Ending in Rapture

A conclusion to a well-loved series is tough. You know how you want things to end, so the ending has the dangerous tendency to be predictable, which is always disappointing. Or the author could do something completely unpredictable, but what if it kills your favorite character or means the girl ends up with the wrong guy? Then you are just ticked off that you bothered to even read the whole bloody series in the first place. But sometimes, just sometimes, an author can do something magical. They can do something unexpected and still make you happy. Difficult to accomplish? Absolutely. Phenomenal experience? You bet your rump it is! Well, Lauren Kate didn't disappoint with Rapture, the final book in the Fallen series... Not by a long shot.

Now that Luce has seen the beauty and the horror of all her many lives of falling in love with Daniel and then her immediate destruction, she knows the consequences and she still loves Daniel. But Lucifer won't let them accomplish their one true desire: to end the curse and finally be together as they have always wanted to be. Lucifer decides to start the Fall again, to erase thousands of years, not only of Luce and Daniel's love for each other, but also of the rest of the world's evolution. By starting the Fall anew, the angels must again choose between the Throne (God) and Lucifer (Hell). But the consequences will be catastrophic.

Daniel knows that there are three relics in the world that might lead them to the path where the Fall is to begin. If they can find these three relics and locate the place where the original Fall took place, they might be able to stop Lucifer before he follows through with his mad plan. But the relics haven't been seen for generations, centuries, and locating them is only half the battle. With only a little over a week to stop Lucifer, all the angels and demons must come together and work as the team they once were. But how do you stop the greatest evil of all when he sets his mind to something?

I never saw this ending coming. I knew what I wanted, but I didn't expect what actually happened, and I have to say, I am not the least bit disappointed. I think Lauren Kate did a beautiful job finishing this series and I am very glad I stuck with it. I struggled with the first book, but I think the story just improved with age and culminated in this final, epic volume. The final section (I won't give it away!) is so beautiful that while you read it, you feel like you are beholden to something magical, supernatural, and just beyond your ability to comprehend. It was amazing and I feel completed by this final novel in this series. I feel like there was no better way to end the years of books I have kept up with, so Brava, Ms. Kate. Brava.

This series can fluctuate in its excitement and confusion levels, so I would start the series with a kid who is strong enough to keep up with it. But I wouldn't give this series to the kind of kid who doesn't like to read all of the books in a series, because this series definitely gets better with time. You would be doing yourself a disservice to read one or two books and put it down. But if you want a really beautiful series that started out a little bit trite and transformed itself into something magical, I give you the Fallen series!

Fallen Angels in Love

Lauren Kate's books are more than just a pretty cover, although the covers are so beautiful they are hard to stop looking at. She has some really captivating stories, too. The Fallen series is a few months away from the release of the final novel, but in Fallen in Love, Kate gave us four love stories that tie to the series as a little Valentine's treat. Although, in the world of fallen angels and demons, we know love can't always end happily...

Shelby and Miles are stuck in the past after having followed Luce through the Announcers. Now they must find an angel to get another Announcer to take them home, but first they can't stand out like sore thumbs. In their efforts to blend in, they come across Luce, the Luce of a different time who has yet to meet her fate for her love for Daniel. They know they shouldn't tamper with the past, but they can't help but try to give Luce even a few moments of the love that has spanned centuries.

Roland may seem like a curmudgeon, but there was a time when he was ready to do anything just for a few short years in his immortal life to be with the woman he loved, the mortal woman he knew he couldn't really be with. He broke her heart five years earlier, but now he knows he can't live without her.

Arriane finds herself in the ultimate of star-crossed love. As a fallen angel who is still loyal to heaven, she isn't sure what drew her to Tess, a fallen angel who has aligned herself with Lucifer. Tess is one of Lucifer's chosen soldiers, making it even more dangerous for them to spend time together, not to mention the stigma of two women in love. They know no good can come of their love, but they aren't prepared for the scars that will last for lifetimes.

