing about this book is realistic.
I understand that this is a fantasy book, but you don't know that for certain until the last fifty or so pages, up until then it's your basic love triangle story. And I do mean basic. There's a 'bad' boy and a 'good' boy, there's even a fight between them over Luce. 0 points for originality for four hundred pages.
My advice if you want to pick up this book? Don't.
If you're forced to read it against your will for some reason? Read the last fifty pages only. Luce is the MC, Daniel is the 'good' guy and Cam is the 'bad' guy.
I just saved you 400 pages of filler.
You're welcome
pagingserenity
Written on Dec 24, 2020
I could have sworn I’ve read this before - I even have it marked as read on Goodreads but literally, nothing about it was familiar to me. I'm not the best at remembering details about books I've read but if I did actually read this before this year, I've completely wiped the story from my mind. And after finishing it (again?) I can kind of see why.
The story and premise are interesting and at times even addicting. But Luce started to annoy after she got all boy crazy and I don't think the book ever really recovered in my eyes. After the first quarter I'd thought this would be at least a solid 4 star read but now it's sitting closer to 3 or 3.5. It was a good read, just not particularly memorable. But to be fair, it might also be a me issue and not a book/writing issue - I've been in a bit of a slump recently which often translates to me feeling meh about a book I'd rate higher any other time.
ammaarah
Written on Aug 9, 2020
Fallen was my Twilight, when I first read it nine years ago. I have fond memories associated with this book. I remember taking it to school, reading it after one of my exams, borrowing it to my friends and falling in love with the gorgeous cover.
After rereading, it seems that Fallen and A Discovery of Witches have a similar vibe, and we all know how much I love the All Souls Trilogy. Prepare yourself for a similar review...
Lucinda Price is a typical YA Mary Sue protagonist. There are some moments where I thought I could like her. Her thoughts are logical, funny and surprising at times, she shows some personality through her sarcasm and snark and a few of her character responses are believable such as her reaction to Daniel's confession about their past lives. However, for the most part she's contradictory, bland and she has obsessive and stalker-like tendencies.
The secondary characters are your typical high school stereotypes. Some characters have the potential for more interesting characterisation in future books (such as Cam, Arriane, Gabby and Roland) but in Fallen, they seem fake (which could be something that the author intended as they are fallen angels pretending to be delinquent teenagers). The only character who's a little likeable and seems to be the only voice of reason at times is Penn.
On an unrelated note, this question has always bothered me, but I found it even more bothersome while reading Fallen: why do supernatural/immortal creatures go to high school. I understand that they might want to give the experience a go at least once, but to spend your whole life going through homework, assignments and drama that you don't even need to deal with. Why though?
My main issue is the romance aspect. Luce feels an instant connection towards Daniel who ignores her, is rude to her and pushes her away. I could understand both of their viewpoints in the beginning: Luce's interest because of familiarity and Daniel being a jerk because of very good reasons. That was until they took things to the extreme. Luce ends up becoming a stalker and continues pursuing a guy who treats her like trash. Daniel still continues being a jerk, but he decides that it isn't enough and ends up becoming a confusing hot-and-cold, condescending-as-hell jerk. And to add more drama to the mix, there's Cam, a really pushy jerk, who doesn't pretend that he's not a jerk.
There's also a fast progression from interest to love that ends up feeling forced. Fallen is about doomed star-crossed lovers and I could see what the author was trying to do, but the execution isn't believable enough. I could understand the immediate connection and familiarity, but there wasn't an intense bond, growing chemistry or the sense of clicking with a complete stranger. Maybe, I would have accepted their relationship a little more if Luce knew about her past lives or if we got some sense of her past lives with Daniel and the nature of their relationship. I couldn't see any form of love in their actions or interactions. They seemed like two teenagers who are confusing lust and crushing with a forever-type of romance. I also couldn't stand their sense of ownership over each other. I could understand a little of their jealousy, but found the girl hate and the fighting unnecessary.
Fallen is romance-focused and there isn't much information about the lore or paranormal aspects. I'm hoping this gets explored more in future books. The aim of Fallen is to set up the characters, the world and the main romantic relationship and nothing much happens until the end. I loved the Gothic atmosphere and the school setting.
Fallen is cheesy, cliche and ridiculous at times, but it's the equivalent of watching a trainwreck. You just can't draw your eyes away.
teachergorman
Written on Dec 21, 2017
I recently assigned my 9th grade students to start Goodreads accounts and study reviews so they could write their own reviews of the novels they read in my class. When students friended me, they noticed that almost all my reviews are somewhere between positive and glowing. That’s not because I only read great books or love everything that I read, I explained. As an author, I sometimes run into my fellow authors, even some big name celebs, at various conferences and tradeshows, and I would feel awkward if I thought the person had read, or someday would read, a review where I trashed his/her work. I respect my fellow authors who have decided that their brutal honesty is a part of the way they build trust with their readers. I think that’s a reasonable calculation to make and an honorable position to take. I’m just too much of a people-pleaser for that, so I mostly limit my criticisms to writers who are dead. I kick them when they’re down. Way down.
