Fallen

I thought Fallen would be a shoot-and-miss for me. It wasn't that exactly, but it could have been better.

Luce is sent to the Sword & Cross boarding school after she's seeing shadows everywhere and she's the suspect of a dead guy in a burnt-down house. It's your worst-nightmare boarding school, the kind where cell phones are banned, all the other children are psychos, and there are surveillance cameras watching your every move.

She sees Daniel Grigori right from the first day, and get's that weird feeling like she definitely, positively has known this guy before. Daniel obviously doesn't want anything to do with her, but of course she's GOT to find out the truth behind him.

It's good that she wasn't obsessing over Daniel so much that she didn't have time for her friends, or to check out the other cute guy in the school.

In the end, Daniel was WAY too much like "Oh my gosh, you are precious flower, go into the church where you will be safe, and leave the fighting to the big strong angels." (okay, so he didn't say those exact words, but you get the gist). And Luce went along with it! It was just one of those books where the girl was way too soft, always leaving her own fights to someone else. And she and Daniel were a bit too obsessed with each other at the end. Kind of like "I-I can't live without you, Luce. I love you." (and he DID actually say that in the book). Creepy lover alert.

And the whole stalking thing Luce did with Daniel. I mean sure he looked good, but what happened to not judging a book by its cover? He was rude, cold and distant. Until, of course, Luce broke through.

And then there was Daniel and Cam. They were a bit like sparring bulls, fighting over the female. And I didn't even GET why Cam wanted her.

*Spoiler alert* I don't think that pretty much the whole reform school should have been angels. I mean, seriously TWO mortal kids in the whole school and the angels didn't even notice.

It was a good book all in all, even though it was a bit predictable and I didn't like the obsessive love.

Reader reviewed by Paranormally Romanced

Reader reviewed by Lia

Luce is enrolled at Sword & Cross, a school for delinquents. As she tries to overcome the shadows she see everywhere she can't help but think about Daniel Grigori. In place where nothing is as it seems Luce tries to make sense of the weird connection she has with Daniel.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I hoped I would. I had great expectations, and I was let down. The paranormal aspect of the book came way too late. I kept reading because the story was building up to it the whole time.  I liked Cam, he was an interesting character to read about. You never knew what was up with him, until the end, and even then you were doubting his motives. The ending was good, so I'll give the sequel a try.

Reader reviewed by Ari

Honestly I only wanted to read this book at first so I could trash it brutally screaming, "Why cant anyone think of a original plot line that doesnt follow the junk known as TWILIGHT!!" But I was actually quite surprised. Although I wouldn't recomend it for romance junkies this book was considerably brilliant when it came to weaving in the biblical story of the angels and the mysterious world Lauren Kate wished to create. Romance did not occur until maybe the last sixty pages which I found quite shocking considering the synopsis built up to it sounding like it would be 10 pages in and they would be making out. Although quite similar to Twilight I found this story was extremely unique. I loved some of the dangerous, adreniline enhancing scenes. I was shocked at some of the disturbing, grotesque scenes. I honestly never wanted to put this book down. Almost every chapter dealt with Luce trying to figure out Daniel, and what was happening. The begining of the story gives a great deal of background to Luce's history as to how she ended up in Sword and Cross. I loved the prolouge although I found the epilouge to be quite confusing. Written in third person we learn of Luce and Daniel's eternal love that could never die. Until something changed. Something crucial. That may cause everything to end.

Reader reviewed by Christi

Fallen is the story of a girl named Luce, who is sent to a reform school in Savannah after a tragic incident points to her. While at this school, Sword & Cross, she meets a slew of interestingly dark characters. One of which is the elusive, and mysterious Daniel Grigori. There is something oddly familiar about him that Luce can't quite put her finger on, and his adament aversion to her only causes her curiousity to deepen. What secrets unfold in this novel will leave you surpised, I promise you.
 
 I loved the tone to this novel. It has an eerie, gothic undertone to it, which I thought was perfect for the story. I loved the setting, a strange reform school, I have yet to read a novel set in a place like that. The de ja vu that Luce experiences when around Daniel is perfectly dropped at the perfect moments, I was definitely enraptured. This novel is definately in a league of it's own. My hat goes off to the author for such fresh imagination.
 The ending of the book tugs me in different directions. You don't entirely know what's going on until the end, and when I did some scenes I was fighting the urge to sigh at how close it was to being ridiculous. The author danced a thin line when it came to the story's end conclusion, and she still pulled it off beautifully, even if I'm a bit nervous about how deep it goes in the second book.
However, the book does it's job in shocking the crap out of you, and it's delicious when it does. I would definately recommend this book to others.