Fallen by Lauren Kate

I am probably one of a number of book bloggers who just absolutely fell in love with the book cover, and didn’t even bother to look at the back cover to find out what it is all about.

Well, the cover is hauntingly beautiful. And the blurb at the back of the book didn’t seem too bad either.

Here’s what it says:

Some angels are destined to fall. Instant. Intense. Weirdly familiar…The moment Luce looks at Daniel she knows she has never felt like this before. Except she can’t shake the feeling that she has…and with him – a boy she doesn’t remember ever setting eyes on.

Will her attempts to find out why enlighten her – or destroy her?

My take on the book

I wish I could say I loved this book. But, no, this really didn’t click for me. Which is a pity really, because there are many strong points in this book – the writing is lovely, the plot build up is good too, and so is the setting.

So, what didn’t work for me? Unfortunately, the most basic aspect – the story – fell completely flat.

Warning: Spoilers ahead

The basic theme of the book is about 2 lovers who fall in love with each other over multiple lifetimes (of the girl). The boy is an immortal fallen angel. Probably, this is a new theme in western YA literature, but our Indian culture and movies are full of such cheesy reincarnation based love stories. There was nothing particularly new/novel about the plot. A ho-hum affair, which is aggravated by the fact that the entire suspense of the story is given out in the first couple of pages. You then have to plough through 200 odd pages before the heroine Luce realizes why she is so drawn to the aloof, mysterious Daniel in her new school.

Also, the many similarities between this book and Twilight was quite off-putting. I didn’t particularly enjoy Twilight, but I could appreciate the novelty of the book. Here, Fallen just seemed a rehash of Twilight in a different setting. So many similar plotlines – the gawky, awkward girl, the super-handsome aloof hero, the descriptions of some of the places, the dreamy, moody tone of the book are modeled very closely on Twilight.

I also found myself getting extremely annoyed by the descriptions of the school they attend. The school is a reform school, and throughout the book, its pointed out that it’s a very depressing place. However, the details of the school actually make it seem quite beautiful. For example, the swimming pool is housed in an old church, and it is described in beautiful detail…as are the school grounds located by the river. I always thought reform schools were rather grim places. But here are students swanning around in beautiful settings, getting well-educated, and cribbing about how terrible the place is.

In India, I studied in a good school, but we would have killed to have half the facilities these children were enjoying (or rather not enjoying).

Anyway, enough of this little rant about schools.I am going to sum up this review with just the following recommendation:

If you loved Twilight, and want more of the same, then this book is for you. Otherwise, you are better off giving this one a skip.