Rapture (Fallen, #4)

by Lauren Kate

[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.