Fallen – book review

Note: there are spoilers; but with this book, to know more before getting into it is a blessing.

Let’s start with what’s good about Fallen: the cover. It’s visually appealing and hints at a dark, emotional story weaved around a girl.

And then we start reading and the clichéd phrase, “never judge a book by its cover”, leaps to mind.

I felt as if the first three hundred pages or more were going nowhere. The key characters Luce, Daniel and Cam just fluttered about everywhere. Luce agonized over boys. Daniel treated her like a yo-yo. Cam was inexplicably attracted to a gormless Luce. It’s set in a reform school that seems to have little/no security in spite of its students being there for having committed some kind of crime. A rehash of New Moon seemed to take place where Daniel wanted to leave Luce for her own good. The extended characters just seemed to hover, not really fulfilling any purpose. It was as if there was no depth to the characters and no chemistry whatsoever. And I’m still confused about what the essence of the story is. Everything seems to be shrouded in mystery, so much so it’s tedious because the readers aren’t being given enough bait. It’s hard to sympathize with the title character, when all she seems to do is be. By the end of it, you just want the story to come to a conclusion. But alas! We’re told the next book, Torment, is on its way. The book seems aptly named considering what I went through to finish the first one.

I trudged through the tome hoping at the end, to get some answers for the misery I’d put myself through. Zilch. If anything, the last 50-100 pages were filled with so much information, which could’ve easily been disseminated throughout the book. Even so, the action sequences at the end provided more questions than they did anything else. And frankly, I don’t even want to know the answers. But if you’d like to be picky about it: what on earth are they fighting for? Why do these two angsty people (sorry one human, one angel) get reincarnated? What’s with Cam wanting Luce? What’s with anyone wanting Luce? What was with the ridiculous battle at the end? Who or what are the Shadows? Will Luce ever grow a personality? Can Daniel stop brooding 100 times the amount Edward Cullen ever has? Will I put myself through reading the next instalment to review it? Oh such difficult questions.

I’m guessing the author, Lauren Kate, wants to cater to the YA (young adult) audience the way Twilight did. See, here’s the thing…I enjoy Twilight as a bit of fluff; same for the movies (I’ll even admit to my Twilight posters). Bella is a whiny girl obsessed with a hot guy for no reason. Edward wants to eat her. Jacob keeps taking his shirt off at every opportunity. But in those books, I felt like the story moved along no matter how ludicrous. Here, in Fallen, we’re sitting in a stagnated pool of angsty teenagers who go around in circles, and do very little. If you think Bella is a bit of a whiner…Luce is even more agonizing. Imagine that. And after reading the book, I still cannot imagine what the protagonists look like, and I’ve a vivid imagination. I did not see them in my head like I normally do when I’m reading a captivating book. All I think I see are greyish stick figures. Because the book is so…grey.

I’m pretty sure loads of teenagers love this book (it’s got the teenage angst and eternal love angle), so she’s probably a hit with her target audience. But I’d like a YA book more if it holds me as a teenager, and keeps me coming back even when I’m older. And there are some YA books that do that for me.

I really loved the cover of the book…really loved it. Shame to be disappointed with the stuff inside.