Passion (Fallen #3) by Lauren Kate *Spoilers*

*Spoiler Alert*

Review

This book was so much better than the second. With Torment I was a ball of frustration. FRUSTRATION. In Passion I finally felt like we were going somewhere. And Kate did that by literally taking the reader (and Luce) through a smorgasbord of Luce’s past lives. While the trip began to answer my main question (what’s the point of this whole romance/kiss/death cycle they’re cursed into) it brought up a whole slue of others…Feel free to comment with your thoughts…

Questions:

1. Does Daniel die each life and become reborn as a new person who is situated to “run into” Luce? or Does he magically change his appearance to match her life each time she is reborn?

Kate had me scratching my head with this one. In the more modern past lives Daniel still seems to be himself, like he’s been alive for all the intervening years straight; without dying. I mean he’s speaking another language and living in another country…but still the guy looks like Daniel, Luce is easily able to recognize him during a bombing in World War 2 and while he’s wounded in an Italian hospital in World War 1. I’m not sure when Daniel stopped looking like Daniel…I think it happened as Kate traced history farther back to the Mayan civilization, China Dynasties, and Egypt thousands of years before Christ. It wouldn’t have been possible to have a blond-haired, violet eyed, Caucasian kid running around thus Daniel had to stop looking like modern Daniel to fit in with the time period. I get why Kate had to do it but it still bugged me and forces me to ask the question above.

2. Anyone else’s head hurt with the physics of it all?

So about halfway through their time travel, both Luce and Daniel begin to slow down and accept the journey. They start to pay attention and learn things from their past to help them with their future. But do they do this by watching what goes down?…Noooo…Luce has to “3-d” with every former Luce she meets. But wait, didn’t she see the movie Butterfly Effect? Hello?! If a butterfly wing can cause a tsunami or some such disaster what about Luce charging into battle as a Chinese King? I suppose the only attempt to condone the travel/changes comes from Roland (in 17th century England) where he explains to Luce that while she’ll never know when she makes the change that changes her curse…she’s already technically run through time and done it already. I suppose this seems plausible to me, though lets remember that my only experience with chaos theory is the Ashton Kutcher film. Educational, I’m sure.

3. Is it really all about the Love? Daniel’s choice? and is there a way out?

I’m gonna side with Satan for a minute here. There were times in this installment where I was beginning to think that ‘Bill’ a.k.a. Satan, was the reader’s voice in the story. Luce, give it up girl…this thing obviously extends far beyond your relationship with Daniel. The question answered for me in this book was that this whole curse thing is holding a lot of people I mean angels in the balance. Daniel choosing a side starts a whole lot of End-of-Times-war-stuff and he’s friends with both sides. My gut is telling me Satan’s Hail Mary play of erasing time may end up bringing everyone together again…Cue the Cam hug at the end…Anyone else surprised by that show of affection? Anyone?

All of my picky questions aside, I really did enjoy this book. I loved learning about their past lives, and their love over the ages. The best thing to come out of all that time travel was Luce’s utter faith in her love for Daniel. Kate already had a decent explanation for their insta-love (soul-mates reborn for each other) but I was so happy to see her back it all up with Luce getting to see the love in action and getting to feel it in her past live’s skin. I feel like Luce is finally equal to Daniel in the love element. Luce has their history in her consciousness as well.

After doing books 2 and 3 back to back I’m super sad to have to wait until Spring 2012 for the final book…Ugh! I want Rapture now!! Cue tantrum, lol.

Rating: 8/10

P.S.

If you can’t get enough of the Fallen Series…Check out Lauren Kate’s blog for her Passion Playlist.

Read Full Post »

Torment (Fallen #2) by Lauren Kate

Review

I love this series. The first book, Fallen, was so delicious. This series is just yummy. That being said…I have to admit…I hate the second in a series of four. I would bet, even if I’d never read a book in the series, that the main character is going to be frustrated and confused. Thus, as a reader, you’re going to be frustrated and confused.

Torment does not disappoint in this aspect. This book begins as Luce finds herself shipped off to a boarding school in California called Shoreline. Daniel (Luce’s insta-lover-angel-hottie-boyfriend) brings Luce into this new school blind. He flies her into Shoreline and drops her off with very little prep time, while also refusing to answer any of her questions…I was as annoyed as Luce.

