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tinyzap's Reviews (280)
Lauren Kate has joined two of my favorite themes, soul mates and fallen angels, in her new series kick-off Fallen. (I’ve mentioned before that I have a weak spot for fallen angels and I could not be happier that it’s an ever-expanding sub genre of fantasy YA novels.) The book starts off with plenty of intrigue and mystery which just keeps leading to more and more mystery as the story progresses. For every question answered a new one appears, but not in an annoying way. Kate manages to keep you interested even though there are tons of new loose ends to tie up in the second book Torment, out in late September.
The main characters are vague enough that you can jump into the scene, as opposed to jumping off the page themselves. I think both styles have merit but I think its personal preference to which is better. Kate also did a great job of making me care about the characters by showing their vulnerabilities and short comings. No one is perfect… not even angels.
The subject matter also manages to stay on topic (ya know, about angels) without becoming grossly over-religious. The mythology can exist without the over-tones that put off many audiences and Kate did a wonderful job with that.
Kate spent a lot of time building a world for her characters and it seems like they wont be living in that world anymore in the second book. I’m not sure how this will play out or if it will even matter, but it seems like a shame to have taken so much time creating something to abandon it in the end. However, the series seems very well planned out. Sometimes it seems like one book was written and then the publisher asked for a series. I don’t get that feeling with Fallen and I definitely look forward to reading the next book soon!
The main characters are vague enough that you can jump into the scene, as opposed to jumping off the page themselves. I think both styles have merit but I think its personal preference to which is better. Kate also did a great job of making me care about the characters by showing their vulnerabilities and short comings. No one is perfect… not even angels.
The subject matter also manages to stay on topic (ya know, about angels) without becoming grossly over-religious. The mythology can exist without the over-tones that put off many audiences and Kate did a wonderful job with that.
Kate spent a lot of time building a world for her characters and it seems like they wont be living in that world anymore in the second book. I’m not sure how this will play out or if it will even matter, but it seems like a shame to have taken so much time creating something to abandon it in the end. However, the series seems very well planned out. Sometimes it seems like one book was written and then the publisher asked for a series. I don’t get that feeling with Fallen and I definitely look forward to reading the next book soon!
I was intrigued by the universe of this book, its a little different than other vampire novels, and I liked it for that. However the writing style is a little choppy for me and I had a hard time suspending my disbelief a few times. For me, a great fantasy book needs to take place in my world with my rules. Those rules need to then be broken and twisted to accommodate the paranormal, but they still need to be there for them to be broken. I had too hard a time believing that a 16 year old would be allowed to live in a community house on a college campus. Other than that the book kept my interested and waiting for final resolution, which unfortunately seemed too contrived.
While it mirrors the “I want to kill/eat/otherwise maim you” romance of some other young adult novels out there, it at least uses the refreshing twist of angels instead of vampires/werewolves/ghosts. The story is pretty good too. It never fell into that trite, predictable, and overdone category. The romance inside never seems to be able to get off the ground which I found incredibly refreshing. Fitzpatrick's use of language also added to the pleasurable reading experience.