Rapture: Book 4 of the Fallen Series (Fallen, #4)

by Lauren Kate

The sky is dark with wings...And time is running out for Luce and Daniel. In order to stop Lucifer from erasing the past, they must find the place where the Fall began. Only Luce can break the curse, and it is her choice alone that will decide all of their fates. But as Dark Forces gather, great sacrifices will have to be made in this final, epic struggle...In the fight for Luce, and for Love, who will win? The astonishing conclusion to the FALLEN series. Heaven can't wait any longer.

• ISBN10: 0385618123
• ISBN13: 9780385618120
• Publish Date: 21 June 2012 (first published 1 January 2012)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 2 April 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

I think I would have enjoyed this series more if I liked the main characters and believed in their romance. Atleast there's some beautiful covers to stare at...

There's a more definite plot in this one: relics have to found and there's a time limit as well, but things move very slowly. Who knew that 9 fictional days could feel like a lifetime? There's no rush to get things done or tension to move the plot along, which meant that my will to continue reading was minimal. I was interested in the story while listening to it, but when I wasn't listening, I forgot about it. There was a moment where the group of angels split up and it would have been more interesting to follow another group, instead of Luce and Daniel.

Luce is still a Mary-Sue and Daniel went from being a jerk, to not having a personality at all. (Not having a personality is much better than being jerk though.) Luce and Daniel are meant to be the main characters, but they fade into the background.

Then there's their romance, which is not believable or epic. I was hoping to see how Luce and Daniel met and fell in love, but that reveal is so disappointing. Their relationship does not have a solid foundation and is based solely on physical attraction. While Luce and Daniel are a little more tolerable in Rapture, their romance is cheesy and cringy. I was getting second-hand embarrassment from their internal monologues and declarations of love and I don't think that's ever happened to me before.

The secondary characters are more interesting than the main characters. I like Arriane, Cam, Molly and Roland as well as Dee, who is so sweet and lovely. There are a few character deaths, but I didn't feel anything when they happened.

The lead up to the main reveal and the main reveal itself is also disappointing. The plot twists are interesting such as Luce finding out she's an angel, realising that her first love was Lucifer and meeting God, but a story that spans over four books having such a simple resolution when the problem was made to seem so huge... I'm unimpressed.

There are also a few plot holes and inconsistencies, but they don't negatively impact the story and there are also a few unanswered questions, one of them being: what happened to Trevor?.

However, I like the ending and the epilogue and am quite satisfied with the ending of this series.

I'm a little conflicted. I'm happy to be done with this series, but there's so much nostalgia that I didn't mind the overall experience.

[Angie]

I am finally done with this series! It has been an odd journey, but Rapture is a pretty good, if annoying, conclusion to Luce and Daniel's epic romance. It picks right up where Passion left off, which means in a giant plot-hole. I tried to ignore it, but then they mentioned how time passed differently in the Announcers than in the present, so I couldn't ignore it. They still think they have nine days to stop Lucifer, even though those nine days are happening in the past, so they really only have a few hours, but they get their nine days to have a scavenger hunt. Yay.

Rapture is mainly a scavenger hunt. Daniel remembers that he did research on the Fall way back in the day, and now they have to track down these three relics, go to a predestined location, and all will be revealed. This part was okay. Daniel and Luce, of course, pair off together to go after one the relics and get it, while everyone else is having loads of trouble with their assignments. And enemies become friends because Daniel is awesome, and Luce finally remembers how they first met.

The only thing I really wanted to know at this point was how Luce and Daniel got together in the first place and why it's worth throwing the world into chaos. I had my theory and I was wrong. I totally did not see that coming, although it makes perfect sense (shocking!). I did have plenty of eye-rolling moments, because things do get quite melodramatic when Luce has to face off with someone from her past. It was like an episode of Divorce Court: stupid, yet oddly entertaining. Hooray for relationship drama.

The conclusion of Rapture left me torn. I normally do like this type of ending, but only when the events leading up to it make sense. There's still that issue of choosing between Heaven and Hell, but being Luce and Daniel, they can't just choose one. They have to go all special and out of the box and be ridiculous, because God hates love or something. Then the author screws up time again, because apparently someone can be conceived, born, and turn eighteen within seventeen years. And we don't even learn what happens with the balance. Who won?! God?! Lucifer?! Love?!

