Review: Lauren Kate's "Fallen"

As it stands right now Lauren Kate is in the lead as Best New Writer for Indigo's Teen Read Awards, and rightfully so. "Fallen" is an excellent YA book that will appeal to the teenage girl in all of us. The story follows Luce Price, a young girl who finds herself at a boarding school for dysfunctional youth. On her first day there, Daniel Grigori catches Luce's eye. He's handsome, mysterious, and he wants nothing to do with her. As she navigates through life at Sword & Cross, Luce is not only faced with her own secrets but Daniel's as well.


There were three particular elements of this book that I thoroughly enjoyed.


1. Girl likes boy. Boy flips girl the bird: Oh the pain of unrequited love. Lauren writes it well and it will leave you feeling as burned as Luce does. Why oh why is there something so incredibly appealing about a guy that treats you like he just doesn't care? I'm not quite sure, but it seems to work for the majority of the book despite the fact that the audience knows better.


2. What the heck is going on?: Although the audience knows some things about Daniel Grigori, there is still a mystery that surrounds him and most everyone else at Sword & Cross. This confusion is not only felt by Luce, but also by the reader. Fallen will keep you guessing until the end and even then some things are never awarded with an answer.


3. The power of the epilogue: What I enjoy about epilogues is the idea that the story is continuing even after the last chapter ends. That there are changes taking place that you will not know about until the next book makes its way onto a store shelf. The epilogue in Fallen is excellent. It will make you question everything you thought you knew about what was going on. It changes your perspective on the direction that the story is taking.


Fallen is a good book, but I have a feeling that the follow-up, Torment, will be even better. Luce and Daniel's story feels like it is just beginning and only time will tell what happens next. I will give fallen 3.5 out of 5.


-C


P.S. I thought I would add a couple of my favourite quotes to this review just to spice things up! I will try to keep them spoiler free!


"She realized they were still locking eyes when Daniel flashed her a smile. A jet of warmth shot through her and she had to grip the bench for support. She felt her lips pull up in a smile back at him, but then he raised his hand in the air. And flipped her off." - "Fallen", 40


"September 18: D accuses me of stalking him. Followed two days later by:
September 20: Penn convinces me to really begin stalking him. I consent." -Luce, "Fallen", 286


"You're not doing social networking, are you? Those sites are the devil's work" -Miss Sophia, Fallen, 294




Synopsis from Lauren Kate's official website:


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.