Review - Fallen by Lauren Kate

Summary:

   There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.
   Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.
   Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce–and goes out of his way to make that very clear–she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Review:

About a year ago I tried to read Fallen, but only got about halfway through.  This time, I started from the beginning again and succesfully read the entire book to give it a fair review.  I'm proud to say that this time around, I liked it better.  While def not one of my favorite books, I did think it was a decent read.

Plot:  I believe that at the time this book was published, it was one of the first (if not the very first) books in the YA genre that dealt with the plot of fallen angels.  Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.  While I think the plot was original, especially with the integrated subplot of reincarnation, I think it could have been executed better.  I would have loved to see more integration of Daniel and Luce's past relationships.  Now keep in my mind that I have not read the sequel, Torment, yet so Kate might do that in that book or the 3rd book, Passion.

Characters:  Lauren Kate's characters are 50/50 for me.  Some characterizations were great, such as Arriane and Penn.  Others fell through big time.  Daniel, Luce, and Cam's characters were flat considering those 3 are the main protagonists/anatagonists of the story.  Plus, I think a Cam/Luce relationship would have been much more interesting than Daniel/Luce.  Jus' sayin'.  I have the 2nd in the series on my bookshelf, waiting to be read.

3 out of 5 stars