I’m making an exception for Lauren Kate’s Fallen. If I ran into her at some writers’ event, I wouldn’t feel badly about this critique. In fact, I’d love to get to talk with her about it and hear her thoughts. My criticism isn’t going to hurt her sales at all. She’s done just fine, thank you very much. But as a co-publisher of an indie press, if someone presented this book to me with an absolute guarantee that it would have Ms. Kate’s sales, I would still turn it down. I found this book profoundly, disturbingly anti-feminist. Anyone considering reading this book should view it through that lens and pay close attention to the messages this novel is sending to the young women and young men who read it. I don’t want to dissuade anyone from checking it out, but please keep that framing in mind if you choose to do so.
The book is not badly written. There are some truly beautiful turns of phrase, and Lauren Kate has a great ability to give each character a unique voice. I liked most of the characters and was able to endure the obligatory extended descriptions of the love interests’ bodies. That’s not my thing, but I try not to yuck on anybody’s yum. That’s not the problem with this book.
It’s not a spoiler to reveal that this is about a young woman who has been living multiple lifetimes, always coming back to the angel who loves her. That’s in the book’s description. Romance isn’t my bailiwick, but I picked this up because my students are reading it. And that’s precisely why I feel compelled to write about it. As a teacher and a father and a feminist, and I don't think this book is good for my students or my own son. I'm not a prude. I'm not offended by the hints of sexuality. I'm bothered by the way the romance plays out. Although it's justified by the plot, the whole conceit seems designed from the first chapter to be forcing together the female protagonist, Lucinda, and one of the male love interests, Daniel, who keeps "negging" her. Though we later learn why, the fact that she is drawn to this young man who treats her so horribly is a terrible lesson for both young women and young men. None of my female students should be told that they should tolerate this kind of disdainful treatment, and none of my male students should be told that women should find it appealing. At one point Lucinda even admiringly quotes a line from Roman Holiday: "There was a man. He was so mean to me. It was wonderful." No, it’s not. This is not attractive or mysterious or alluring behavior, and it shouldn’t be framed as acceptable. Even when we learn why he’s been trying to push her away, there’s no recognition that women shouldn’t put up with crappy treatment from men. We’re told that he feels agony because he has to try to push her away. We're supposed to feel sorry for him because of his negging. What we are not told is that he feels any guilt about his treatment of her. Because his motivation is to save her by driving her away, we’re supposed to believe this absolves him of guilt for his generally cold, sometimes rude, and sometimes downright cruel treatment of her. The plot may tell us that she overcomes this because of the supernatural nature of the relationship, but we're also explicitly told that it’s because she just loves him so much. Stop and think about that. This is a romanticization of a domestic abuse victim’s mentality, that she just loves him so much that she’s drawn to him regardless of his horrible treatment of her.
I know this phenomenon is far from unique to Kate’s Fallen. It’s a variation on Pride and Prejudice and exists in a lot of other romance literature. But at least in Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth has the dignity to be offended by Mr. Darcy’s cold indifference and doesn’t come around until she learns about his truly admirable qualities. In Fallen, Lucinda loves Daniel in spite of his treatment of her long before she realizes there’s anything more to him than a pretty boy who is mean to her.
I know this is believable because it happens in the real world. I also know that part of the reason it happens in the real world is that our culture is in constant conversation with our art. Let’s stop romanticizing this behavior in our art to justify it in our world. Guys who treat girls the way Daniel treats Lucinda are not angels trying to save their eternal loves from damnation. They’re just jerks who will get more abusive with time and cultural permission. If we’ve learned anything in 2017, it’s that we need to stop making jerks into heroes and start acknowledging that too many of our heroes are just jerks.
Sarah Says
Written on Jan 9, 2017
Reading from Luce’s POV I struggled to connect with any of the characters or buy into her and Daniel’s love connection.
While I quite enjoyed that last few chapters, which were more action packed, I nearly gave up at the half way mark of this book. I read the story shorts at that point and it gave me an inside into Daniel’s side of the story, which led me to bother to read the rest of the book. Nothing really happens until later in the book when Luce, with the help of her new friend Penn, start to piece together who/what Daniel really is. Seriously so much nothing. The synopsis pretty much tells you everything that is going to happen in this book, other than an age old good Vs evil war flaring up again at the end.
Daniel’s First Sighting (Fallen Shorts 0.1) by Lauren Kate Four ‘I really liked it Stars. In this short we get to see Daniel and Luce’s meeting for the first time (in Luce’s current life time) through Daniel’s eyes. It was actually quite amusing and It made me warm to Daniel.
Daniel in L.A. (Fallen Shorts 0.4) by Lauren Kate Three ‘I liked it’ Stars. In this short we get to see what Daniel was doing with himself before he ended up at Sword & Cross.
Daniel and Gabbe’s Fight (Fallen Shorts 0.6) by Lauren Kate Three ‘I liked it’ Stars. In this short we get to find out what was really being said in the conversation between Gabbe and Daniel that Luce partly over heard in the dorm room hallway.
Fallen (Fallen #1) by Lauren Kate Two ‘It was okay’ Stars. I just didn’t connect with this story and that saddens me ’cause forbidden love is my thang’.
I enjoyed the shorts more then the actual Fallen novel. I think that maybe if Fallen had been told in duel POV with Daniel or maybe if it had just been Daniel telling it, it could have been a real winner for me. I went hunting for spoilers and read a bunch of reviews on the other books to find out how the rest of the series plays out and i’m satisfied with that. I’m not sorry I read Fallen, but I do not intend to read the rest of the series.
Vicki
Written on Dec 28, 2015
bestmessever
Written on Jan 15, 2015
cornerfolds
Written on Jan 11, 2015
This is another on a long list of books that I have put off reading for reasons unknown. The other day, while browsing my local indie bookstore, I came across a new copy of this with a bright and shiny "Soon to be a major motion picture!" sticker on the front. If there's anything that will force me to read a book immediately, that's it. I absolutely MUST read books before I see them on the big screen. Well, most of the time (that didn't really work out with The Giver or The Maze Runner). So anyway, I went straight home and got a copy of the audiobook to listen to.
Fallen is almost as dark and depressing as the cover suggests, although there are enough humorous and heartwarming moments to keep readers from throwing it across the room. The story begins when Luce is enrolled into a new boarding school for troublemakers - Sword and Cross. After several rough first encounters, she develops a couple very interesting friendships with Arriane, a slightly psychotic and pretty intense shock bracelet wearing student, and Penn, one of the only normal people Luce encounters at the school. I really enjoyed watching these two very different friendships develop. The characters were multi-faceted and well developed. I especially loved Arriane's personality! I think I would have enjoyed having someone like her by my side in high school.
Luce herself was a character I wasn't quite sure about. I didn't dislike anything in particular about her... She was nice enough, I guess. I think it was just her naivety that really grated on my nerves. I know that there's no way I could have expected her to know everything she needed to know going into this story, but her actions make her seem more like she's 12 than 17.
The love interest(s) in Fallen were slightly less appealing, in my opinion of course. First there's Daniel. From the very beginning, Daniel is a total jerk to Luce. In fact, the first interaction they have is when he flips her off. Yet, for whatever reason, she continues to seek him out. Now, I get that there's a supernatural element to their relationship. Still, I'll never understand characters who continually seek out guys who are nothing but rude to them. On the other hand, Cam is nothing but a gentleman from day one. Luce seems torn between them at first, but there's never any doubt who she'll choose (I mean, read the blurb). Again, I understand the supernatural implications, but I don't know many girls in real life who would choose Daniel over Cam, at least from what is revealed about him in the first 3/4 of this book.
Since this is the first book about angels I've read, I'm tempted to say it's totally original. However, I have Hush, Hush sitting on my bookshelf right now waiting to be read after I finish this series. I'm not sure if calling this original is really totally fair. Whether the whole "fallen angel" angle is unique or not, the story was really interesting and did keep me reading (err, listening). I really enjoyed learning the history of the fallen angels and the differences between the different kinds. The villain of the book was also very unexpected - great twist!
Lauren Kate also did a really great job of describing the environments at Sword and Cross. I especially loved the way she painted the pictures of the woods, lake, and church/pool. Not all authors are able to write their worlds in such a way that they can be visualized, but this one did and I hope that it will translate well to the big screen.
Fallen was a very quick read and was definitely interesting and I liked it enough to make me read the next book in the series. That being said, I didn't love it and I doubt I'd read it again. Something about Luce and the romance between her and Daniel just didn't quite work for me. Hopefully it'll be fleshed out more in book two! I still would recommend Fallen to fans of paranormal romance, especially those dealing with fallen angels, since I seem to have different preferences towards romantic relationships in books than a lot of my peers.
Notes on the Audiobook
The voice acting skills of Justine Eyre were actually very good - much better than some I've encountered recently! My one annoyance was that the voices she used for the men were all very, very similar. I get that it's difficult to sound manly as a female, but I wish there had been a little more variety. She did a great job overall though and I have no qualms about listening to more books narrated by her.
Sam@WLABB
Written on Oct 2, 2014
I really enjoyed this book and am eager to start the next book. I love this idea of angel-human love, the "cycle" of their lives intersecting and the battle between the fallen. The book is filled with many different characters: Molly the mean girl, Daniel the brooding beautiful boy, Cam the charmer, Gabbe the southern belle, Airrel the wacky one, Penn the faithful friend, and many more. L Kate did a good job of slowly introducing us each character, as well as slowly revealing the underlying lore of the book. I actually appreciated the style. You have to be patient, and like, earn the details, but when you see it all coming together, it is really great.