Fallen by Lauren Kate - Book Review

This review was originally written in 2016 and published on Goodreads:

This is a book was sitting on my bookshelf since I was sixteen, but I never got round to actually reading it and as I was recently given the rest of the series and the film adaptation is due for release this September, I thought I should finally read it.

I'm going to start with the aspects of this novel I did like, which was mainly the theme of fallen angels and reincarnation that definitely had creativity and sparked my interest - however, the plot was too slow for my liking and the characters lacked real depth. This review isn't going to be me insulting the book or Lauren Kate as I really dislike trolling, but this book unfortunately wasn't for me and I'll be giving an honest and critical opinion.

The story opens in Victorian England as Daniel plans to leave town to distance himself from Lucinda, a woman who he cannot stop himself from falling for and draws her likeness in his sketchbook to keep as memories - Because Daniel loving Lucinda is dangerous and leads to her untimely death at the age of seventeen, only for her to be reincarnated and repeat the cycle with Daniel for centuries.

In the 21st century, Lucinda "Luce" is sent to a reformed boarding school for being under suspicion of a boy's death and she instantly becomes torn between the brooding and mysterious Daniel and the intense and unpredictable Cam.

One of my main issues with this story was the characters, especially the three that formed the main love triangle.

Luce was the main heroine who was the narrator of Fallen, but I have to admit I've read many other female protagonists who were stronger and more complex. But Luce was more of a passive role in the plot, she actually seemed to be a spectator in her own life and didn't really play an active role in this story. She also lacked any assertiveness, she never stood her ground and rarely spoke up when she angry or upset. Her choice of love interests was a deal breaker for me, I understand the concept of her history with Daniel in past lives - but reading her obsess over a guy who treated her like dirt on her shoe with his rude behaviour and yet towards the end of the book the reader is suppose to root for their relationship. She even made a list of her meetings with Daniel and nearly all of them he insulted her, brushed her aside or completely ignored her. I could sort of see Daniel wanting to protect her by distancing himself, but Luce always seemed to be unfazed by Daniel's behaviour and accepted it - I would have rather preferred Luce to be more reserved of Daniel, standing up to him and not running after him like a love sick puppy.

Daniel wasn't the best love interest, he was distant and rude, who lacked any real chemistry with Luce and he had no charisma - quite a depressing character. Whereas Cam was too intense, I was so frustrated by his presence being forced on Luce and although he seemed nice... He was too nice - to be honest I kind of liked that he was revealed to be on the Dark Side, but Luce always seemed uncomfortable by his attitude and was only physically attracted to him. She should have also stood her ground with, but Luce never actually spoke that much with him and now that I think of it they actually didn't have that many conversations - Luce didn't really know anything personal about these guys who were fighting for her affection, but she was totally smitten so much that anything other than Daniel or Cam seemed irrelevant.

Two characters I actually liked a lot were Penn and Miss Sophia as they both had actual roles in the story that contributed to the plot. Penn was an instantly likeable character and the one to discover the history of the Damned Angels and Daniel and Lucinda's connection - an A* researcher and she had a real positive attitude. The dark Miss Sophia was a pretty decent villain, I actually found it a very good twist and her scenes in the climax of the novel a great improvement.

The pace of the book is quite slow, apart from a very few action scenes the lack of chemistry between the characters and the forced romance made the book a difficult read at times.

I'd recommend the book for younger readers and I'll definitely be seeing the film adaptation, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping for.