Review: Passion by Lauren Kate

Passion by Lauren Kate
(Fallen #3)

2 out of 5 stars

Published by Random House Children's Books
This review may contain spoilers for the previous books in the series

Reading the Fallen series has always been like walking on thin ice for me. As long as you're treading very carefully, everything is fine. Passion is the book that was just slightly too heavy for the support of the ice, and it falls through, dumping me in the freezing water.

Luce is jumping through the Announcers through history to find something she's looking for. She doesn't know yet what exactly that is, only that she needs to find her past selves. All of her friends and Daniel try to follow her, and find her before she changes something fundamental.

I did like the idea of this book. I'm a secret fan of historical settings, and I was looking forward to meeting a Regency Luce, and a pre-historical Luce, etcetera. The problem is, that was the only thing I ended up liking in this book. Luce breezes through history, and I enjoyed watching her being a completely different person in other time periods.

The rest of this book wasn't that entertaining though. Passion lends from countless clichés. The snarky travelling companion. Daniel chasing Luce but never quite catching her. But the worst thing I read in this book was the awful characterisation of Satan. With a character like Satan, you need him to be the ultimate of evil. He should be cruel but intelligent. Someone that makes you shudder, that you can be afraid of.

Well, none of that. Ms Kate's Satan acts like a five-year-old. You know, one that throws a tantrum if he doesn't get what he wants. But the worst cliché that an author shouldn't even want to touch with a very long stick, is one that Ms Kate embraces. She lets Satan spill all of his evil plans. Just like that. Here they are, puny human. My ego is so large I don't have to be sneaky in taking over the world. I will tell you just now how I'm planning to win from heaven so you can try to stop me.

Ugh.

I might have been able to deal with the awful clichés if there was some emotion to brighten up this story. But Luce is just jumping through time, looking for some kind of love. It feels like she's running around like a headless chicken. There is no reason behind it, and in the end I still don't get exactly what she was searching for. All of her emotions felt forced, and I couldn't relate to them at all. In the meantime Daniel is just flying around, being emo. Thinking about killing himself.

Passion really wasn't a passionate book at all. If it had more of it, I might have liked it. Just like the cover, the inside of Passion is mediocre at best. I will read the last book in this series, Rapture, but my expectations of it have been exponentially lowered.

Blurb

Luce would die for Daniel.

And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn’t need to be that way...

Luce is certain that something—or someone—in a past life can help her in her present one. So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime... going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel... and finally unlock the key to making their love last.

Cam and the legions of angels and Outcasts are desperate to catch Luce, but none are as frantic as Daniel. He chases Luce through their shared pasts, terrified of what might happen if she rewrites history.

Because their romance for the ages could go up in flames... forever.

Other reviews you might be interested in

• Review: Torment by Lauren Kate (4/5 Stars)
• Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton (4.5/5 Stars)
• Review: Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick (4/5 Stars)
• Review: Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly (4/5 Stars)

More links

• Author page
• Press
• Goodreads

Covers: the Fallen series by Lauren Kate

Recently, Lauren Kate unveiled the cover of the upcoming book, Passion, on her website.

The Fallen series has two of the most beautiful covers I have ever seen. I first spotted the cover of Fallen while browsing Goodreads. Something about it made me want to have this book, even though I had absolutely no idea what it was about. It kept haunting me in its beauty. It radiates a kind of sadness, despair, a sense of being alone. The dark woods surrounding the girl seem dangerous and dark. She's wearing a beautiful dress (always a plus). I like that we see her from the side. Her arm curves in a fluent shape, covering her face with her hands. Her hair, flowing from her back, adds some movement to the picture.

When Torment came out, I forgot all about Fallen. This cover is even better. The contrast between the cold bare background and her soft voluminous dress. Oh, that dress. And the shining healthy black hair that is even longer, falling in loose waves from her back. The point of view that shows off her tiny waist. The pose, the way her hands desperately go through her hair. The whole picture is balanced, even the font of the title goes with the feel of the picture. I love that she is standing in a barren, cold landscape. We seem to have kept the forest theme, but in this one it isn't as prominent as it was in Fallen. In real life, this cover is even prettier than on screen. When it came in through mail I sat down, put it in front of me, and just marvelled in the strength of this cover.

Having such a strong affection for these two books I couldn't wait for the Passion cover release. So, when it was finally there, I was a little bit disappointed. It is by no means a horrible cover. It's great. It just isn't as great as its predecessors. I like that there is a little touch of red added to the palette, but I think the clouds in the background should have stayed white-grey. That way the focus of the picture would have been the flower she is holding, and not the clashing unnaturally coloured background. The top of her dress is very pretty, but the rest of it lacks the volume the other two dresses had. Because of that it looks a bit like a tired dress, that has had its best days. Another thing that bothered me is that she doesn't seem to fit in her environment. It looks like she doesn't belong there at all. The gorgeous black hair I so often jealously beheld looks dull here. We finally get to see her face, but I think I liked the covers more when we couldn't. The model looks too skinny here. Her shoulders are hunched in a vulnerable way, making her arms look too thin and her hands too slender. Overall, she looks worn out, not passionate. She looks like she has just buried a loved one, she's fallen into depression, stopped eating and caring for herself, and she is now standing at the foot of his grave with a flower.

It still is a pretty cover, and there must have gone a whole lot of work into it, but I think it is just off. If this was another series, it would have been completely fine, but after two of those amazing covers, you expect something different. I feel sad for Passion. It is completely outshone by it's baby brothers Fallen and Torment. I am still curious for the fourth instalment of this series though. I have hope that Passion is a little detour, and that Rapture will blow us away completely.

Note: this is purely a review on the covers of these books and by no means represent my opinion on the content. Those will be discussed in separate reviews.