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Fallen (Fallen #1)

by Lauren Kate (Goodreads Author)

3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 · rating details · 156,412 ratings · 10,846 reviews

SOME ANGELS ARE DESTINED TO FALL.

Instant. Intense. Weirdly familiar . . .

The moment Luce looks at Daniel she knows she has never felt like this before. Except she can't shake the feeling that she has . . . and with him - a boy she doesn't remember ever setting eyes on.

Will her attempt to find out why enlighten her - or destroy her?

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic....more

Paperback, 452 pages

Published 2010 by Corgi Books (first published December 8th 2009)

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May 20, 2013 Kat Kennedy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: No one. Ever. For any reason other than to teach them how NOT to write.

Shelves: kat-s-book-reviews, just-plain-bad, books-that-deserve-painful-death, kat-s-rants, ya-pnr-maddness

"In this lifetime you're nothing more than you appear to be: a stupid, selfish, ignorant, spoiled little girl who thinks the world lives or dies on whether she gets to go out with some good-looking boy at school. Even if your death wouldn't accomplish something so long-awaited, glorious, and grand, I'd still relish this moment, killing you."

I'm sorry, was I supposed to agree with absolutely everything the evil villain said and wait, with baited breath, for her to kill Lucinda Price painfully on...more

860 likes · like · see review

Jun 27, 2011 Penny rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who's a glutton for punishment

Shelves: worst-book-ever, should-never-have-been-published, reviewed-books, paranormal-romance, ya-fiction, angels-demons, wish-i-could-unread

First off, I'd have given this book zero stars were it possible, but since it isn't I gave it one star. This book is full of fail, end of story. There is no other way to describe this book, really.

That's a lie. There is another way to describe how bad this book is. Take everything that sucked about the Twilight series and multiply that by any number (except zero. Or one. Or any negative number. Aw, crap, you know what I mean). Because really, this book is a bad version of Twilight except with f...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Haleema rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People who read next to a wall so they can throw this book against it numerous times while reading

Shelves: cheese-pizza, need-my-nutella, bull-shawarma, thats-not-writing, oh-not-again, its-so-stupid-it-hurts, i-knew-it, characters-are-half-troll, what-a-joke, brain-cells-went-bye-bye, lame-rip-offs-of-other-works, author-y-u-no-destroyed, book-coma, half-wit-heroine, snape-disapproves, just-begging-for-snark, my-vomit-is-nicer, what-the-falafel, hating-with-all-my-hate, no-no-no-no-no

There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Very true. I think I've got it. Of course this is simply a guess.
description

Oh, I'm right after all. What a surprise.

I'm going to start all the way from the beginning just like how I did with M...m...m...m...m... Marked *shudders while typing it*

*looks at the cover*

description

Hmm. That's nice. Another incredibly emo but gorgeous-looking cover, and---

GGGGGGAAAAAAHHHHHH!

description

It's her again! It's that dreadful witch! At the top! It's too small to see, but it's there! P...more

315 likes · like · see review

Aug 21, 2012 Kira rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Broken dry wall

Recommended to Kira by: A piece of broken dry wall

Shelves: ya, books-to-use-as-weapons, angels-and-demons, made-no-sense, train-wreck-romance, tstl-heroine, lost-the-will-to-live, go-choke-on-your-sexism, cat-scratch-series, lolwut, made-me-want-to-choke-myself, my-eyes-my-eyes, what-has-been-seen-cannot-be-unseen, sentimental-value, rule-of-abeko-you-broke-it, so-boring-i-ate-my-own-face

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Thanks, Satan, but your book recommendation didn't work out that well. Better luck next time, yeah?

Along with literally HUNDREDS of other people who read this book, I was completely brainwashed by the stunning cover. I literally walked into WHSmith, looked at it, had a massive aneurysm, and by the time I'd come round the book was inexplicably in my hand and my wallet was thirty dollars lighter.

Who knew?

Gaiz. I should have known better than to pick up something that P.C. Cast, of all people, "lov...more

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Sep 27, 2012 Demonic Circus Princess rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: A Masochist

Recommended to Demonic Circus Princess by: A Sadist

Shelves: seeing-if-its-as-bad-as-people-say, ansty-angsty-angst, beautiful-cover, cool-side-characters, depressing, disgrace-to-feminists-everywhere, don-t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover, don-t-know-how-i-survived, have-some-dignity-girl, hormonal-heroine-central, i-swear-the-heroine-has-pms, one-or-two-redeeming-characters, obsessive-much, never-again, reading-for-the-shits-and-giggles, sloooooowww-pppaaaacccceedddd, stupid-decisions, stupid-love-interest, suckish-ending, the-dreaded-love-triangle-strikes, too-much-fluff, the-human-mind-makes-no-sense-to-me, wanted-to-slap-the-heroine, why-do-i-still-read-this, why-god, will-never-forget, hey-this-would-make-great-firewood

[WARNING: Insanity ahead. And a few spoilers, but no one cares about those.]

