Review: Torment by Lauren Kate

Torment by Lauren Kate

4 out of 5 stars

This the 2nd book in a series. May contain spoilers for previous instalments.

Torment is the long awaited sequel of the book Fallen. What makes this books stand out from the crowd is not their unique story, but their beautiful outside (I did a post on the covers here). I have to admit, that is why is started reading these books too, out of curiosity. Would the book itself be as great as its cover?

To be harsh, no. Torment isn't as mysterious and dark as the cover would indicate. Still, this is a very enjoyable young-adult book with a dark twist.

In this book Luce doesn't attend Sword & Cross any more, the gloomy school we know so well from Fallen, but Shoreline, located next to the sunny Californian beach. Only problem is; Daniel isn't there. Luce feels like he is keeping secrets from her, and she starts doubting their relationship.

Shoreline isn't your ordinary school. Its honours programme is a cover-up, for only Nephelim can join it. Its a place where they learn about their history and their powers. Here, Luce's arrival is the story of the day. Her history with Daniel is well known in Nephel circles.

It's nice to see a change of setting, but the cheery place felt well, a bit too cheery for this story. I loved how Sword & Cross was described, and the gloominess added to the story. The Shoreline setting doesn't do a lot for the book. It's a great way to introduce some interesting new characters, but I still felt like I would rather have them all in an old dark castle than some state of the art light campus. Mrs. Kate has probably made the contrast with the two schools on purpose, but for me personally it wasn't quite fitting.

The book revolves around the fourteen days Luce attends Shoreline while Daniel is gone off somewhere she doesn't know. She starts doubting their history and their relationship. I thought this was well done, to finally see some realistic reaction from her. The whole destined to be together thing isn't really believable when Luce can't even remember all of her past lives.

What I also liked a lot was that Luce develops some powers of her own. The Announcers that have followed her around play a bigger role in Torment. I'm looking forward to see what the author will do with this in the next part of the series.

I did have some annoyances. Why does there always have to be a love triangle? No, seriously. I have yet to read a young-adult romance book where the heroine knows for a hundred percent which boy she wants. I'm getting tired of them really. I guess they're supposed to spice the romance up a bit, but in most of the cases it's just stalling the happily ever after. If it is part of the story, I can live with a love triangle, but usually it just feels forced. Unfortunately, Torment falls in the latter category. It's just unbelievable that we can have a second love triangle after the one in Fallen. Maybe in the next book we'll do something new and have a love square instead. Now that would be interesting.

Overall Torment is a decent read. We get some more world building, the stark black and white begin to blur into shades of grey, and there are great secondary characters once again. Luce's pondering might get on your nerves a bit. Now I'm thinking about it, it kind of feels like in New Moon. Luce and Bella would make great friends.

I did enjoy Torment. It has some nice intrigues and a cliffhanger that leaves me wanting for more. It might not be the epic love story it advertises to be but I see potential in good old Lucinda. Maybe she'll have some surprises for us in Passion, the third part of this series.

Blurb

"Hell on earth. That's what it's like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel. It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts - immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students -Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.

At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn't told her everything. He's hiding something - something dangerous. What if Daniel's version of the past isn't actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else? The second novel in the addictive FALLEN series . . . where love never dies."