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readbyroad 's review for:
Passion
by Lauren Kate
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is the best book in this series by a long shot. After two books of being frustrated that Luce (and thus us as readers) was still glaringly in the dark about why all of this was happening, we finally got some plot!
This one was INTERESTING. Maybe because I like historical fiction, maybe because I was so starved for any understanding about the curse that I willingly ATE up the small crumbs of plot that we got here. Who can say?
I appreciated that we got no new (main) characters in this one with the exception of Bill. Speaking of Bill, the following evaluation is based solely on his entertainment value as a character rather than his role in the story: I appreciated his addition. Ultimately, it would've been boring to just have Luce stumble through her past lives by herself so it was good to have somebody present for her to chat through her thoughts with. Also (and again, this may be a reflection of my age being higher than YA) some of his lines genuinely did make me laugh (like the one about the 2012 prediction, which read very differently from 2025 than it likely would have as a reader in 2011 when this was originally published)
Daniel also had a personality (and a fairly likeable one, too!) in this one, which was a nice change from book 2.
The thing I didn't love about this book was the implications of time travel. This isn't the author's fault; time travel tends to be one of my least favourite sci-fi plot lines because really, it's impossible to not write yourself into a knot with glaring plot holes. Honestly, she did a better job of addressing the impacts of the time travel than some other media; it was clear that when changes happened to the timeline, Daniel's memories of that specific life became blurred (which makes sense). I do think it's strange that he encountered his past self SO MANY times and yet had no memory in the present of these visits happening. I get that once or twice could get lost in the millenia, but dozens of times? Of course, when you think through the finer logistics of it all, the time travel plot hangs by a shoe string, but just don't look at it too closely and it will be just fine!
Giving a 3.5 (for real this time) for this one because I was excited by finally having enough plot/backstory to begin understanding/theorizing where we might be going with this. Again, read this one in one night. Again, borrowed all 4 books on Libby because none had a wait time so now I'm invested; this one was JUST good enough that it made books 1 and 2 worth it. Stay tuned for my thoughts on book 4.
Oh also,the book that Daniel wrote that we found out about in book 1 but never got to read and tbh which Luce has clearly forgotten about?I'm making a prediction that that will play a part in breaking the curse in book 4 based on a comment Bill made about the things Luce not knowing fitting inside a book. Tbh if thus prediction isn't right, I'll be annoyed about the missed opportunity.
This one was INTERESTING. Maybe because I like historical fiction, maybe because I was so starved for any understanding about the curse that I willingly ATE up the small crumbs of plot that we got here. Who can say?
I appreciated that we got no new (main) characters in this one with the exception of Bill. Speaking of Bill, the following evaluation is based solely on his entertainment value as a character rather than his role in the story: I appreciated his addition. Ultimately, it would've been boring to just have Luce stumble through her past lives by herself so it was good to have somebody present for her to chat through her thoughts with. Also (and again, this may be a reflection of my age being higher than YA) some of his lines genuinely did make me laugh (like the one about the 2012 prediction, which read very differently from 2025 than it likely would have as a reader in 2011 when this was originally published)
Daniel also had a personality (and a fairly likeable one, too!) in this one, which was a nice change from book 2.
The thing I didn't love about this book was the implications of time travel. This isn't the author's fault; time travel tends to be one of my least favourite sci-fi plot lines because really, it's impossible to not write yourself into a knot with glaring plot holes. Honestly, she did a better job of addressing the impacts of the time travel than some other media; it was clear that when changes happened to the timeline, Daniel's memories of that specific life became blurred (which makes sense). I do think it's strange that he encountered his past self SO MANY times and yet had no memory in the present of these visits happening. I get that once or twice could get lost in the millenia, but dozens of times? Of course, when you think through the finer logistics of it all, the time travel plot hangs by a shoe string, but just don't look at it too closely and it will be just fine!
Giving a 3.5 (for real this time) for this one because I was excited by finally having enough plot/backstory to begin understanding/theorizing where we might be going with this. Again, read this one in one night. Again, borrowed all 4 books on Libby because none had a wait time so now I'm invested; this one was JUST good enough that it made books 1 and 2 worth it. Stay tuned for my thoughts on book 4.
Oh also,