Circus Princess: Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 2 of What the Hell Were You Thinking?! Tonight's guests are a special treat: Luce Price, Daniel Grigori, and Gabbe.... Something!

[Applause]

Daniel: [just sits there scowling]

Luce: [trying to hide in her curtain of hair]

Gabbe: [waving excessively] HOWADAY Y'ALL!!!! AHM GAHYABAY!! NAHCE TO MAEET Y'ALL!!!! [Translation: Hello everyone. I am Gabbe. Nice to meet all of...more

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Mar 19, 2010 Annalisa rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Girls who want sexual tension without substance and don't mind being kept in the dark

Recommended to Annalisa by: Annie

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy, romance, cover

Reading this book was like walking through fog, or to pull description from the book, with black shadows blocking my view of everything, only it's not the black shadows that got in my way but the MC, Luce, and the author, Kate. I have no idea what the school looked like (no more that a glimpse of this and that) or what the characters were like (same thing, just glimpses that don't add up to anything) or even what was going on in any of the action scenes because a) Luce doesn't notice anything ex...more Reading this book was like walking through fog, or to pull description from the book, with black shadows blocking my view of everything, only it's not the black shadows that got in my way but the MC, Luce, and the author, Kate. I have no idea what the school looked like (no more that a glimpse of this and that) or what the characters were like (same thing, just glimpses that don't add up to anything) or even what was going on in any of the action scenes because a) Luce doesn't notice anything except for the guys she's obsessed with and b) Kate wants to keep her readers in suspense so she makes sure not to tell you anything worth telling. I know sexual tension is the driving force in paranormal romances, but the plots have to at least make sense, as do the settings. This reform school with cameras everywhere was lacking in adult supervision even for a normal boarding school level. I wasn't ever satisfied with an explanation why Luce, present at the scene of a tragic accident, needed to be at reform school in the first place.

Luce makes sure to tell us she's a 4.0 student, brilliant at everything, and then proceeds to be the most dim-witted narrator I have ever read. As annoying as she was, the comment that bugged me the most was actually that as a swimmer she knew butterfly as the fastest stroke. Anyone who's been in a pool knows it's freestyle. That's why it's called freestyle: you can swim any stroke, but that's the fastest. Luce was obviously not a swimmer, despite her telling us she was, she was obviously not smart enough for calculus, despite her telling us she was, and she was obviously not worth notice from all these guys, despite her telling us she was. By the middle of the book, I was so frustrated with all her cobwebs of thought I wanted to swipe them away so I could see anything in this story. She spends the book describing her eternal lust for Daniel, except when Cam is around and she's distracted by her lust for him, but she's too dense to realize that either of them like her. This book is almost five hundred pages of Luce's internal dialogue of self-deprecation and confusion with the story sometimes happening in the background.

Every time anything remotely interesting starts to happen, Kate falls back on two tactics to keep her readers from learning anything: a) her vacuous heroine who doesn't understand any of the blatant clues and therefore doesn't ask the right questions, or b) scene interrupters with a passive heroine who lets every other character in the book control what she does. Luce zips from half-scene to half-scene without any of it being developed, as much a spectator to her own life as we are. We never get to understand the other characters, the undertones of their relationships, or what they're doing at the school in the first place. Kate stifles any progression in character, plot, everything, so she doesn't ruin those spoilers she's saving for the next book. But we, like Luce, aren't supposed to notice that we aren't getting any answers. We're supposed to be consumed by the hot, mysterious guys, gripping the pages in suspense.

The only reason I finished this book is because I wanted to prove my suspicion that Kate did not intend to give her readers any answers. Don't expect to find out what the black shadows are. Don't expect to learn what's behind this relationship that is the whole point of the book (all Kate gave us was a bunch of empty sexual tension that was as clipped and unsatisfying as the rest of the book). Don't expect to find out who all is after Luce and why. Don't expect to learn anything about any of the characters or find out anything that you can't already figure from the title, which Kate waits until the end to drop that revelation like it's an enlightening bombshell when she gives us nothing else.

(view spoiler)[I have major issues with Kate's twisting of biblical angels. Fallen angels are angels who have broken off from God, as she so eludes in her story. There are no "good" fallen angels, only those who follow Satan. And the disturbing behavior of the "good" fallen angels fall right in line with those who break away from God. I didn't care for any of them. Daniel is way too inconsistent to make him likable or believable, and the revelation we already know doesn't clear him of any of his actions. If Luce is in danger from shadows, Satan, religious zealots with higher power, a whole lot more than Daniel, he should have been more concerned for her welfare, even if he can only supervise her protection from a distance, instead of basing their entire relationship on sexual tension and confessions of unrequited love.

