Fallen: #2 Torment

One drawback for trilogies or series - the ones coming after the first book just serve the middle and as expected the final novel always ends the series with a bang. Book 2 of the Fallen series by Lauren Kate, Torment is mediocre at best and a little disappointment at best.

Here is the summary of the book:

Hell on earth. That's what it's like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel. It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts - immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students -Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans. At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn't told her everything. He's hiding something - something dangerous. What if Daniel's version of the past isn't actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else? The second novel in the addictive FALLEN series . . . where love never dies.

So I began Torment without reading the reviews and since I really liked Fallen. I was really hoping that torment would be just as good and exciting. Unfortunately, it was not as good as the first. Luce is so whiny that she becomes extremely annoying. Come on being independent is an admirable trait but girl you should let the guys do the work and not venture into things you clearly don't understand. I almost put it down for good more than once. Luce is away from Daniel for a few short days and starts questioning her love for him and thinks that maybe she would rather be with Miles a boy from the new school. Cliff hangers as long as the rest of the book has something remotely interesting going on. The best part of this book for me were the side characters and the abilities of the shadows (announcers).

Within its pages Torment has an interesting and entertaining cast of characters both old and new, the ups and downs of teenage love, the search for identity, and the ultimate question of what is good and what is evil. The book ends with a promise of more in the next installment. Daniel has hidden Luce away in a new school filled with Nephilm students who are full of surprises. Luce finds new friends, new talents, and finds herself questioning everything she believes in, including Daniel. Meanwhile, Daniel is in and out fighting an unknown enemy, and occasionally drops in to churn the emotional waters. At the school, Luce is more comfortable and less of an outsider than she ever was at Sword and Cross, but it's what she doesn't know that still haunts her. Eventually, she learns the Shadows that plague her are windows to events from her lives, both current and past. She intends to manipulate them and illuminate her relationship with Daniel. The problem? The Shadows only reveal a glimpse. Sometimes partial understanding is more misleading than none at all. Ultimately, viewing her past confuses Luce. And, adding to her sense of bewilderment is Luce's new friend Miles, a warm, funny, open guy who is so different than Daniel.

Like Fallen this one also starts out slow and after halfway through reading Luce whining about life and everything in secret - all the time she is with the others we don't see a hint of sadness in her - she seems to be enjoying herself with other but in secret, when alone would whine for just about anything. The second half picked up, though, when relentless action and a few unsuspecting plot twists are thrown in. From there, I was willing to finish it, and really got absorbed into the story.

The love Daniel has for Luce is to die for - literally swoon-worthy. There were some things however that got on my nerves in this book sometimes. Daniel treated Luce at times like she was a child, telling her exactly what she could and couldn't do. In my opinion that is something you just don't do to someone you love- unless you have a good reason and even a good reason is only justified by letting the other person know exactly why and the reasons behind it. Daniels desire to protect Luce by sheltering her and not believing she is stronger than he gives her credit for may have been his only downfall in this story.

Luce on the other hand had me wanting to reach in a smack her hard a couple of times. Of course its normal to miss your boyfriend when he's not around but God knows he's fighting people who what to kill you!! I think that might have a little more priority over your need to have him by your side! Well A - He's fighting for your life! B- He left Heaven for you! C- He breaks the truce to sneak back to see you because he can't bear to be without you! D- When you were with him, your conversations ended with you picking a fight because he wouldn't tell you what you wanted to hear. Really??! How much more could you ask of him? In Fallen in thought "thank God at least she is not like Bella" but I had to eat my words in here. Although I'm well against comparing Twilight with almost anything but my fingers are itching to do just that.

Also Luce seems to garner a naive sense about Good and Evil, Angels and Demons or Dark and light - not good at all. Even a lay man can understand Light cannot exist without Dark, Good cannot exist without evil (or bad) and angels and demons may not be as different as they seems - they are all parts or shall I say two sides of the same coins. Take for example Light and Darkness - Light exists to eradicate darkness - after every night comes a new day, with new hope.

Though she was acting like a fool a lot of times but it is understandably clear as to why she takes a lot of decisions in here and her reasons. All she did was question whether or not she was supposed to be with Daniel, which is ok, but she was all over the place. The constant whining was redundant. I know I have already mentioned this but it really made me angry.

Although no questions asked Miss Kate is a great author. She can write and she writes like a pro. The prose in both the books was amazing. But Torment really tormented me. That said I know I shouldn't read Passion (read it already anyway) but the covers are beautiful and only two are left. So moving onto Passion now.