Reviews

Torment by Lauren Kate

gigingina's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

padigrumae's review against another edition

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4.0

Book two gives Luce a chance to learn more about herself. Agonizingly, we must also wait for her to figure it out, and I did not appreciate the unnecessary love triangle angst that was sprinkled in here unnecessarily and not very well. But the end again was where the action was.

raausne's review against another edition

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3.0

I like it.

read_with_autumn's review against another edition

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3.0

It took me a while to get into this book but by the end I was hooked again. Can't wait for the next book in the series!

readbyroad's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I unfortunately enjoyed this one less than the first one. 

The main reason for this was that the plot was Luce and Daniel cycling through the same motions over and over again (Luce and Daniel reunite and kiss, Daniel says "look I can't tell you anything but you need to stay here to stay safe," Luce goes "ugh who is he to tell me what to do when he won't tell me anything" and then leaves anyways and has a near-death experience, then repeat). I found this to be an annoying move by Luce the first time; by the fourth time I was verbally telling the book that she was (respectfully) stupid.

We also learned very little about anything plot-related during this book other than that Luce can apparently travel through the shadows and that Daniel gets more hot when he kills somebody (objectively, not subjectively, although I'm sure Luce would agree). In general, my feelings about this book are "could've been an email;" they definitely could've compressed the things she learnt in this book into book 1 if they tried.

Another thing I didn't appreciate in general during this book was the entirely new cast of characters, some of whom bore a strong resemblance to others we'd met before (e.g. Shelby and Arrianne) or to each other (the only thing that I can strongly say differentiates Jasmine and Dawn is that Dawn apparently looks a lot like Luce and assumably that's not the case for Jasmine). The exception to this rule was Stephen (and to a lesser extent, Francesca, although the most interesting thing about her was her relationship about Stephen). Does it say something about me being too old to read this book that I was lowkey more attracted to Stephen during this book than Daniel? Also, on the note of Stephen and Francesca, why do they present as middle-aged when the other angels/demons (Cam, Arrianne, Daniel) present as older teenagers? Presumably they are all old af, so not sure why Stephen and Francesca get to look like real adults while the others are forced to be eternal adolescents.

Again, giving a 3.5 for this one because despite the lack of meaningful plot described above, the concept continued to still be very compelling; like book 1, I also read this one in one night. Again, I borrowed all 4 books on libby because none had a wait time so now I'm invested. Stay tuned for my thoughts on books 3 and 4.

Edit: adjusted down to a 3.0 after looking at some of my scores for other books (like a 3.75 for Wintersong, ouch harsh) and realizing I had done those books a bit dirty by ranking this one similarly.

poshaxo's review against another edition

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3.0

I like the characters, its an interesting story line but Luce is just annoyingly clueless. Thats what keeps me from giving this book 4 stars. i did really like this book and the whole angels and demons concept, but i cant get over how totally dense Luce seems to be. Halfway through the book i kind of was like, "maybe you deserve for something really bad to happen to you because you are just so stupid!" But thats just my opinion.

sunflowerqueen21's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

i_n_e_s_'s review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

wingedcreature's review against another edition

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3.0

For some reason, I decided to pick this book up even though it's been ages since I've read the first book. 

I did like seeing Luce at Shoreline, and seeing her fit into a world she didn't know about.  There's more to it than I thought, and I really liked seeing everything with the Shadows.  We learn a lot more about everything going on with Daniel, and what happened so long ago.  

I did leave the book with more questions than answers, and I want to know more about Luce and why she can do what she can do.  I am absolutely convinced there is more to it, and I'm hoping we'll get some answers.  I have the feeling the answers will be replaced with a million more questions, since there are a couple more books to go in the series.  But still, I would like some answers.  Especially with the Outcasts.  And the battle at the end of book.  It wasn't completely explained and I'm hoping there are answers in the next book.

I didn't particularly like Daniel.  He's supposed to be the good guy, and the whole reason Luce is in this situation is because of Daniel.  And yet, it seems like she is an object for him to have.  Cam seems to care more about her safety than Daniel, and he seems much more willing to actually talk to her and explain things to her. 

Daniel is really moody, and while I don't expect him to be a saint, I expected something different from him.  It really seems like he loves the idea of Luce, and their epic history, but he's shown no interest in wanting to get to know her.  Maybe he's trying to protect himself after decades of finding her, only to lose.  It doesn't make his behavior okay, because it's not.  But I don't get the sense that he really, truly cares about her and I'm having a hard time rooting for them.  It really feels like there's no chemistry between Daniel and Luce.

Speaking of Luce, she was pretty whiny, but I don't really blame her.  I think I would be too.  At least there were a few students who made things better for her while she was at Shoreline.  Hopefully she'll continue to have some sort of group who makes things bearable.  I think it may be good for her, but we'll see.

My Rating: 3 stars.  I liked it the same as Fallen (the first book) but I still want to keep reading.  I'm hoping Daniel will be different, but we'll see.

jldee's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5