There is no way I will be reading the next book because I suspect that while this book frustrated me (making me not even want to finish it much less the series), the next one will infuriate me. From the clues Kate plants, it is my impression that Cam is supposed to be some version of Lucifer and Luce some version of Eve, which makes Daniel some version of Adam. Not only are her vacant characters unworthy of these Biblical characters, but I'm supposed to believe that Eve has been reincarnating since the dawn of time? That the good and evil of the entire world centers on the twisted, shallow, teenage love affair of fallen angels? Blasphemy. Adam is not a fallen angel, nor would he be so rude and crude. Satan did not love Eve; Satan loves nobody but himself. The fact that he only wants to harm us kind of lies at the basis of Christianity. Resurrection is found in the Bible, not reincarnation, and to make it the reincarnation of mother Eve somehow makes it worse. Adam and Eve are sacred in my book, and to see their story so mutilated like this is nothing more than disrespectful. I cringe to think all that Kate is intending to hide from us in her next book. (hide spoiler)]

The only part of this book I agreed with was this diabolical monologue from what is supposed to be the climax, while the real climax is happening elsewhere: "You're nothing more than you appear to be: a stupid, selfish, ignorant, spoiled little girl who thinks the world lives or dies on whether she gets to go out with some good-looking boy at school. Even if your death wouldn't accomplish something long-awaited, glorious, and grand, I'd still relish this moment, killing you." That's sad when you're rooting for the villain to take out the heroine. Sad because the cover had such promise.(less)

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Mar 15, 2012 fяσzєη rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-am-disappoint, covergasm, dickhead-heroes, love-triangles, unlikable-heroines, pile-of-crap, angels, pretty-dress-on-the-cover, coverlove-booksuck, insta-love, owned-physical-copies, dont-understand-why-its-hyped, why-do-people-like-this-shit, waste-of-paper, is-this-some-kind-of-joke, horrifyingly-bad, goodbye-brain-cells, no-just-no, my-eyes-are-bleeding, hot-mess, cant-believe-i-finished, get-that-thing-away-from-me, immortals, sorry-excuse-for-a-romance, what-the-actual-fuck, you-arrogant-prick, where-art-thou-originality

A more formal review of this book is on my blog which is still new. xD Check it out!

Updated: March 9th, 2012.

Also everyone, click here. *sigh* A fucking movie. Just what I needed.

Luce.

Lucinda. Fucking. Price.

You'd still stalk a guy even after he flipped you off when you first locked eyes with him? Even if he told you STRAIGHT IN THE FACE that he didn't want ANYTHING to do with you.

Why? Just...why?

I mean, he's hot. I get it. But what the fuck about Daniel Grigori is even remotely close to sweet?...more

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Aug 09, 2012 jo mo rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: angels-demons, fantasy, 2009, series, school-life, reviews, 1-star, immortals

the main character was incredibly boring, annoying and flat. (the others too, actually, but let's stick with the main character to get to the point)

every few pages lucinda had to tell us how strong and mighty daniel was, how fascinating his hair was and how hurt and excited she felt, if daniel didn't even deign to look at her. let me quote from the book's only (sometimes) likeable character, penn (- yes, it was that bad):

“my point is,” luce said finally, “i’m not so superficial that all i’m lo...more

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Dec 25, 2012 Book Chick City rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy, book-list-2009

I was really excited about reading Fallen, the cover is absolutely gorgeous and I just had to have it! Luckily I received an ARC, thanks to Random House Children's Books. This is another book that has had a lot of hype recently and, as with Hush Hush, it had a lot to live up to. I have read negative as well as positive reviews, so I went in with a completely open mind, and I wasn't disappointed.

The story starts out a little slow at the beginning and not a lot really happens in the way of action...more I was really excited about reading Fallen, the cover is absolutely gorgeous and I just had to have it! Luckily I received an ARC, thanks to Random House Children's Books. This is another book that has had a lot of hype recently and, as with Hush Hush, it had a lot to live up to. I have read negative as well as positive reviews, so I went in with a completely open mind, and I wasn't disappointed.

The story starts out a little slow at the beginning and not a lot really happens in the way of action until half way through the book. The days Luce spends at Sword and Cross reform school, where she has been sent after an incident with a fire, which killed her ex-boyfriend, does become a little repetitive and drawn out and all I really wanted was the story to get going. But I think the author was trying to set the scene, give us some really well developed characters and lots of suspense before revealing all. In retrospect, I liked this approach as sometimes a story can move along quickly but then have no depth at all.

