Title: Fallen Author: Lauren Kate
Series: Fallen, (#1)
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publication Date: December 8, 2009
Publisher: Delacorte Press
KILL IT WITH FIRE.
Do you see that pose the emo girl on the cover is doing? The miserable, melancholy one that involves burying her face in her hands? Thats the pose I was doing when I finished this book. I also did it numerous times while I was reading this...novel.
I wanted to give this book five starts for the cover. Seriously. I'm one of those people that takes the bait of pretty, sad covers. I am a fool. I have been hurt my books with these enchanting, mysterious covers before, and I have not learned. I keep hoping someday the book will be better than the cover. This is a great example of those books that fool you with a beautiful cover.
Well, this book made me pull my hair out and scream. Literally.
There are a lot of problems with this book. The fact that the cover really is the only good part about the whole thing is one of them. Another is the fact that the plot completely relies on the reader not only caring for, but strongly liking, the characters. If you don't like the characters, you'll throw this book at the flames. I nearly did, but I contained myself. Because I am civilized.
Okay, now I'm going to stop being civilized.
This book is a literature disaster zone. Everything authors are taught and told and expected not to do, is done here. The main character, Luce Price, is a spoiled, weak minded, air headed, dense, obnoxious, fragile, flat, injudicious girl that nobody can relate to, because she's more unrealistic and dull than Bella Swan. She suffers from immense lack of intelligence, intuition, common sense, AND SELF RESPECT. Serious, SERIOUS lack of self respect. At the beginning of the book, Luce is as annoying as she is at the end of the book. I'd have expected her to have gotten a little more mature, after all she went rhough- which, let's admit it, we ALL knew what the "big secret' was about 50 pages into the book. Kate reveals the big secret at the end of the book, but if you take in the summary, book title, and first 50 pages, you can figure it out on your own. It might as well be written in big red letters in the front of the book- it wouldn't make it any more obvious than it already is. And not only is the plot predictable, it's almost nonexistent. The plot is technically the core of the book. The characters of the book are created as plot devices, to help establish the plot and tell the story. If the plot is based only of the characters and their history with one another, then there really is no plot, is there? And it doesn't work if you don't care for the characters. Which I don't. Because they are monotonous. They all lack personality and depth. Every human being has depth. Characters don't have to be likeable all the time, or even likeable at all, but they have to be three dimensional and realistic in some aspects. The characters in Fallen, are not. Especially Luce. She spends the whole book pathetically lusting after some boy who is good looking, but treats her like something a the bottom of his shoe. Or something his cat might've puked up. This is not an exaggeration. He even flips her off, before they even officially meet. And yet she comes crawling back. TAKE A HINT, SWEETIE- If a guy flips you off and sends you hateful looks, he probably doesn't want to get all cuddly with you. I don't know about you, but it seems like any self-respecting female should have enough sense to get over a boy (if not hand him a Hermione-punch) who treats her so badly. I understand the reason he did it- I get why he acted the way he did. But her reaction to how he treated her, no matter how in love they are, is a horrible example and even offensive to adolescent girls everywhere. Throughout the book, I was hoping someone could knock some sense into Luce, but everyone seemed to like the air-headed, dense girl. She made the worst decisions possible, and I can imagine her running into a pole just because it looks so beautiful. The worst part is that despite her lack of depth, personality, or hair, she seems to attract the most male attention. Well, she made ME want to pull my hair out. Her decisions were senseless and, as I have said before, dense. She gets rejected, treated worse then trash, and then comes back for more- yes, they are both in love with each other, but in the book, Luce does not initially know they are meant to be together, and I understand something makes her keep looking for him, but it still doesn't make it okay to let a boy treat you that way, and ask them to treat you that way more. The worst part is not only does she look for him to treat her like this and to talk to him, she stalks him, always watching him, following around. It's not right. I don't care if they are in love, I don't care if he is doing this for her own good- it is unhealthy to keep WANTING A GUY WHO TREATS YOU LIKE CRAP. It just is not right. The worst part is that they don't have a reason to love eachother. I can't figure out for the life of me what Luce sees in egotistical, idiotic Daniel, except for his great face and jawline, or what Daniel sees in air headed, insensitive, weak Luce who seems to be unable to stand up for herself or anything in her life. I swear, she has no spine, and that alone can ruin the whole book. Their romance is forced and is void of chemistry or depth, LIKE EVERYTHING IN THIS BOOK. Honestly, the one thing nobody has yet figured out about this book is why they like eachother. They are both moronic, sure, but I don't think that results in deep, everlasting love, which they do not seem to share. And the whole romance wouldn't be a tragedy if Daniel found a hobby instead of waiting for Luce to come around so he can go step on her and say they can't be together. Seriously, could it get worse? Yes, it can. Kate, Characters need to be...readable. They need to be interesting and complex, they need to jump out of the page. They don't have to be likeable. In fact, some may argue, Katniss Everdeen is very unlikeable- but realistic, and fascinating, and fleshed out. Nothing here touches my heart or is even remotely interesting. And, really, this book can be just plain out confusing. I knew the entire plot right away, but by the end of the book I felt like I was missing something. Everything ex explained, but the ending just didn't make sense and was unsatisfactory. I couldn't understand what happened to any of the characters- it was clear, but it just didn't make sense or connect with the rest of the book. I mean, 3/4 of the book is made up of Luce sulking, being dense, and stalking a guy who, as I have mentioned before, treats her like trash. Then, the last 1/4 of the book, the secret is suddenly revealed and theres this big battle out of absolutely nowhere. One second it's all good then the book is tellins us what we already know. I mean, that book could've been 300 pages shorter had you taken out the sulking, stalking, and "Go away, I don't like you Luce, you are so stalking me." parts between Dan and Luce. Really, that was what bothered me even more than the characters- and that's saying something. The fact that NOTHING HAPPENED for the first 380 pages, and by the last few pages we already know the big secret, but there's a big revelation anyway, as if the author thinks we're not stupid enough to figure it out. What makes the revelation WORSE is that Luce, after ASKING AND NAGGING for Daniel to talk to her, runs away, when he does talk to her. Wow.
It took me 5 days to read this book because I felt like everytime I read it too long, my feelings and mind went numb, like the characters in the book are so void of feelings and real thoughts and personality that it sort of affected me too. So, no, I didn't find this book enjoyable and I don't recommend it to anyone. The only reason I am giving it two stars instead of one is because I can't get over the pretty cover. And, by the way, I am quite aware of the fact that one-dimensional doesn't exist, but saying her world and characters are two-dimensional is too much of an over-statement. If thats even a word or phrase.
So, there you have it. Boring lifeless, obnoxious, injudicious characters, a virtually inexistent plot, a pathetic excuse of a romance, delinquent clad setting, and a melancholy cover that lies because apparently Luce has very very short hair. Which, of course, is traumatizing to Luce- she just loved her hair. She even weeps about how she had to cut it off in the book. No joke.
I think you know my rating.
ONE STAR.
....
*looks at cover of beautiful girl in woods, with pretty dress*
....
ONE AND A HALF STARS.
(Way too many calories. Don't eat again. Unhealthy.)
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