Finally, Daniel and Luce. In this past self, she was a farmer's daughter while Daniel was a knight- two classes that can never come together. She knows she shouldn't put any faith in the fact that he might overlook her lot in life, but at the same time, she can't help but think about him. She feels there is something more powerful drawing them together, and that feeling can't be tempered by something as trivial as social class. That is a love that lasts, over and over again.

This was a fun little book to tide anyone over until the final book in the series comes out this summer. The timeline is muddled between the Luce of that time and the angels and Nephilim of the present day. But what I liked the most was that they all tied in together to this specific time and this specific Valentine's Day. It felt like they weren't separate short stories, but rather that they had a purpose in the scheme of the whole series and as a stand-alone book. It was a bittersweet tale of love and love lost... just in time for Valentine's Day!

Made me Passionate for this Series!

This series has really grown on me. From a lackluster first book, to a pretty good second book, this third book delivers everything I wanted: adventure, excitement, Luce's previous lives, and background knowledge. Passion is Lauren Kate's third book in the Fallen series, to be followed by the final book, Rapture.

When we last left Luce and Daniel, they had fought a battle with the evil Outcasts in her parents' backyard. Luce has found herself conflicted by her love and lives with Daniel. Needing proof of why they live the nightmare of her flaming death over and over again, she steps into an Announcer (smoky little portals that can be used to see or go to a person's former lives) to find out what all these former lives are about. She starts off in Russia during WWII where she sees how painful her death is for Daniel each and every time he loses her. She goes to Italy during WWI, England, Egypt, China, and many more. Each time, Luce learns a little more about herself and her love for Daniel.

Along the way, she picks up an odd little helper in the Announcer named Bill. He is a small little gargoyle thing that proves to be helpful in finding both her way and the meaning she has been searching for. He helps her blend in with the time period, guides her into meeting her former selves, and even helps her "cleave" with her former body, becoming that person through the last moments of their life. All of this helps Luce realize everything Daniel has done is because of his undying love for her. What she doesn't know, is he is following her through the Announcers, trying to find her. At her first life, Bill convinces her it would be best to release her soul from the curse, thereby releasing her love of infinite lives from the curse that destroys him with every reincarnation. What she doesn't realize at first is Bill might have his own agenda that might not be as genuine as Luce thinks. Can Daniel find her in time? Can they break the curse after all?

Oh this was such an interesting book! Every pair of chapters was a new place. The first chapter would be Luce arriving in the former life, and then the second would be Daniel's arrival. Seeing the lives from two different perspectives really explained the whole story in a way the reader can appreciate. Then their two journeys differ a bit, and you see how their two lives are entwined, but also how much they need each other. The love between Luce and Daniel is epic, and nothing, including a bratty 12-year old French king, a huge class discrepancy, or a Mayan sacrifice, can keep them apart. At different points in the last two books, I became annoyed with either Luce, for being too petulant or Daniel, for being too vague, but this book made me love both of them at the same time. This was the perfect lay-up for the final book, and I simply cannot wait to read it!

Fallen Angels: The New Vampires

I had a tough time getting through Lauren Kate's first story, Fallen. It was a long book that wasted hundreds of pages being vague and didn't get to the point until the last 50 pages. The premise was good, but the execution was too slow. Therefore, I had great hopes that once the secret from Book One was out (Daniel was a fallen angel and Luce is his only love, but they were cursed and every time their love is realized, Luce dies and the cycle begins again), the story could progress a little faster. I was right, and the sequel, Torment, is an even better book than its big sister.

After the story of Daniel and Luce's history comes out, and the curse seems to be broken (usually the first kiss leads to Luce's smiting), they have to figure out what comes next. Unfortunately, there are a lot of creepers out there who don't want them to be together- namely the Outcasts. The Outcasts are fallen angels who never chose a side and found themselves cast out of both Heaven and Hell. For their betrayal, they were all blinded, but that only succeeded in making them creepier and more deadly. Now they are hunting Luce, and Daniel must go to great lengths to protect her. He makes a truce with Cam, the evil fallen angel (demon) who vied for Luce's attention. Together they decide to put her in a special school, Shoreline, to protect and shield her while they hunt the Outcasts.

