Fallen (1) by Lauren Kate
Part one of four of the Fallen series by Lauren Kate - Fallen (in German Engelsnacht, in French Damnée) I read it in German where it had 445 pages. Age 13, girls only.
Lucinda Price has been stalked by shadows her whole life. Her parents think she is insane. And are too ready to believe she really killed her boyfriend. Suddenly, Luce finds herself on a boarding school for criminals, where everything is black and sad and dangerous and ugly. Except for her class mates: Luce falls immediately for both the dark-haired, charismatic Cam and the impolite Daniel, who does everything to push her away. But with her new friends' help, Luce begins to make sense of it all: First: Daniel is a fallen angel. Second, she's probably going to die because of him. And third: Even if she doesn't burn to ashes, she's likely to die in the war between fallen angels: Because her surviving up to now makes the war more fierce than ever.
I liked the book a lot. There is a mystery to be solved – well, actually there are several mysteries, and the tense story takes place with funny, colourful characters. The main character herself, Luce, is, well, ordinary. She's nothing unusual, just an okay girl. But she's likeable, which is good enough. I like how she struggles with her “gift” or curse, or what ever. And with the school itself.
The Sword & Cross is a cliché school for criminals. In bad shape, with drooning teachers et cetera. What doesn't make sense about this school is the following: cameras can be disabled for a long period of time. If the criminals are that bad, then why don't they repair the damage ASAP? And why are the students of this school all at least 17 – which would mean they could actually drop out of school with their parents' allowance?
Apropos parents: Luce's parents seriously send her daughter to a school which they haven't visited yet? Really? Okay, they think that Luce did this to this Trevor kid. But their daughter was in psychological treatment since she was young (in itself, this DOESN'T mean she's mental) but this plus the belief that she's a murderer would lead to the assumption that you have to take care where you send the girl, if you don't want her to snap. At least in my book.
As for Penn: Okay, she's at the school because her father was the gardener. But seriously. What father lets his daughter go to a school for criminals? First: potentially dangerous. And second: What if she wants to apply for something? They think she's crazy as well!
By the way, why the heck has Luce been sent to this school? She's charged for murder. At the age of 17, she's more or less responsible, isn't she? In context of the treatment, wouldn't it make more sense for the judge to sent her to a lunacy or something like that? Or maybe in a real prison? Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't wish anything of that on anyone, but this decision simply does not make sense.
Speaking of things that do not make sense: Daniel's stupid book. The “lately published book” changes to “hand-written with notes” and contains a picture of Daniel and Luce. How practical for the story line.
And last, but not least: Luce always finds him, not the other way around. So, why the heck has Daniel been sent here, when his only crime was the wrong trespassing of a street (or rather: what kind of a street was that?!). And what are the other angels doing there? I couldn't imagine that they simply went there for the heck of it – or for keeping Daniel company. Gabbe? Maybe. Arriane? Doubtful. Molly? Stop kidding me.
However. The book has it's good moments as well. Let's start with the characters.
I absolutely love Cam. I'm so sorry she didn't choose him in the end, he's way more funny than Daniel. Daniel himself is all mysterious (reminds me a little of a more boring version of Stephen from The Vampire Diaries) and doesn't have any sense of humour the reader gets to know. So I'm all Team Cam. Even though it was kind of clear that Luce would not choose him. Pity.
Another character I love would be Arriane – she's all mischievous fun. And Penn, she's something as well – o God, the fighting scene! So gorgeous!
In brief:
Okay, in the end, I conclude a star for style, for the ideas and for characters – minus one for the content. Sorry.
Sequel: