Review: Torment

Title: Torment

Author: Lauren Kate
Date Released: September 28th, 2010
Pages: 452
Rating: 4 out of 5

Description:
How many lives do you need to live before you find someone worth dying for? In the aftermath of what happened at Sword & Cross, Luce has been hidden away by her cursed angelic boyfriend, Daniel, in a new school filled with Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans. Daniel promises she will be safe here, protected from those who would kill her. At the school Luce discovers what the Shadows that have followed her all her life mean - and how to manipulate them to see into her other lives. Yet the more Luce learns about herself, the more she realizes that the past is her only key to unlocking her future...and that Daniel hasn't told her everything. What if his version of the past isn't actually the way things happened...what if Luce was really meant to be with someone else?

Review:
I've been waiting for this book FOREVER because I reaaaaallllllyyyy liked Fallen, which is the first book in the series. And let me say, I thought it was pretty good! I think it was actually probably better than Fallen and I'm so glad that I got my hands on it! It still had a few things that I was kind of disappointed about and didn't really like throughout the book

Here are the good points: It transitioned pretty smoothly even though in the beginning you're probably like "WHAT? WHY ARE THEY (meaning Daniel and Cam) MAKING A TRUCE?" But Lauren Kate does a great job of explaining why they're having a truce and won't kill each other for now. It was cool how at the beginning of each chapter, there was sort of like a countdown to how many days were left until the truce was finished. Kate also introduces a couple new characters like Miles and Shelby. I was really suspicious of Shelby in the beginning because of her sort of because in these books, it's really hard to see who you can trust, and who those of whom you can't. Torment also leaves you on this MAJOR cliffhanger... which actually makes sense because I read somewhere that the third book, Passion, that it's mainly going to be about Luce's past lives... which should be really interesting!  Lauren Kate also concentrates more on the "shadows"/Announcers which have always been following Luce and explains what they are and how they're sooo significant to Luce.  I was also very happy when some of the old characters like Arriane, Gabbe and Molly showed up as well... I thought they would never make a reappearance since Luce was transported to a totally new setting but Lauren Kate made it work out :)

My problem with this book was Luce. She is kind of a weak character. She's not really strong because she always wants to cry... or is crying. And she's sort of whiny in a way too. It kind of reminds me of Bella (from Twilight).  I think I kind of understand why she would be this way since she's lost so many things and is really confused about what's going on, but she could really be a little stronger.  And Daniel upset me as well because he was being waaaay to secretive and wouldn't let Luce in on anything that was happening! I think that if he did, she would at least understand and wouldn't have been so mopey and have to think about if they're really meant to be or not. I personally think that if some guy has been waiting for you to be reincarnated over and over again, you're definitely meant to be together.  Some things also happened kind of slowly and later in the book, like Luce discovering some pieces of her past lives, which were the more fascinating parts of the book.

Just a random note, but, I would totally envy Luce if she were like my best friend and we kept in touch. Shoreline is probably like a dream come true. Come on! Who wouldn't want to go to a prestigious boarding school next to the OCEAN! With a nice view of it too!!

Overall, I thought that this was a pretty good follow up to Fallen and I can't wait for Passion to find out more about Luce's past lives :D  Sometimes it could be a little slow, but you see Luce slowly learning about what she's been sucked into and more about the angels that protect her.

Cover Review:
THIS COVER IS GORGEOUS! I love the dress that the girl (most likely Luce) is wearing in this cover.  I love this cover so much that I made it my desktop background!!! 

Cleo :)

*Description from Goodreads.com
**Review copy purchased.