A New Post...Yay! A Review...Double Yay!!

I've been reading like a fiend, not that you'd know it from the frequency of posts to this blog. Problem is, most all of my reads have been for the fabulous Historical Novel Society, which means I can't post my reviews until after they are published. But now I'm officially caught up on reviews for HNS and I can finally, finally attack my own TBR pile with gusto!

I actually did a Great Book Purge last week, culling nearly 200 books from my shelves (and floor spaces, and under bed spaces, etc.).  Right now the majority of the said cull-ees are still in my living room downstairs, waiting for me to get them to either my library or Goodwill. I invited some friends over on Monday to take what they wanted and I still have around 125 books left. It's all good...I can now walk beside my bed without danger of knocking Mt. TBR over with books I've since lost interest in or will never read again. I'm so PROUD of getting some of these books out of my house (okay...they'll all be out eventually, I swear). I even have a small pile by my bed of books that will be Up Next. Wow...not having to search for books because I've stashed them all over is liberating! And K and I also Drove By Barnes and Noble the other day while out shopping...it was hard but we did it! Go, Us!

Anyway, the first book I've finished that I can share the review here is Rapture by Lauren Kate. I just published my review on Amazon...it took a while to take off but it's such a fine ending to the series that my review is glowing, I tell you. So without further ado...here 'tis.
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I must admit that in the first 100 or so pages of Rapture, the long awaited finale to Lauren Kate's fabulous Fallen series, I was becoming discouraged. Was I really going on a quest to find three unknown objects that would avert the Fall of the angels from Heaven? A quest, really? And there seemed to be an awful lot of flying through the air with its myriad descriptions of what Luce was seeing and feeling but not really moving the story along much. But then Kate brings us to the action of actually finding the sought -after artifacts and what must be done with them and things began to pick up, and once Luce is led to her major discovery, I was all in (despite my eye rolling at the "battle" between Dee and her sister--the cheesiest lines of the entire series, I swear).







Of course this book is the final tale of the great love affair of mortal Luce and angel Daniel, under a curse to find and then lose one another over lifetime after lifetime. Now that Lucifer is involved, he's determined to re-create the great Fall of the angels from Heaven, and Luce, Daniel, and their band of angel/demon friends have to nine days in which to avert the disaster. While I may not have been enamored of the initial build-up (some of which felt like filler material, there simply to stretch the story out with minute descriptions of rocks and other natural features), I can say, hands down, that the final third of this book is wonderful! While I don't subscribe to Kate's vision of religion, I do have to say it's beautiful, well written, and a very fitting way to end the series. In fact, the final chapters of this book are so well done, filled with so much heart and intensity, I was simply blown away. So often book series merely come to a sputtering halt but this book brings another level of engagement to the story. Absolutely a perfect ending, with even a bit of room for new stories to be told. I hope Ms. Kate will supply us with more of her gifted imagination with the characters we've grown to know and love.


~taminator40

Passion by Lauren Kate

Passion is the third book in the Fallen trilogy, and it's chock full of answers for all those burning questions we've had since the first book. Luce is determined to find out just what it is that has kept Daniel chasing her through centuries and centuries, across time zones and continents; she must know if it's really love or just part of the curse cast on Daniel at his Fall from heaven. Once she steps into an Announcer, she's on her way back through time and all the lives she's shared with her angel, on a mission to end the curse once and for all, one way or another. Hard on her heels is Daniel, desperate to find Luce before she irrevocably messes with history and destroys everything.



What I Loved/Liked: I loved getting glimpses into Luce and Daniel's shared pasts. I loved that we progressively went further and further back in time until that cataclysmic moment when we finally find out how it all began. I liked that it's obvious that Ms. Kate has done her biblical research and has given careful thought to how to make the story come together. I liked that we learned the back story to Daniel and Cam, and I liked that the Nephilim played a role (however small) in helping Daniel. I also liked the set up for the final book. I liked that each lifetime she experienced brought her closer to the final answers she so desperately seemed to need. Which brings me to...


What I Didn't Like: I wanted to scream at Luce more than once when she continued to question Daniel's feelings for her over and over and over...what? Did she think he was doing this for kicks? At times I felt she was just too slow on the uptake and too quick to blame Daniel. And even though she *knew* that she shouldn't mess around with events, that didn't always stop her meddling...really? I also didn't like how Luce seemed to lose herself whenever she was in Daniel's arms. If she thinks that is all there is to love, she's going to have a midlife crisis of epic proportions.


What I Hated: Bill. While I could see why Ms. Kate included him (heaven knows...haha, get it?...Luce needed guidance), he was too comic, adding way too much of a comic book feel that was diametrically opposed to the tone of the previous two books. It was almost a Cinderella and the mice scenario--a good way to get Luce into costume but surely she could have thought of something herself. Or let her meet up with one of her traveling angel buddies to help? And I know what his ultimate goal was, but I think it distracted from the final scenes in the long run.


However, all that being said, I did like Passion very much and I felt it was a necessary addition for us to understand through experience what everything was really about. Luce needed to know first hand and so did we. The final scenes were absolutely worth any slow spots and I'm psyched for the final book. I think it's gonna be worth the wait.

~taminator40

Torment

Torment, the second book in Lauren Kate's Fallen series, picks up with Luce leaving Sword & Cross and moving (without her parents' knowledge) across the country to the exclusive Shoreline School where she will be supposedly safe from those enemies who want to see she and Daniel parted forever. Luce finds herself being kept in the dark as Cam and Daniel combine forces to fight the Fallen, and she doesn't take it lightly; but when she discovers that Shoreline is a haven for the Nephilim (offspring of a human and an angel), she feels less alone. With the help of her roommate Shelby and new friend Miles, Luce begins to take control of the shadowy Announcers that have plagued her, and also begins attending exclusive classes designed to educate the Nephilim. But the biggest change? Luce becomes unsure of her relationship with Daniel after all his secrecy and the constant bickering between them.

For the most part, I absolutely loved Torment. I especially love that Luce has doubts about her eternal, undying love for Daniel; that makes it so much more realistic than many of the other young adult books out there. I love that Luce is taking charge of her life, making her own decisions, trying to find out more about those mysterious past lives that she shared with Daniel. I loved the new characters, including Miles; while as a romantic I naturally want to see Luce end up with Daniel, I can see the appeal of Miles and I like that I'm torn between the two. Shelby is too much fun, and I also enjoyed the additions of Francesca and Steven as teachers (but do I detect something more sinister in those two? Hmmmm....).

What works in Torment works really, really well. There is quite a bit of bickering between Luce and Daniel, and the frustration between them is mounting. But when they work as a couple, they truly work. There were moments when I wished the action would move on a little more quickly, but I was enthralled with the Announcers and the way they can take Luce into the past. As with any sequel, I also have to remind myself that I'm not in charge; it's all up to the author and where she wants to take us. And so far, I'm right along for the ride. Passion, the next in the series, is already pre-ordered and I'm revved up for it.

~taminator40