New Juicy Review: Fallen by Lauren Kate

Book:              Fallen

Author:           Lauren Kate

ISBN/ASIN:   0385738935

Publisher:       Delacorte Press

Rating:            Four Stars

 A war is quietly being waged in the heavens and on earth, a war that has been repeated over and over again always in stalemate. A war of the Fallen. And its balance hinges on the love between a Fallen and mortal. With its failure, hell will reign on earth and if it succeeds…well that outcome is unknown.

But the unearthly battle hits perilously close to home or at least home for the time being for Lucinda. Shuffled off to a reform school, to the mysterious Swords and Cross, Lucinda finds the staff and even the students slightly unnerving. Even the school is not what it seems to be and that could very well be her undoing-because the knowledge that Luce needs might actually save her life…this time. Fate is shifting at Swords and Cross…with unknown enemies choosing sides, and insidious danger lurking in every corner.

Lauren Kate paints a moody and atmospheric young adult drama that is tensely surreal. She divulges very little of the secret that holds fate in its balance, from the reader, as well as from her protagonist.  It’s as if you cannot quite figure out what is going on…barely grasping onto the ether of a very good dream, or a seductive nightmare. The burgeoning relationship between Lucinda and Daniel is strangely appealing, subdued, even when all the facts are obscured, and yet I couldn’t find fault with Kate’s technique. Her style, her choice of plot is extremely provocative. As Anne Rice has been quoted, “Angels are the new vampires.” And this tempestuous drama kept me reading non-stop.  I can only hope that Kate reveals more about the Fallen battle in Torment when it is released in September.

A Fiendishly Bookish Review