Book Review: Fallen by Lauren Kate {Book 1: Fallen Series}

Title: Fallen
Author: Lauren Kate
Series: Book 1 in Fallen Series
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Date of Publication: Dec. 8, 2009
Source: bought, 452 pages


Goodreads Synopsis:

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

My Thoughts:

This is one of those books that I really liked and really didn't.  
Yeah...I was torn.

So just imagine how hard this reveiw was to write when a part of me wants to gush about the book; and another part of me just wants to moan about its shortcomings.  

Well, let me just jump into it then shall we?

First, I loved that it was set in Georgia.  I am a huge lover of backgrounds in Georgia.  There is just something very special about the feeling while in the swamplands of the GA.  Okay, so I am little biased being that I am from GA born and raised but there is something magical about Savannah and the area around it.  
So I was totally stoked to know it took place in my beloved homeland.  

I also fell in love with the fact that it had this major "good vs. evil" scenario running through the course of the entire book.  And some of the characters screamed evil while others took a lot more figuring out.  
I also thought that the twists and turns in it was done rather superbly and I loved the foreshadowing in all its glory.  

But.....

I found myself inwardly groaning at some of the decisions Luce, our main protagonist, made during the book.  I guess I just found myself groaning at Luce.  She did have some positive features but for the most part, she really just grated on my nerves.  
Especially, when it came to letting one guy she wasn't interested in him.  I mean come on!!! If you don't like someone, you do not get into a strange car to go tell them you don't like them!!! Okay I wouldn't but maybe that isn't how girls in this age do that?  I mean if I really don't like someone, I tend to stay the hell away from them.  Its better for both parties involved.  

And so when Luce insists on following him around just to let him know she wasn't interested it just really pissed me off.  Sorry.. but it did.

I don't know; maybe I'm just not giving her enough credit.  Maybe I just didn't like here to start with and I am grabbing at straws but in the end I found Luce extremely hard to swallow.  

There was also another area that I felt was really forced.  In some of the chapters it felt like the writing was drawn out, striving to make a word count.  I just felt like took a lot of energy to read when I felt some things could have been shortened. 

Now, although it seems like I hated the book I swear I didn't.  
I actually liked it due to some really awesome supporting characters like Arriane, Penn, and others at the Sword and Cross school.  
The descriptive ways the author shared her vision of the ancient cemetary and the school really made me  yearn to be there sharing in the visionary bliss that she was able to portray in her writing.  
It also took me a while to figure out the entire plot until the very end.  I had grasped bits and pieces but there were some areas that totally had my mind blown.  I love that Kate could keep me guessing for that long and still be intrigued with the story, even after I wasn't too fond of the main character.    That is some really good writing to have me invested in the story, even when I can't love the main protagonist.  


Overall, I found myself torn between loving Fallen, and at the same time, disliking it.  Perhaps, that in and of itself, is a reason to have respect for the book that it can illicit such strong polar opposite emotions in me it leaves me confused and intrigued all at the same time?  I may not have been completely in love with Luce,  I did appreciate the other characters around her that made her seem less annoying and more just lost.  

I have to give Fallen 3 hearts but I do look forward to reading the second book in hopes for some redemption.   

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