Fiction Spark: TORMENT BY LAUREN KATE BOOK REVIEW

Torment by Lauren Kate

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: September 28th 2010

Pages: 464

Series: Fallen book 2

Age Bracket: Young Adult

Synopsis: 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?

Be forewarn, that this review may contain some spoilers from Fallen and Torment. Read at your own risk.

Lauren Kate didn’t fail to write another awesome book, a pretty good sequel to Fallen. It still left me awestruck and amazed. At first some details were kind of confusing. Just like in the first book. It was wrapped in mystery that enabled me to read further to the dept of the book to unleash the mysteries and secrets. I was disappointed that some of those questions from Fallen weren’t answered in this book. Only few though were being shed some light on it.

If I named the first book a “Book of Mystery”, I named this book “Book of Secrets”. There are a lot of secrets written in this book, but the answers never surfaced. The titled lived with the contents, and not only Luce was being tormented, even me as a reader experienced it. I ached so much to unveil those secrets and answer the questions nagging inside of me. But it never happened, instead of getting the answer I seek, I got another question that would add to the pile of questions waiting to be answered. Before I finish the book, I’m already thinking of what am I going to rate it until the twist gave me hope that the answers I’m seeking has its own place. And with that I have to give the author the credit for making it an exciting read and for making me want to read the sequel.

I love the new bunch of characters introduced in this book. Luce met a whole lot of new friends at Shoreline, a school for the Nephilim (offspring of Angels and humans). Some of them are Miles, Shelby, Jasmine and Dawn. Shelby is Luce’s roommate who first appears to be so arrogant and self-centered brat but later turn out to be sweet and a caring close friend to Luce. And not to mention Miles, the only guy Luce made friend at Shoreline. He is sweet, cool, hippie, material boyfriend type and very approachable. I love his blue intense eyes. Miles is a friend and he likes Luce and eerily turns out that Luce likes him back. I started to love the characteristics of Miles and I like him for Luce. I might switch sides from team Daniel to team Miles. But I still like Daniel for Luce but I became so confused. Daniel hides a lot of secrets from Luce and that pissed me off. He’s too passionate and he can’t live a day without seeing Luce even though it meant breaking the rules. But after their brief meeting, they just ended up fighting. I was so happy to see the old gang shows up here like Arriane, Roland, Gabe, and the mean girl Molly. I thought they won’t have any appearance here and yet it surprised me to see them play a part.

I love how Kate bring the story into a climatic end with a twist that readers will anticipate for the next installment and hoping to answer our questions. Some of those questions are: What is the secret that Daniel is keeping from Luce? And why does he intend to leave it to Luce to figure it out on her own? What does this new group of fallen angels that was introduced in this book wants from her? There’s a lot of secret everyone is hiding from her. And what is the reason behind why they have to suffer from the curse that forbids their love? Thanks to the Announcers, finally Luce learned how to manipulate them and used them as her window to her pasts. And since everything in this lifetime of Luce is changing, does that mean she meant to be with someone else and not Daniel? Does that mean Miles has a chance on her? Oh, those are some of the questions that have been boiling inside of me and I know it will be answered on the next installment. I can’t wait for Passion to come out.

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