I was really hoping that in this second installment I would learn more about the Angel/Demon community and Luce’s role in it. I mean, Luce has been brought to Shoreline because it’s an exceptional school for developing Angel/Demons called Nephilim. The Nephilim are a talent group of students descended from celestial blood. They attend a special program within Shoreline that teaches them how to hone their special powers as well as give them the knowledge with which to pick a side…good or bad…angel or demon. So there should be lots of info available about Luce’s past lives. Students mention quite frequently in the beginning of the novel that they learned of her forever love affair in textbooks. Why Luce couldn’t just pick one of these up is beyond me…I would have been on that faster than crispy bacon. She apparently has more willpower than myself, or she’s too blind to see the easy route.

Also, throughout this novel the reader is poked, prodded, and inundated with the idea that good and bad isn’t a clear-cut idea; remember, as Cam says: “The victors rewrite history” (pg 332). But it never goes further than that statement. Never as a reader do I see a reason why going bad may be a good idea. Never does Luce hear a reason as to why picking Satan is a good call. Can we say FRUSTRATED…

Now, I will give the Shoreline teachers a break here. Luce spends less than 3 weeks at the school and she spends most of her time illegally searching out and viewing what the shadowy Announcers have to say. While it’s a super cool talent, Luce is warned away from it so many times it makes me wonder if she’s got some type of learning disability…’cause she keeps doing it. This novel is basically about everyone and their brother protecting Luce, killing things for Luce, and reprimanding Luce for her poor choices. I mean really, all Luce has to do is stay on Shoreline’s campus. Not the hardest thing to do given she’s only there for 3 weeks. But nope, this girl is running away like it’s her job…

But wait…I can’t fully blame Luce either. Through all that protecting and reprimanding no one, and I mean NO ONE, gives her a viable piece of information with which to make an informed decision. She has no idea that she’s being hunted. She doesn’t know what her role in this story is. And Daniel is a bit of a jerk, treating her more like a spoiled child than the lover and partner she is. If someone would just give us a little intel I’m sure Luce would make better decisions. And as a reader I’d feel a little more satisfied by this title.

But even after all that frustration…I’m still hooked.

Even the text is reminding me to forge ahead: “Sometimes beautiful things come into our lives out of nowhere. We can’t always understand them, but we have to trust in them. I know you want to question everything, but sometimes it pays to just have a little faith.” (pg. 358)

I’m dying to find out if my theories are right. I won’t go into them because they’re spoilers. I’ll just say that the whole thing ends in another very climactic battle scene that brings back some familiar faces…and causes some major separations. So as annoyingly un-educational as this novel was I have faith that it’s just setting me up for an awesome third book…That I’m starting right now…

Rating: 7/10

Read Full Post »

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

BookTalk

“As a kid, I imagined lots of different scenarios for my life. I would be an astronaut. Maybe a cartoonist. A famous explorer or rock star. Never once did I see myself standing under the window of a house belonging to some druggie named Carbine, waiting for his yard gnome to steal his stash so I could get a cab back to a cheap motel where my friend, a neurotic, death-obsessed dwarf, was waiting for me so we could get on the road to an undefined place and a mysterious Dr. X, who would cure me of mad cow disease and stop a band of dark energy from destroying the universe.” pg. 203

Cameron is a bit of a loner…well, maybe a loser. At 16 he’s floating through life, C+ student, a stoner, and the closest friend he may have is a dwarf he doesn’t know that he likes. Things are about to change. After some muscle twitches and a few visions of toasters bursting into flames Cameron is diagnosed with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, A.K.A. Mad Cow disease. While in the hospital a punk-rock-princess Angel sends Cameron on a Quixotic journey. With the help of Cameron’s dwarf friend Gonzo, they’re searching for Dr. X. Find the good Dr. and they’ll cure Cameron, find a gift for Gonzo…and save the world…sort of…

Review

Wow, I just finished this book and all I can say is that it was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever read. Simultaneously I feel as though…I may not be smart enough to ‘get’ this book…That I should have read Don Quixote…That I really did ‘get’ this book and it was wonderful!…That I should have stopped reading this book 30 pages in…This book made my head hurt…I should probably read this book again…Maybe I should smoke pot then read this book…Maybe I should read it again after reading Don Quixote…I need to YouTube the “Small World” ride…

There, you’re just as confused as me right now…This book was horrible and this book was awesome…

Going Bovine is a controversial book. Yet, it won the Printz. As you can tell I’m a little all over the place when it comes to my reaction to reading it. But if I’m choosing a team…I vote Team-I-Liked-This-Book. It’s a dark tale that mirror’s Quixote’s journey. I’d probably have lots of very literary things to say about the two books’ connections had I ever read Don Quixote…as you can tell from my wildly confusing opening…I haven’t…I’m a bad Librarian.