There are many characters in Fallen, all of which I think are really well rounded. Even those that are not the main focus still have their own story and you feel they are all central to Luce's life. Although none of the characters are particularly 'dangerous', there is a darkness about Daniel and Cam that is subtle but definitely there. As each character grows and a little more is revealed about them, you realise that there is more to each of them which is not necessarily what you first thought. Nice twists and turns kept my interest and I was very intrigued as to how this book would pan out. The atmosphere is dark and edgy too and each detail of Luce's surroundings is described well and at times I really felt as though I was there.

Luce herself is a nice character. She is interesting and I think she will develop into quite an intriguing female protagonist. Sometimes she is quite witty and feisty, but at other times she can be a little slow on the uptake. But overall, I'm looking forward to seeing how she develops and deals with the revelations which occur at the end of Fallen.

Cam and Daniel, who are the two main love interests for Luce, are both delicious. They are very different from each other and at first I wasn't quite sure who was the good guy and who was the bad guy. As I got to know Daniel, I began to like him more and more and could completely understand why Luce is so captivated, and almost hypnotised, by him. He is gorgeous, and a very sexy fallen angel, *move over Patch!*

Verdict:

The story does take time to get going and is definitely a slow burner, but I think it is well worth the wait, so be patient. The ending is exciting, albeit a bit rushed; maybe a few pages from the beginning would have been better used at the end. I was left with a few questions, but that's okay, as I know there's another book coming, and I can't wait! Fallen is a brilliant read and has set the scene for what I hope will be a very exciting series.

I gave this 9/10 on my blog, but Goodreads doesn't offer half stars.

(less)

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Nov 02, 2011 Zara rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: to-read

This book is fucked

53 likes · like · see review

Feb 13, 2012 Anila rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: blech-ugh-blech, reviewed, incoherent-anger

EDIT: Forgot to add original half-started review at the end. Fixed!

Some time back I postulated on Facebook that all YA PNRs were trying to be the Doctor and Rose, and that they were all failing miserably. I never meant that idea to make it into a review, and yet... well, here we are, aren't we? So welcome to a review in which I use Doctor Who to explain this burgeoning genre in general, and Fallen in particular. Even if you don't know the show, it should be fairly cogent.

Let's start with the 'wh...more

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Nov 17, 2009 Meghan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

*This review has some spoilers for plot!*

Just as vampires are becoming old hat in YA literature, angels have swooped in to take their place in the pantheon of paranormal romance heroes--who knew? I was rather dubious of the whole trend (and still am), but boy, do I love me some Old Testament crazy, so I thought, "Let's see what they do with this." Even with my low expectations, I found this disappointing!

We begin with Daniel Grigori (whose last name gives the whole thing away if you know your s...more

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May 09, 2012 Steph Su rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: debs09, problematic

If FALLEN is the future of YA supernatural fiction, then I fear for this genre. FALLEN is painfully dull and slow, with very little besides the concept of fallen angels and the suggestion of an impossible romance to recommend it to readers.

If the plot of FALLEN were to race a glacier, the glacier would win. From the moment Luce arrives at Sword & Cross, the plot feels like it’s always tripping over its own feet in order to explain itself, and to no avail. I don’t mind a gradually building pl...more If FALLEN is the future of YA supernatural fiction, then I fear for this genre. FALLEN is painfully dull and slow, with very little besides the concept of fallen angels and the suggestion of an impossible romance to recommend it to readers.

If the plot of FALLEN were to race a glacier, the glacier would win. From the moment Luce arrives at Sword & Cross, the plot feels like it’s always tripping over its own feet in order to explain itself, and to no avail. I don’t mind a gradually building plot if it contains atmosphere and sets up the exposition well, but the setting of Sword & Cross was never fully realized for me, and the events in Luce’s past that landed her at reform school never attained credibility. Luce floats through boarding school life in a series of disconnected and awkwardly written encounters with her schoolmates, none of which helped me understand Luce or any of the other characters. All of the action and scenes required to get the gist of the story occurred within the last 60 pages, and what happened was not worth plodding through 400 pages of irrelevance to get to that point.

All of the characters in FALLEN were static and artificial, something that less discerning Twilight-fangirling tweens won’t mind but that more well-read readers will definitely take issue with. Luce is about as passive as a bowl of rice pudding. You think Bella didn’t do anything for three-and-a-half 400-plus-page-long books? Luce just might make Bella look like head of the school spirit squad. She flits from scene to scene, never being fully integrated into the immediacy of the story and never coalescing into a comprehensive character. The thing I most remember about her was that she had short hair from when it got burnt off in a fire. If the way I describe a character is by the length of her hair and not any, I dunno, actual personality traits, you better believe that is a serious problem.

