Review: Fallen by Lauren Kate

Fallen by Lauren Kate Reviewed by Dani. (Steph read this book a lot earlier than Dani, so she will not be reviewing it. )
Dani’s rating: 4 stars Total: 4 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads:
    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. 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 Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce – he goes out of his way to make that very clear. But she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, Luce 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.

Rating: 4 stars

Before reading Fallen, I had heard mixed reviews about this book. Some people loved it, some people thought it dragged on, some people said to bored them to death, some people thought it was too sappy, and so on. I have decided that this book is in between okay and good. It’s good enough that I want to read the entire series, but it’s definitely not my favorite book. In the first book of a paranormal series, the plot is mainly about finding out what creature the male protagonist is. I’ve seen a few exceptions to this rule, but not many. This book takes FOREVER, 390 pages to be exact, to spell out what kind of paranormal creature Daniel is! Oh, there were hints dropped here and there, and most readers will figure out what’s going on by reading the prologue. In the entire 452 pages of this book, only 2-3 weeks of time passed in the story. And, even worse, Luce falls instantly in love with Daniel! Isn’t this “love at first sight” thing somewhat overrated? The minute she first sets her eyes on Daniel, he flips her off. What does that tell you? If a guy flips you off, most girls would ignore him. Instead, Luce still pursues his undying love. My initial reaction as the reader when I read this part was, “This girl has some guts!”

The main thing I didn’t like about this book was how long it took to reveal what Daniel was. Although, this time the female protagonist figured out what the male protagonist is. The male protagonist didn’t have to slowly break the news to the girl and hope she wouldn’t burst into tears. I know that some readers will find this book rather corny because of Daniel and Luce’s “eternal love”. What is that saying? We will be together until death parts us? We’ve all heard that phrase way too many times.

This books shows that Mrs. Kate can be quite innovative!  A creature that Mrs. Kate created are known to Luce as “the shadows”.  I had never heard of anything like these mysterious little beings before reading Fallen.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. You will fall in love with Daniel, a tormented immortal who loses what he loves most every seventeen years. His devotion and protectiveness of Luce is what makes this book worth reading. I thought that the “eternal love since I fell from heaven” idea was sweet, but I know that some people think it’s stupid and sappy. The supporting characters, Arianne, Molly, Cam, and Penn, made this book hilarious. If you’re getting tired of this book after the first few pages, you will want to keep reading because of Arianne’s spunkiness. Who wouldn’t love a girl who says “He’s so focuses on that hamburger, he wouldn’t hear the call of Satan.” Luce is a genuinely nice and caring person who has her own supposed mental unstableness. She sees things that other “normal” people at her school do not. By the end of this book, she realizes the “normal” people at Sword and Cross are not so normal after all. She’s not a weak female protagonist like many others in the YA genre. She can deal with the drama of being sent to a reform boarding school high school after committing a crime she didn’t actually cause. Luce is also a strong swimmer. (Random, but just thought I’d put that out there for all of you athletic book nerds)

To sum it up: If you enjoy semi-sappy paranormal YA books with a hot, charismatic, and emotionally broken male protagonist, then read Fallen. The reason that this book did not receive 5 stars is because of how slow the beginning was. It is completely unreasonable to spend 390 pages to spell out what creature the male protagonist is!