So that leaves me with the emotional reaction to the book. Know that the book is funny; it’s a dark comedy. Cameron is dying. His wild journey with friends is interspersed with clips from his time in the hospital. The hospital scenes serve as a reality touch-stone, badly needed in this acid-trip of a story. These hits of reality remind the reader that Cameron really is dying. Believe me, once you get sucked into Cameron’s crazy road trip you’ll see the need for the doses of death. You see, Cameron is a person who never really lived in his life and yet is given this chance to have an amazing adventure before his death. As a reader you’ll see Cameron grow and develop in ways your heart will ache to wish he had experience in real life…not just in this dream.

The plot is a crazy blend of philosophy and physics. Displaying messages about everything from how to live your life to the existence of parallel universes. I wasn’t lying when I said I don’t know that I was smart enough for this book…I think I needed footnotes. Understanding all of the plot points aside, the message of this tale is really to live your life in the moment, take advantage of all it has to offer. I suppose, it’s not really about what your journey is…but that you take it. Not knowing how a Superconducting Super Collider works will not hinder your understanding of the take-away message.

Honestly, I’m still not positive I shouldn’t have read this on some type of illegal substance. Cameron himself spends quite a bit of time high…so it all might have been clearer to me. I’m not revealing any spoilers about the ending. But if you read it and you make it through, you may agree with me that the worth of this tale wasn’t about what actually happened in the story…but instead about the feeling you had when it was over. That you should be happy in whatever life you lead, and that you should live that life to the fullest.

Rating: 9/10

Read Full Post »

Fallen by Lauren Kate

As much as I loved this book, I don’t know that I’d booktalk it to a class of students. My reasons are as follows: 1. I work at an Orthodox Jewish school and while I’ve never run into problems suggesting books with Christian themes I think a book based on the hierarchy of heaven and hell may not be appropriate for a school project. 2. It’s just not strong enough in its theme or literary value to supersede the Christian content structure.

That being said I would most definitely add this series to my collection. And in a reader’s advisory capacity I would definitely talk this series up to the bulk of my female population. It’s not as addictive as Twilight (the ever-present romance standard) but it is super juicy!

In the book we have Luce and Daniel, the star-crossed lovers. Luce finds herself at the Sword and Cross reform school after becoming involved in the death of a boy at her previous academy. She was the only other person with him as he died, but no one can prove she didn’t do it. In addition to her creepy past Luce is plagued by a history of mental illness. She isthisclose to being listed as unstable due to her visions of shadowy creatures. However, because this is a paranormal romance the reader sees Luce’s shadow visions as reality…not crazy talk. Plus, the prologue makes it clear that Luce and Daniel have known each other in another life…and have a very strong attraction. I quote: “I could feel the heat of her stare.” Seriously, there is a lot of intense staring that goes on between these two and enough sexual tension you may wish it was an adult book and not a teen read.

Not to make it too simple, Kate also throws in Cam, another student who has the hots for Luce. Cam is the obvious choice. He’s outgoing, attractive, smooth, and literally a golden boy. Plus, he’s actually nice to Luce versus Daniel who flips her the bird the first time they meet. While Daniel spends most of the book pushing Luce away, Cam is giving gifts and kisses ASAP.

What weakens the lover’s triangle is that while Cam is the logical choice, both the reader and Luce can’t tear themselves away from Daniel, who is the obvious love of Luce’s life. Just a warning, the secrets of this plot are slow to unveil themselves. By the end of this first of four books both the reader and Luce are not clear on most of the details. It’s obvious that we know very little and that much could change with knowledge…even the adoration of Daniel. But instead of leaving the reader frustrated it just makes me want to rip into the next book!…That being said…I’m off to read…

Read Full Post »