Along those same lines, Cam and Daniel were similarly bland male love interests whose only identifiable characteristic was their inexplicable—and inevitable, in this sort of book—attraction to Luce. I constantly got the two mixed up and couldn’t pick them out from a handful of YA male love interests if I had to. I am hardly questioning the appeal of stalker-y, unequal-power-dynamics love—there is a reason why so many of us love bad boys so much—but to have Cam and Daniel be so one-dimensional and predictable, while the story practically insists that we’re supposed to find them heart-stoppingly attractive…sorry, but I really don’t need that.

We’ve all heard the quiet rumblings that fallen angels might be the Next Big Thing in YA lit, but only if they’re done right. FALLEN read like a boarding school story with smatterings of the supernatural dashed throughout, the angels-and-demons element only manifesting itself in the final few chapters. It was a discomforting read because it was so detached from those elements of humanity that make even the most fantastical novel relatable: the Southern setting was never fully realized, and the characters were difficult to empathize with.

That being said, FALLEN gets ~~two stars from me~~ [UPDATE: nope, not anymore, it's just terrible through and through] because I can totally see its appeal to middle school girls who have devoured the entire Twilight series and now desperately need something to read in between the next House of Night book and the Eclipse movie coming out in Summer 2010. It contains all the elements of a trendy YA bestseller: a paranormal element, a love triangle, two powerful love interests who compete for the same girl. Unfortunately, the great idea was poorly executed, and I won’t be following the rest of this series. However, consider asking your thirteen-year-old sister or cousin for her opinion on FALLEN, and you might get a totally different point of view, one that justifies why Random House believes that FALLEN will be huge in YA.(less)

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Mar 04, 2010 Arlene rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2010, paranormal, fallen-angel, ya-paranormal, young-adult

There's nothing I dislike more than a book that's just downright boring with less than intriguing characters. Oh wait, silly me, yes there is! I can't stand this new trend of shoving shallow storylines into needless series and trying to hook the reader with an annoying cliffhanger. Not right IMHO. This book came across as an incomplete story, where there were many questions left unanswered, and done so in such a sloppy manner that they came across as plot holes. For me, this book was a mental eq...more There's nothing I dislike more than a book that's just downright boring with less than intriguing characters. Oh wait, silly me, yes there is! I can't stand this new trend of shoving shallow storylines into needless series and trying to hook the reader with an annoying cliffhanger. Not right IMHO. This book came across as an incomplete story, where there were many questions left unanswered, and done so in such a sloppy manner that they came across as plot holes. For me, this book was a mental equivalent of a migraine, sound familiar? Sorry, but that's how I felt.

The mysterious, supposedly good looking Daniel wasn't squee-worthy or engaging enough to hook me for another few books. Can't quite pinpoint it, maybe it was his hostile behavior for more than half the book that I just couldn't get over. He flipped off Luce when he first saw her? Did I read that right? Why? So contrived. He ran brrrrrr.... too cold for my taste.

I think the main issue I had with this book were the outstanding questions I have. For example, can someone please tell me what the heck these shadows, errrr wait, announcers, whatevs... What are those? What purpose do they serve? Were they there to protect or harm Luce? What's the difference between the dark and silver/grey shadows? What is up with Roland? The fires?? What caused them? How come no one cared that Todd died in the fire? What really went down the night Trevor died? What was the purpose of introducing over a dozen characters in the first three chapters when a majority didn't even play a part in the rest of the story? What are the angels/demons fighting for and why do they fight when they know neither side will ever be victorious, according to Daniel? How could finding out the truth physically kill Luce? WT?? My list can go on.

This is the second book I've read on fallen angels and maybe it's just not my cup of tea, but I didn't find the concept engaging enough to carry me through for another couple of books. But most importantly, I think regardless of this book being set up as a series, it should still be able to stand on its own and provide the reader a conclusive ending, with just enough intrigue to whet your appetite for more, not have you looking in the back cover for missing pages. Not interested in continuing with this series and I'm surprised I finished this book.(less)

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Aug 15, 2012 Ashleigh Paige rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: the-shameful-shelf-of-get-rid-of-it, worst-books-i-ve-ever-read, so-bad-that-i-refuse-to-finish-it

Y'know, I've thought time and time again about trying to reread this book and actually finish it now that I know this came from a book packager. When I know that's where a book comes from, it makes me wonder how much the author chose to write and how much the author had to write according to the outlines and such they were given.

