Fallen (Fallen, #1)

by Lauren Kate

[rakesandrogues]

FALLEN has been on my to-read list for months now. I’ve been planning to read it for a while, but I never got around to it. However, I recently received an ARC of TORMENT from Random House, and I decided that it was about time that I read FALLEN.

One of the best things I liked about this book is the author’s voice. It did not take me more than a chapter to know that I was going to like it. As I read about Luce’s first day at Sword & Cross boarding school, I was hooked right from the beginning and I could not stop reading! I was hooked into the mystery and into Daniel Grigori and I could not wait until the mystery was unraveled.

Honestly, the shadows were creepy and scary, but at first they were very difficult to take seriously. The shadows are described as “the murky shapes [Luce] sometimes saw in the darkness” that were “usually accompanied by a cold chill under her skin, a sickening feeling unlike anything else”. Naturally, after reading that description, I immediately thought of the dementors in Harry Potter. The shadows described in Kate’s novel resembled the dementors; the only thing missing was a Patronus charm and Azkaban.

With the Potter reference aside, the shadows were still creepy. It bothered me even more that I could not quite figure out and predict when the shadows would turn up. Like Luce, they surprised me the various times that they popped up in the book.

I did go into the book knowing the secret behind Daniel’s history (darn GoodReads bookshelves) so I was not as shocked when I read the ending. I tried to find clues along the way that would hint what he could possibly be, but I did not catch anything except for the hints that related to his past with Luce.

The best thing that this book has got going is the romance. Lauren Kate knows how to make her readers turn into mush. The chemistry between Luce and the various male characters in the book is perfect. Daniel Grigori has this certain allure that will cause even readers to fall for a fictional character.

In terms of the plot, it is really predictable. It really does not leave you at the edge of your seat. I did have a vague sense of how the book was going to end, and I came pretty close to guessing how it left off. I was not really bothered by this because I was reading more for the romance and less about the supernatural elements. I’m not a huge paranormal reader, so my interests concerning the book lie elsewhere. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered in the next book, and I do hope that the plot picks up in the sequel. Still, I enjoyed reading FALLEN. FALLEN is similar to Becca Fitzpatrick’s HUSH, HUSH, so if you enjoyed that book, I think you will also enjoy this book. Similar plots, similar endings.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would! It exceeded a lot of my expectations and I think that it truly lives up to all the hype surrounding the book. If you have not read this book yet, don’t wait like I did! Read FALLEN now, and pick up the sequel straight away! Though I have a huge workload of schoolwork this week, I will make time for TORMENT. I don’t think I can wait anymore. I crave more Daniel Grigori.

Thank you so much to the team at RandomBuzzers for giving me an opportunity to review this book.