Review of Fallen

Fallen by Lauren Kate
Official Site
Description: There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.
Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.
Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce–and goes out of his way to make that very clear–she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.



Review: My library really does not have recent books. This is the first time I have ever seen Fallen in my library. And there's already a sequel out.... But anywho, I was very excited when I picked it up because I heard all the wonderful reviews, and I am also glad I finished all the books I got last week. This is also a first.

Fallen tells the story of Lucinda 'Luce' Price, a girl who feels she is wrongly accused of killing a classmate and then sent to a boarding school for bad kids. Set in Georgia, Sword & Cross is what you would expect of a school for delinquents. Video cameras, barb wire fences, one class for the entire day, and a cemetery. Everyone wears black and everyone hates everything. Luce feels out of place, and quickly befriends Penn, a bookworm who goes there because her father works there. Penn was my favorite character, besides Luce of course.

On the first day of 'school', if you can really call it that (it's more like a prison), Luce sees Daniel Grigori for the first time. He formally gives her the bird. Yup, just flips it up there. But Luce feels she knows him from somewhere, but not from the mall or summer camp, like maybe, oh I don't know, a past life. But Daniel quickly waves that feeling away, and blames it on her growing infatuation. Some of the book, Luce and Penn stalk Daniel. For example, they have a religion project, and instead of doing it, they Google Daniel's last name and find out his background info.

Another romantic aspect of the book is her admirer, Cam. Cam was pretty creepy, in my opinion. He was new to Sword & Cross, like Luce, so he thought it'd be alright if they hang out, since they're newbies to the school and all. She goes to one of his parties, and he hugs her, whatever, really that's normal. Luce is attracted to him, but not as much as she is Daniel. And whenever things are about to 'steam up' for Luce and Cam, someone if there to break them up. So I got the vibe early in the book, wait, someone keeps interrupting? That's a sign that Cam is not right for Luce. Also about Cam, he has weird superhuman strength. I guess Luce isn't into that kinda thing.

Obviously, there's a paranormal effect to Fallen. Luce sees shadows. Perfectly normal, they don't hurt her, they're just there, in her vision, always lurking. Until she goes to Sword & Cross and they start touching her. Weirdly, whenever she sees these shadows, Daniel is sometimes there and, wait for it, he sees them also. And the sight of the shadows refers to the prologue, where there is a man and a woman and there are shadows.


Overall, Fallen is a looooong read. Very long. But there's a really good story going, so it makes up for the, oh uh, 300 and so pages. The cover is beautiful. Fallen is a story about everlasting love, things that go bump in the night, and friends that will stick with you until the end.

"The shadows have been warning her, she realized, for days. Now their dark show had turned into something ever Penn could see. And the other students who'd run ahead must have noticed it, too. Luce didn't know what it could possibly mean. Only that if Daniel was down there, with that sinister flickering,...it was all her fault. 

-pg 385, Fallen by Lauren Kate