I think this book--no, this entire series--had great potential and could have been fantastic if written right. But was it a forced adherence to a trite formula that kil...more

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Feb 22, 2013 kristina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: angels, young-adult

This book was a bit comfusing for me. The first half of the book was a little boring but the other half was very interesting.I dont know why but for the first time in my life I was annoyed by the 3rd person POV.

Luce

Luce is new to the "Sword and Cross" school and everything is so much different than she expected to be. From the fisrt time she lays her eyes on him she has this weird feeling that she already knows him.

Daniel

He made it clear from the very first moment
STAY AWAY FROM ME

And there is a...more

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Jan 27, 2011 Maja rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: No one

Shelves: ya, wake-me-up-next-year, reviewed-in-2011

Horrible. Just horrible and unreadable. That is all.

34 likes · like · see review

May 20, 2012 Lissa added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I simply cannot get over how abysmally disappointed I was with this book. I bought it because I saw the cover and I knew it would bug me forever if I didn't give it a shot. It's a beautiful cover, possibly the most beautiful I have ever seen. The back cover blurb suggested that there was an mysterious boy that Luce, the protagonist, would want to investigate with possible hope of romance.
OK. Truth time. Daniel Grigori is a dick. Lucinda Price is the most overrated heroine ever. She's frustrating...more I simply cannot get over how abysmally disappointed I was with this book. I bought it because I saw the cover and I knew it would bug me forever if I didn't give it a shot. It's a beautiful cover, possibly the most beautiful I have ever seen. The back cover blurb suggested that there was an mysterious boy that Luce, the protagonist, would want to investigate with possible hope of romance.
OK. Truth time. Daniel Grigori is a dick. Lucinda Price is the most overrated heroine ever. She's frustratingly passive, a doormat that her new friends walk all over. She's supposed to be at a reform school that allows facial piercing yet will electronically shock their students for no reason, has practically NO adult supervision, and is surrounded by security cameras that are easily circumnavigated.
The reform school is a gloomy, poor, falling-down place, set next to a graveyard. Ooooh, spooky! Yeah, right. I have no idea who the hell would build a reform school like that. Also, Luce is put in there because she was present at the death of her first kind-of-boyfriend, who spontaneously combusted when she kissed him. It doesn't make sense as to why Luce ended up in a reform school and not a pysch ward. We're not given explanations as to why the other kids are there, either (except for Penn, who attends because her father worked there). The kids Luce makes friends with don't even seem bad in any way, just typically teenagers, even though the majority of them are fallen angels.
Some of them are GOOD fallen angels and some of them are BAD fallen angels (called demons). Now, I'm not religious, but even I know that there is no such thing as good fallen angels. Those who fell threw in their lot with Satan. Maybe they're hoping God will allow them back into Heaven if they behave now that they're fallen. I don't think so.
We are given NO explanation of how the boyfriend BBQ fire starts, whether Luce had something to do with it (oh, it's hinted that she was kind of responsible, but it never happens to any other boy she gets close to and it's never explained exactly what happened) and don't even get me started on how pissed off I am about the SECOND fire that randomly starts in the library as Luce and her weird friend Penn are stalking Daniel.
Luce is so superficial, she falls head over heels for a dick who obviously hates her, yet he also ends up falling in love with her because it's fate. Meanwhile there's hottie bad boy Cam who is supposed to confuse her and we KNOW is going to be the villain, it's that obvious, but I was damn well rooting that Luce end up with him. The secondary villain, Miss Sophia, is given absolutely NO foreshadowing for her abrupt betrayal, and her part in the story doesn't even make sense.
After the whole book preparing us that Luce and Daniel being together was a very Bad Idea, yet also telling us the two were damned well meant to be, it was very anti-climactic when nothing happened when they kissed. And there was no explanation as to WHY nothing happened. All of Luce's past lives exploded on account of being brought up religiously, and this life's Luce, who is agnostic, doesn't explode into a fiery pinnacle when she learns too quickly what Daniel is and how she fits in with it.
Luce is kept in the dark, and as the reader, we are kept in the dark as well. It's a very frustrating experience.
Sense making = zero.
I expected so much more.(less)

22 likes · like · see review

Jun 12, 2011 Lina rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-fiction, paranormal-romance, teen-fiction-fantasy, ya, why-did-i-do-this-to-myself, over-hyped, did-not-research

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Long ago there was an angel. The most sublime of his kind. So much so that he was sometimes called Morning Star. Despite his standing, he was still, of course, considered inferior to the one that created him. This angel decided that it was "better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven" and managed to turn fellow angels against the very being they owed their existence to. With his group of angels he waged a war against Heaven and while he lost and was banished become the first of the "fallen" an...more

43 likes · like · see review

Dec 20, 2010 Thomas rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fallen is one of those books that should not be judged by its cover. Despite the alluring, ambiguous plot promised by the book jacket, this book fell flat in way too many areas.

