Review! Fallen by Lauren Kate

Fallen

Lauren Kate

Delacorte Books for Young Readers

December 8, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-385-73893-4

There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce--and goes out of his way to make that very clear--she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story.

Once you get past the amazing cover - it is honestly beautiful; I want a poster of it! - Fallen is a story that will certainly grab you and not let go until the very end. Let me start by saying that I have never been a big fan of predestined lovers, the concept just has never appealed to me and as such, while I was looking forward to reading Fallen, I was a bit wary. I am happy to tell you that all my worries were for naught. Fallen ripped into my gut like a hungry hippo and didn't let go until I had read the very last word, even then I was left with wanting more.

Luce has been sent to Sword & Cross by her parents after something horrible happened to her. She's now surround by strangers in a morose-looking academy in the middle of nowhere, Georgia and needless to say, not very happy about it. When she meets Daniel, she's immediately drawn to him, too bad he makes it more than clear to stay away from him by flipping her off right off the bat.

But Luce can't help herself - there's something about this boy that calls to her and she soon finds herself on a mission to find out more about him, including what makes him be nice to her one second then brush her off the next. What she doesn't know is that it's more than just attraction and she might not survive uncovering his secrets.

Character-wise, two stole the limelight for me. Arriane, the funny psycho girl who from the beginning takes Luce under her wings (no pun intended) and Cam, the dark-haired boy with the hots for Luce. I admit, I quickly developed a full-on crush on Cam. He is awesome!

I have to say that for the first 300something pages, there was very little - if any - explanations on why things were happening. The reader is teased with hints throughout but it's not until the 300ish mark that we actually start to find out the reasons behind some characters' actions and even then, it's just enough to answer some questions. I feel that Fallen is more of a introductory story than anything. It sets the story arc and the characters while giving some slight resolution at the end with an incredible cliffhanger.


With that said, I think Fallen is a very good first book of a series that has the potential to become awesome. The characters were endearing, even when they did something that I didn't like and throughout the whole story, I was on the edge of my seat wanting to read more. I am definitely looking forward to the next book titled Torment, which sadly doesn't come out until September next year.