Shoreline turns out to be educational on many levels for Luce. First, she realizes the school is populated by Nephilim, the children of angels and mortals who are left in a weird state of limbo that leaves them with diluted power and no place in either the angel or the mortal world. The school is disguised as a legitimate school filled with mortal students, but all the Nephilim attend a special "honors" program which is really training for how to brave the world at large. It is run by an angel and a demon who teach them a new curriculum once Luce arrives.

They begin to teach Luce, along with her friends Miles and Shelby and the rest of the class, about the Announcers. The Announcers are the same shadows Luce has seen all her life. They are shadows that allow the viewer to see glimpses of their past, although they don't always show what the viewer wants to see. As soon as Luce realizes what the Announcers can do, she begins investigating her former lives, with and without Daniel. She has been so consumed by Daniel's love that she never realized her love for him not only ended her past lives, it also ruined the lives of her past families. As she explores the people her former selves left behind, she sees the true costs of the curse that ends her life every time she finds her true love: the family who lose her.

With the pain of her families in her heart, and Daniel's refusal to tell her why she was banished to Shoreline and what is after her, Luce sets off on a dangerous and headstrong path. After putting herself in danger, the disappearance of a friend and almost drowning of another friend makes her realize there is more to the threat than she realized. Will the continued secrets and the weight of the curse be too much for Luce? Will she be able to get beyond everything in order to continue to love Daniel? Or will the kindness of another boy lead her from her destiny?

This was a vast improvement over the first book. While this installation still leaves much to the imagination and does not give so much away that you won't buy the third book, it doesn't leave the reader confused the entire time either. If you have read the first book, there is enough background knowledge already established to keep the reader intrigued yet informed. The new characters are really great additions to the story, and the old favorites from Luce and Daniel's previous school make appearances throughout the story. This was definitely a great follow-up to a mediocre first story that left me excited for the next book.

Like Fallen, the language is average, but the story requires a little staying power from a reader. I probably wouldn't recommend this series to a struggling reader, based on the length and will power needed to complete it. Once the story starts to progress, though, there is a lot to talk about and sink your teeth into. Don't give up on this series before you read Torment. You will be missing out if you don't keep with it!

Falling? or Hovering with Uncertainty?

Sometimes you simply can judge a book by its cover! Fallen, by Lauren Kate, is packed with teen angst, sorrow and confusion, as if that wasn't clearly stated by the haunting cover! But is there more to the story than just a teen in trouble?

Luce has been sent to a reform school called Sword and Cross after a boy dies in her last school and she is blamed for the fire that killed him. When she gets there, she is instantly taken in by a girl named Arianne who shows her the ropes. But the one thing Luce can't seem to ignore is Daniel Grigori, despite the fact that he clearly isn't interested in her. When another boy, Cam, shows he is overly interested in Luce, she is torn between Daniel's cold shoulder but haunting appeal and Cam's overzealous attention that borders on stalking.

When Luce befriends Penn, the daughter of the former groundskeeper and only kid not forced to be at Sword and Cross, they begin to dig into Daniel's history. What they find is confusing and indicates there is more to Daniel Grigori than he lets on. When things at Sword and Cross start to go horribly awry, Luce finds out there is more to her life than just the strange shadows she keeps seeing; destiny might be at work here.

The synopsis of this book seems vague, because the majority of the novel is quite vague. Luce is at the boarding school for something we learn is not completely her fault, but there isn't much explanation offered. The story continues for a fell 9/10 of the book about Luce in the reform school, and only in the last bit are any questions answered. Even then, the story seems lacking because the explanation is rushed and not really fleshed out.

This book is very slow, not because the characters are uninteresting, or the setting is dull, but because you know there is more coming. You keep waiting for it and waiting for it, but it doesn't come until it is squeezed into the last 50 pages of the book. I am assuming the story will be more clear in the upcoming sequel, but this book would be hard for most reluctant readers- there just isn't enough to understand until the bitter end. I enjoyed the story, but I would be reluctant to give this to a student because it is so slow moving. Hopefully the sequel will be faster and clearer!