The story is about Lucinda Price, who is sent to Sword and Cross boarding school after being suspected of arson. She also claims to have seen shadows stalking her, which only adds to the paranoia people presume of her. There, she meets some nice friends - but no one compares to the attractive and mysterious Daniel Grigori...more

44 likes · like · see review

Jan 30, 2013 Nessa rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: review

It seems like I'm still very far away from finding the holy grail that is a good supernatural romance. I'm a lone female knight atop a horse, sighing as I leave behind my last conquest and head onto another one, taking my chances and hoping that it will be fruitful.

Fallen is one of those last conquests. I gave up after around 120 pages. It wasn't too badly-written, and nor was it too cliched. But it was way way WAY too poorly-researched. From the first chapter after the prologue, you can see Kat...more

15 likes · like · see review

Jun 30, 2011 Elle rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: meh, made-of-fail, first-of-series, 2010-read, good-covers, elles-reviews, fantasy-and-paranormal

UPDATE: In celebration of my good friend Saha joining GoodReads I am re-posting my review of Fallen.

**********************************

So...

Who else was sucked in to this one by the cover?

Actually, Fallen was recommended to me by a friend who had almost had a conniption whilst telling me how 'spectacular' it was. And because I value this particular friend to the highest possible degree I assumed she would never subject me to anything that would fill me with the desire to RIP MY OWN BRAIN CELLS O...more

62 likes · like · see review

Dec 06, 2009 Kristi (The Story Siren) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own-arc, books-i-own

Three words; dangerous, dark & exciting!

Let me first start out by saying that I'm so perturbed by some of the summaries that I've found for this book! Why don't we just tell the whole frackin' story! No need to read the book.... just read this summary, let us ruin it for you! GRRR! I hate when they give away plot elements! I found this summary on Random House and I have to say, it's the best one! (I edited the one on Goodreads to this!) It's intriguing enough, but doesn't give away the whole...more

19 likes · like · see review

Jan 02, 2011 Misty rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: juvenile-ya, own, supernatural-paranormal, won, cover-appeal, dorsch-book-club, read-in-2010, sci_fi-fantasy, angels-and-demons, 2010-debuts__tenners

I'd been hesitant to read this one. On the one hand, it has a beautiful cover and I'd heard a lot of omging raves about it. On the other, I have yet to read an angel book I liked, and I never really trust the OMGers of the world...
(sorry. sort of.)

When I first started it, I thought maybe this was the angel book that was going to break the mold and live up to what it promised. Yes, I found the circumstances of Luce ending up at Sword and Cross a little iffy and forced, but I fell into Luce's voic...more

28 likes · like · see review

Jan 07, 2010 Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the other books to follow in the series. It was slightly Twilightish (sans vampires) with a stronger female character. The plot was vividly portrayed and the characters were easy to relate to. The ending may be bothersome to some. It doesn't just leave you waiting to figure out what happens next; it also has you wondering what just happened? Not quite the same pace as the rest of the book. A lot was covered in the last 50 pages, leaving you with a...more

17 likes · like · see review

Apr 05, 2012 Lyndz rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

I didn’t like this book the first time I read it, when it was called Twilight.

48 likes · like · see review

May 27, 2011 Vicki rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, fantasy, young-adult-books

I curse the day I ever set eyes on this book. I'll tell you why: it's just a confirmation of how horrible crap with hollow characters just gets churned out like crazy in this country. It's like these dreadfully boring, insipid or just flat out awful characaters exist just to have the personality of the reader transposed into them. To me, this is dangerous.

But, back to this book, specifically: The plot is confusing, irritating, and ridiculous. There are angels, somehow trapped in a crap reform sc...more

27 likes · like · see review

Jan 11, 2011 SKB rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Oh my holy crap, this book was a piece of work. And by "work," I mean "steaming turd." I would have given this book one star, but I added another one because it was so shittastic that it was fucking hilarious.

Several things. One, OHAI reworked Twilight fanfic, or sad homage, or search/replace copy. Second: I can't believe it was possible to find a stupider protagonist than Nora in Hush, Hush. Well, congratulations, Lauren Kate, you have made the most unlikable, brain-dead protagonist I have ever...more

44 likes · like · see review

Dec 16, 2009 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, 2009, romance, paranormal, horror, cover-love

This is a tricky book to review, for a very simple reason: I did not know what this book was about, or what kind of book it was, when I started reading it, and the slow reveal made for a pleasurable, interactive reading experience. So, I'm torn. On the one hand, I want others to have the same experience, which would mean I would have to keep mum about the plot etc. On the other hand, I really really want to talk about what actually happens. See? Torn.

