Here are links to my reviews of other books in this series:Fallen
Passion
The sky is dark with wings . . . .
Like sand in an hourglass, time is running out for Luce and Daniel. To stop Lucifer from erasing the past they must find the place where the angels fell to earth. Dark forces are after them, and Daniel doesn’t know if he can do this—live only to lose Luce again and again.
Yet together they will face an epic battle that will end with lifeless bodies . . . and angel dust. Great sacrifices are made. Hearts are destroyed. And suddenly Luce knows what must happen.
For she was meant to be with someone other than Daniel. The curse they’ve borne has always and only been about her—and the love she cast aside. The choice she makes now will be the only one that truly matters.
In the fight for Luce, who will win?
In the final Fallen novel, Luce and Daniel are rushing to keep history from being rewritten and trying to finally achieve a happily ever after. In order to do this they must perform some ritual (which they know almost nothing about) at the spot where the angels fell (which they also don't know) with three objects they know almost nothing about. And they have nine days to do it. Along the way Luce discovers new things about herself and remembers some of her past lives and at some point realizes that Daniel wasn't always her only love.
In a series surrounding a pair of lovers destined to (redundantly) love each other forever, you'd think that the guy who makes up half the pair should have some personality. If you did think that, like me, you would be wrong. While reading I kept my eyes pealed for any sign of actual character beyond his usual "I love Luce" mood but couldn't find any. The few that there were referred to Daniels of the past and not the one we are forced to read about now. On the other hand, my favorite character from book 1, Cam, only appeared a few times and had no real scenes all about him. I'm a little upset that we didn't find out more about his long lost love and I wish there had been more details on that. If it became a spin-off series, I would totally read that.
The many characters in this book confused me. Usually I'm pretty good about keeping up with what each character is up to but when there are 9 angels, a bunch of humans/Nephilim, and a collection of bad guys, it's hard to keep all the names straight. Having read the fourth book ages ago, I remembered the basic important characters and some of the more memorable ones, but when there are 3 (or two maybe-I confused them so much that I don't remember) female angels whose names start with A it's a little hard to keep track. At some point I stopped caring about who was doing what and just thought of them all as "that female angel".
Fantasy involving angels is different than fantasy involving vampires, werewolves, or any other supernatural creature, in that they are rooted in theology and religion and therefore, any book about angels is either deeply religious or tries to ignore the topic. The religious approach can be pretty annoying for anyone not of the religion in question (I'm talking about fantasy novels read for leisure, not religious texts or non-fiction) and ignoring runs into problems when it comes to explanations and the ultimate source. The presence of God in Rapture was ..... interesting. The description was beautiful, but I also thought it was sort of petty. I won't get into it because I don't want to go on and on about religion, but I didn't really understand and didn't really like the message that Lauren Kate was sending about religion.
This book had one of the best endings I've read in a long time, especially when you consider that I didn't really enjoy this series all that much. There was no "what will happen to everyone" lurking in the back of my head because all that is solved quite reasonably and all the technical and magical issues are dealt with without making up any new magical laws. Luce and Daniel (yes they end up together, but this isn't a spoiler because anyone with half a brain knows nothing will keep them apart) are together in, in my opinion, the best way they can be.
I wasn't sure about this series and actually skimmed 2 of the 4 books and was pleasantly surprised when I enjoyed Rapture. I was only reading it for the sake of knowing what happens to Luce and Daniel because as much as I complain about this series, the storyline is really good (for the most part). The first book was really good, but books 2 and 3 were, to put it kindly, not. I only read book 3 because I wanted to get every last shred of suspense left in me out so I could finally put this series to rest. However, despite the redemption in this book, I'm not sure if I would recommend this series to anyone.
4.8 stars.
