Review: Torment (Fallen Series: Book 2) by Lauren Kate

I was inspired by Grad Student to start reading the Fallen series and, now that I'm 2 books in, I get it: easy, quick reading with the torrid emotions of puberty and seriously bad jokes on nearly every page.

There is so much ridiculousness happening in these books, I'm not sure where to start, so maybe we'll go with the cover? All I can say, is thank goodness for my Kindle! I just don't know if  I could face other New Yorkers on my daily commute if I actually buried my face behind a book with... well, Goth-bride Barbie (?) on the cover. The overly-dramatic shot makes sense, though, as the tortured teen angst begins undeterred from the very first page where Book 1 left off.

Synopsis? SPOILER ALERT: Goosie Mama Lucinda Price (Luce) is damned to meet her lover-boy fallen angel, Ryan Gosling, Daniel, in every lifetime (hey, reincarnation!), only to spontaneously combust (no seriously - bitch explodes in flames) each time they kiss - starting the cycle all over again in each subsequent lifetime. That is, until this most recent life, when Luce and Daniel meet, have weird angel-wing-feather-stroking-and-shuddering kisses and, gasp!, she's still here. But why?! Don't know yet, maybe Book 3 (or 4) explains it.

The writing in the series just kills me. For instance, my most favorite "paragraph" (not kidding) of Book 1:

"Oh. My. God. They were fighting. In the library. Over me!"

I can just hear the collective sigh of struggling writers worldwide.

In Book 2, we get such tasty morsels as "she was crazy bananas." and "bee-tee-dubs." Yoinks! I need to read a dictionary, stat!

But I think at the end of the day, what makes me so frustrated - and at the same time so morbidly curious -  about these novels is the heroine, Luce. Much like Bella Swan in the Twilight series, Kate has created a heroine who is clearly gorgeous and spell-binding to everyone, but doesn't see it (or her inner-strength) herself . Even though, every once in while shows a glimpse of a spine - Luce, ultimately, is utterly bulldozed by those around her ("I don't know what to do!") and, also, her lifetime-defying love for her boyfriend, the super-controlling Daniel.

She cannot defend herself against the tough, dominating personalities of those around her becaues she's just. So. Confused.

That being said, clearly I'm a masochist because I will go back and read Book 3 and, most likely, Book 4. I will continue to understand Luce's obsession with Daniel (show me a pack of angelically-crafted abs, and, yeah, I get it) but I will not stop rolling my eyes - that is a promise!

Originality: Meh, I'll give this a 4.5. The story line is theoretically interesting, but a little sparse on the execution. Kate created an entire world where these fallen angels bear the cross of both good and evil, but at times her musings seem to add more questions than answers (who knows, though, maybe she's going to write a killer end to the series and tie up all the loose ends?).

Absurdity: Purely from a teen angst perspective? This is a 9 out of 10. I think I had a sympathy-teen-zit-breakout just reading the first 10 pages. It was cute.

Level of Paranormal Romance:  29? Luce has it bad for her cloud-cruising boytoy and he - well - I think he thinks she's alright.

Harry Potter-ness: I am ranking this based on ease of prose (ie What Would J.K. Rowling Do?), so naturally I'm going to give this a 0.5. J.K., I'm pretty sure, would just be confused!

And for all of my negative thoughts of Kate's series, I will have you know I just requested Book 3 from the NY Public Library - so ... you know, take everything with a grain of salt! :)