I admit, unashamedly, that I bought this book...more

57 likes · like · see review

May 10, 2010 Nian rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

I am so sick of picking up these urban fantasies and finding myself facing yet another series like Meyer's Twilight, Noel's Immortals or worse, Marr's Wicked Lovely. It's always the same stuff over and over again. Just replace vampires, werewolves, faeries/pixies, and etc. with angels and you've got Lauren Kate's take on the new hype with this YA genre. Needless to say, the series didn't wow me as much as I'd hoped. And I wasn't expecting much in the first place.

The plot is a shame. We've got d...more I am so sick of picking up these urban fantasies and finding myself facing yet another series like Meyer's Twilight, Noel's Immortals or worse, Marr's Wicked Lovely. It's always the same stuff over and over again. Just replace vampires, werewolves, faeries/pixies, and etc. with angels and you've got Lauren Kate's take on the new hype with this YA genre. Needless to say, the series didn't wow me as much as I'd hoped. And I wasn't expecting much in the first place.

The plot is a shame. We've got deceiving angels pitting against each other, which would be interesting if YOU ACTUALLY GOT TO SEE SOME ACTION. So then that leaves the romantic aspect to look forward to. BUT ALAS, it's the typical wretched, forbidden love. Our male and female protagonist love each other, but boo hoo, they're cursed, and they cannot be together, so now they're all so so miserable. Ugh. Can the love get any more tortured, agonizing, and soap opera-ish?

The characters didn't make the book any better. Lucinda Price is utterly annoying, boring, superficial, and what every feminist would hate in a character. The entire book is about her fatal attraction to Daniel, and her pinning away for him despite his many harsh rejections. For instance, Daniel flips her off on her first day, and instead of being angry like a regular person (heck, I'd stomp over there and demand an apology!) she's intrigued and starts to fall for him. As Daniel continues to be mean and detached, Luce turns into a stalker and practically flings herself at him. Do I really want to like a character whose mind is occupied about one, and ONLY one thing: boys? Luce then constantly talks about the beautiful Daniel, thereby turning into a lovesick Bella Swan, the kind of girl who can only tell us how absolutely gorgeous their love interest is three hundred times a day. We get it. Now shut up. And, superficial much? I understand you're attracted to the guy, but what about the other qualities? Even I'm bored.

Daniel's like another Edward Cullen, albeit a less tortured version of the vampire. He's incredibly cheesy, and doesn't do much either. He constantly saves Luce, which is another irritating bit. Luce is "supposedly" smart, but she always makes the stupid decisions, gets stuck in them, and then moans and cries about it instead of taking action. In which case, Daniel has to come save her. It's not heroic after the three hundredth time, right?

Overall, it was just too much of a love story than everything. For instance, the author never really explored the reform school idea (rather, it just served as the setting for our lovers to meet). We're just supposed to accept it as a reform school, but considering what little security and rules and regulations were in place, I could have easily mistaken it as a boarding school. Also, none of the other characters were fleshed out. Penn and Adrianne were smart and enjoyable (at least they weren't all full of mush and heartache and boredom like Luce was) but Penn was ridiculously and unnecessarily killed off.

The ending was just predictable. Boy leaves Girl for Girl's safety. New Moon, much? (Don't even get me started on the absolute atrocity of New Moon!) I can just imagine the string of teens petitioning for a Fallen movie. The author has succeeded in dragging out a story line that didn't need to be dragged out much longer, and has tested my patient by rewarding me with nothing short that I hadn't already known just from reading the blurb. Bravo, Kate. (less)

6 likes · like · see review

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Who would you have playing Cam and Daniel?	12	40	4 hours, 20 min ago
Am I the only one frustrated by Daniel?	15	93	9 hours, 25 min ago
What is the best love story in a book?	7	34	May 24, 2013 06:04am
The Booknatics: May's Main Book Of the Month: Fallen by Lauren Kate	16	10	May 19, 2013 05:53pm
The YA Book Club: Fallen Series Trivia MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS	19	54	May 16, 2013 09:13pm
Favorite book series?	12	58	May 16, 2013 08:28am
I don't know what to read....	7	40	May 14, 2013 07:16am

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About Lauren Kate

Lauren Kate grew up in Dallas, went to school in Atlanta, and started writing in New York.
She is the author of Fallen and The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove. She lives in Laurel Canyon with her husband and hopes to work in a restaurant kitchen, get a dog, and learn how to surf.
She is currently at work on the sequel to Fallen.

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“What if the person you were meant to be with could never be yours?” — 1,069 people liked it

“Trust is a careless pursuit at best. At worst, it's a good way to get yourself killed.” — 903 people liked it

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