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Book Review of Fallen (Fallen, Bk 1)

Fallen (Fallen, Bk 1)
GeniusJen avatar reviewed on + 5322 more book reviews


Reviewed by Melanie Foust for TeensReadToo.com

Luce was with Trevor the night he died. There was a fire, and only Luce came out alive. When everyone begins to question her - her parents, psychologist, the police - her answers don't satisfy them because she doesn't know. She can't remember what happened.

That's how she finds herself at Sword & Cross, a reform school. Things get off to a rough start. Before her first class, she gets flipped off. By lunchtime, she runs into the bathroom crying, her hair and shirt covered in that day's meal. But soon she finds a few friends and begins to settle in.

However, she is far from being able to rest easily. The "shadows" that have haunted her for the majority of her life seem to be making appearances more and more often, and she doesn't know why. They've gotten bolder, and now instead of simply skirting around and following her, they occasionally surround her, even touching her. One day, when the shadows come, Daniel, a fellow student, walks into the room, and they quickly move away.

There is something hauntingly familiar about Daniel Grigori, but Luce can't figure out what it is. He appears in her dreams, dreams so vivid they feel real, as if they were something she had actually experienced. She wants to talk to him, figure out exactly why he can make the shadows go away, why it feels like she knows him, but he keeps her at a far distance.

Things get progressively more dangerous as the days wear on. Luce feel an inexplicable draw to Daniel and won't stop trying to find out more about him and his past. If only she knew the truth about herself and him. The truth that she and Daniel can never, ever be together.

FALLEN is an incredibly intriguing book, fraught with delicious suspense. The mystery seems to never abate, instead growing with each and every chapter. I felt like I might explode from the tension. I found myself rushing to get to the ending, while simultaneously enjoying the journey towards it. TORMENT, the next book in the FALLEN series, cannot get here soon enough.