Fallen by Lauren Kate

I liked the "fallen angels" theme: good vs. evil. As with many "first books" of a series, I'm not sure what everything really means yet, but I am interested enough to read on and find out. So, they are ALL fallen angels, but have divided into two groups. It seems to me that every angel in the book is flawed, so I have to assume that none of them are true angels, but why do they refer to being in Heaven? Can you be in Heaven if you are a Fallen Angel? At a couple of points in the book, Daniel is referred to as "damned" - as well as Luce, who isn't even an angel.

I would guess that Daniel and Luce's relationship will determine the fate of the world (in a positive way?), which is why Cam strives to keep them apart. The reason why Luce didn't die when Daniel kissed her in this lifetime is because this is the only life where she is an agnostic. In all of her previous lives, Luce believed in God. In this life, Luce's soul is "up for grabs". So why that would allow her to see the shadows (demonic Announcers) only in this lifetime, I don't know. You would think that if she believed in God in her previous lives, she would also believe in evil - and therefore be able to see the demonic shadows then too.

Penn is referred to as a "pillar of salt" by Miss Sophia shortly before she kills Penn. That comes directly from the Bible (in Genesis where God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah but tells Lot to flee the city with his wife and daughters beforehand, to save them. Lot flees, but his wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt). Anyway, I can't figure out what Miss Sophia is referring to. Miss Sophia says to Luce, "The girl is only slowing us down."

Miss Sophia wants Daniel "freed" from Luce. It sounds like Daniel and Miss Sophia are on the "same side" but they have different agendas, or a different means to an end. Also, at some points it seems like Cam and Miss Sophia are on the same "side" but at the end Cam tells Daniel that he would have killed Miss Sophia if she had harmed Luce. Finally, Daniel and Cam seem to have a relationship - build on trust even. Hmmmm.....too many questions, not enough answers.

Even though I liked the theme of the book, and I don't have to know all the answers to enjoy a book, I didn't like how the book was written as much as the others we have read from this genre. Sometimes it was a bit too "teenager-ish" for me. With that being said, I guess it was written for teenagers! ;-)

Wendy's Rating: ***1/2