Like the rest of the series, Rapture was oddly addicting, but that doesn't really make it good. I suppose I liked it in a way, but mostly found it pretty ridiculous. While the romance has been the main focus, I still wanted to know how this whole war between Heaven and Hell would end, but apparently that is not important when Daniel and Luce's love is on the line. Again.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Sam@WLABB]

This is it for Daniel and Lucinda. The last book! I would say I was satisfied. The last chapter left me wistful and with a smile.

Over the course of this series, I fell in love with the love story of Daniel and Lucinda, but I also fell in love with their community of friends. I developed an attachment to Gabbe, Cam, Roland, Arriane, Annabelle, and even Molly. I will miss them all. BUT, it is nice to finally get all the details regarding "the curse" and it was not what I was expecting. Very interesting.

So, the ending? I did not see that coming, but it was very sweet and charming and I can live with it.

Good job and thank you, Lauren Kate.

[Lindsey Gray]

It took me awhile to read this one but it was worth it. Wonderful twist and an incredible ending.

[neddieb]

Finally, Im done! I dont think I could have survived another book!

[Jo]

Originally posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.

I fell in love with the Fallen series from the very beginning, and have eagerly anticipated every book that followed, diving into it's pages with excitement, certain that I was in for a reading high. Unsurprisingly, I started reading Rapture, the final book in this fantastic series, with the same expectations. Unfortunately, I finished the book feeling a little disappointed.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a really good book. Daniel and Luce's love is just as strong and beautiful as you have come to expect, and their determination to fight the curse and be together is still as awe-inspiring. They are together pretty much throughout the whole story, which is lovely. It's great to not see the fights they had in Torment, the secrets Daniel was keeping that frustrated Luce, or her jumping through announcers without him in Passion, with Daniel desperately trying to follow. Now, they're together, and though they have their beautiful moments, they were constantly on edge, hating how time kept moving forward, towards when Lucifer's second Fall will land.

For Daniel, Luce and co have nine days; nine days to find ancient angelic relics that, when put together, will reveal the location of where The Fall will happen. The only problem is, they're not enitrely sure what or where these relics are. They have very basic-but-might-be-wrong ideas, but it looks like it will be extremely difficult to get these relics together, if they're even able to. Except, well, in my opinion, they didn't find it that difficult. They had some issues with some some enemies, but otherwise, they found these relics quite easily. There were a few "obstacles" to start with, but hey, look, there's the relic! It felt a little too easy for me. I also never understood why they would tell them where the Fall would take place. I got how, but I either missed it, or why this would happen is beyond me. Those who have read the book already will get this next point - I didn't get all the knowledge surrounding the second relic. Again, why? How? Everything to do with the relics feels like there should have been some sort of prophecy or something that explained things, but there wasn't. They just believed it would all work because... well, I don't know. I'm really hoping I simply missed it, and may find it out on a second read.

Despite this, I sailed through Rapture anyway, desperate to get the answers to all the questions that had been building up in my head since book one; would Daniel and Luce finally break the curse? Why the curse in the first place, really? And what is Luce's part in all this, apart from having lived and died countless times? What have they all been hiding from her? And we finally get our answers, everything is tied up and makes sense at last! However, as I read this book, I found myself putting things together too early on. It wasn't that I had theroies I thought might possibly the reason for XYZ and how ABC would turn out - they weren't theories, I knew. It felt blindingly obvious to me what was going to happen, and I can't understand why. Every other book in the series constantly had me guessing, and I never knew what to expect, but with Rapture, I guessed most things. There was one thing I didn't guess, and sure, it was pretty major, but I felt all the twists should have been surprising, and I found it disappointed.

And because of all the build up over the whole series, I thought there would be a much more action packed climax than I got. As you read above, there are to be "great sacrifices" in this book, and there were, but not from a hugely action packed climax. Nor did those sacrifices upset me much, which is surprising considering how much emotion I was feeling while reading all the previous books. However, I did think the ending was really sweet, and I did get a little teary over Luce and Daniel, and had a smile. But did anyone else who read the book find the silence on a certain aspect on the very last page to be infuriating? More questions, but it's the end of the series! I really didn't understand that at all.

Rapture is definitely a book fans of the Fallen series should read! Despite my disappointments - how easy some things were, how I knew the outcome of other parts - it's still a good story, one you can get swooped up in as you watch Luce and Daniel take a final stand for their love, and discover all they needed to do it. It's undeniable that Lauren Kate can write completely addictive novels, and you will not be able to put this book down, just like I couldn't. It just could have been a little better for me.

[anne]

Tendency to be series of events