Fallen by Lauren Kate-- Summary by Ana

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:

Lauren Kate’s novel, FALLEN, is absolutely amazing. The beginning is a bit slow and it took me a while to get through it, but after that, the story takes flight and it keeps you wanting more. Luce’s character was alright to me. She wasn’t my favorite female protagonist, but she did make the novel interesting. Daniel was perfect. I loved everything about him. I loved how Kate made him so mysterious and so cold at Luce, and all that did to me, was to want him more. The book overall was amazing, and I defiantly cannot wait for the sequel. Also, the cover is too beautiful for words. I adored the dark forest scenery and the girl with the long black hair in the long black dress. She seemed exactly how I pictured Luce.



-Ana

Book Grading System

Hello!

Ana was amazing enough to create a grading system for us to follow while reviewing, so I'm going to post it here for future reference.

Originality /25
Cover /15
Ending /20
Characters /20
Plot /20

A brief explanation:

Originality:
There are only so many plots in this world, and more often than not authors will recycle the same old, hackneyed stories in their works. Now, this can either be a success or an utter failure. When reviewing we're going to look for clever use of plots. Is this new? If not, is it an original and successful remake of a classic?

Cover:
As the saying goes, "you can't judge a book by it's cover," but, as I see it, the cover helps me decide if I'm going to buy it or not. Ugly covers can be the downfall of good books. Likewise, beautiful covers on lousy stories can be HUGE disappointments. I happen to love when the cover advertises one specific element of a story, it can be such a discreet but effective way of drawing in readers.

Ending:
Good, satisfying endings can be so incredibly hard to write. Authors have to work hard to make the story worth reading, and there are few things worse than getting to the end of a great book and feeling let down. The same goes for books in a series that end in cliffhangers. Annoying as they may be (I know, annoying doesn't even begin to cover it), if done well they can evoke intense feelings in the reader, which is well in the favor of the author, especially if they plan on the next book selling well (hey, it'd be on the top of my list!).

Characters:
Similar to originality, characters can get worn out fast. There are only so many ways of portraying Romeo and Juliet, and, as far as I'm concerned, Shakespeare went there and did that to death (teehee, pun totally intended ;) ). And do not even get me started on Mary Sues.

Plot:
Simple enough-- was it satisfying? Did it draw the reader in? Was it fun to read or did it resemble last year's summer reading nightmare? Was it new and exciting?


Alright, well there's the overview! Ana and I are both working on reviewing our first stories, so expect those up in a few days (if not sooner!).

-Rissa