Lucinda Prince (Luce) has always been surrounded by the shadows, which creeps and slither its way into her life and ultimately ruins everything she comes into contact with. Ever since she was a young girl she’s been seeing these shadows and it’s made her family question her sanity to such an extent that she’s been deemed clinically insane. When her boyfriend mysteriously succumbs though, she’s the prime suspect and because of that, she’s sent to a reform school, where her life will take both a turn for the worse and for the better… it all depends how she looks at it.
Fallen by Lauren Kate is a novel that will give the fantasy romance audience a good old push into a different direction as a seemingly edgier heroine is presented with a band of odd characters, which are all unique in their own ways, to give us a tale of not vampires, but in fact angels. Here we get a glimpse into a whole different mythology for the younger audience, which will keep the reader enthralled for quite a big portion of the book and although it is enjoyable until the end, readers should be aware that this is not the type of book that will appeal to just anybody. That being said, even though Luce, the heroine, is raised an agnostic, people should bear in mind that the heavy religiousness that’s usually involved when it comes to angels is present.
Frankly, I don’t know what to think about this book. It was enjoyable and different in a lot of ways, but I feel that Lauren Kate may have fallen into that trap of creating an unattainable hero type of character in the form of David… He’s just as broody as any other hero from young adult novels and frankly, I like Cam a lot more. This made me wonder why authors in general create these Fabio males, when we all know there’s really no way that type of man exist (don’t give me that “you’re sexist” nonsense… I’m not saying men are in general bad, I’m just saying that men in general don’t have a five foot wingspan). As for the ending though, it was predictable. Don’t get me wrong though, sometimes predictability in books can be good, but it seemed rambled off and rushed, which gave me the impression that Lauren Kate didn’t really know how to end the book. One of the positive things about the book is that you can see some sort of research that had gone into the writing of the books, seeing as angels are a difficult mythology to really understand fully.
On a side note though, Fallen was fairly good and for those who are looking for a new series to read, give it a shot. Considering that most of the vampire series’ (The Vampire Diaries, The Sookie Stackhouse Novels) are in limbo at the moment, throwing a few angels into the mix aren’t as bad. I’d give it a solid 5/10.
