Torment by Lauren Kate

Image taken from OBS Book reviews

The sequel to Fallen is just as good as its predecessor. While I NOW know what the story line is about, I ended up buying the book to find out what happens next, and not because of another stunning front cover (although, to tell you the truth, I really like the front cover to this as well)...

At this stage, Luce has just found out that she is in love with a fallen Angel. She and Daniel have been together for centuries (hence all the de ja vu feelings in the first book), and that ever seventeen years or so, he has to watch her die and come back to him again, reincarnated, all because of his choice to be with her instead of tending to his heavenly duties. This is all that Luce knows so far about her past. But because she didn't die like she was supposed to this time around, everybody - angels, demons, even Luce herself - are confused as to why things are different this time around. There is talk of end of days, the final battle, when eventually angels and demons will have to fight again for the last time. And there are a truck load of other supernatural beings all either fighting for Luce to join their side, or simply to kill her off. These are very dangerous times for Luce and for the people she cares about.

On the plus side, the "shadows" that Luce had originally mistaken in the first book to be bad omens are actually quite helpful in helping her glimpse into her past lives. She learns at her new school how to summon them and be able to see into her past for clues as to what her relationship with Daniel had been like in the past. But will this knowledge end up furthering enlightening her on her past, or destroy her hopes of her ever being together with Daniel for eternity? One must read on to find out...

While the content in this book is still pretty dark, I found the book to be more comical than the first one was. There are new characters introduced who add a bit of humour to the plot. Not that this is a bad thing, as the characters are quite likeable. And there's another love interest added to the plot, with Miles also trying to get with Luce. AND, Luce is wondering whether it would be better to be with him or not, so the relationship with her and Daniel gets more complicated than it originally was.

In all accounts, a very good read indeed. Cannot wait until the third installment comes out in a couple of months time!

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Image taken from freebooks.net


OK. So I've been meaning to read this book for a while, managed to get myself a copy of it last year, which I did not get the chance to read until early this year. To be honest, it was not so much the storyline that got me hooked (because I didn't know what it was about), but it was actually the FRONT COVER that drew me in. A couple of people have joked with me when I've told them the story that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I have to say that the story is just as good as the front cover that adorns it.

The story is about 17 year old Lucinda Price (Luce for short), who is sent to a reform school after a dreadful accident which happened to her would-have-been boyfriend, none of which she has ever recollection of happening, but which the authorities believe she is in someway responsible for. We learn that ever since she can remember, she has been followed by these supernatural creatures called "shadows", who continually pop up just when something dreadful is about to happen either to her or one of her friends. Determined to stay off the psychotic drugs she had been forced to take as a child because of these sightings, she lies to her parents and to her doctor that she has stopped seeing them. However, they still haunt her, and they appear to be haunting her more frequently now that she is away from home.

Then from day one when she arrives at the school, she meets the most handsome young man she has ever seen named Daniel, who she feels a strange connection to. Sometime, somewhere, they have known each other before, but Luce is unable to pinpoint where, and how this is even possible. But Daniel knows her all too well, and is initially unprepared to tell her anything. That is, until strange events begin happening at the school, and Luce insists on knowing what the shadows and her de ja vu feelings for Daniel have in common. The truth which she eventually finds out in the end is both beautiful and unbearable. To find out what that truth is, you will just have to read on for yourself...

Lauren Kate sets up this book quite nicely, detailing the scenery of Sword and Cross and of what it is like to live there. The gives subtle hints as to where the story is about to go, without giving too much away. Her description of "the shadows" and their appearance at various stages of the book come at times just when you are feeling "comfortable" with the narrative, shocking you back into a feeling of uneasiness and suspense. I thoroughly enjoyed the suspense I was feeling all the way towards the final chapter.

While this is definitely catered for young teenage girls, guys such as myself can appreciate its slightly dark undertones, not to mention the little bit of violence that is contained in it. As a romance novel, it does not go "mushy" or "over the top" with its romantic content. As a contemporary gothic novel, it has all the makings of a good horror story.

In short, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is into either of those genres.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

Image taken from Imp Awards.

I read this book a long time ago when I was a teenager, and had the opportunity of reading it again this year. As beautiful as the Disney film is, it cannot be compared to the book that inspired it.

Originally titled "Notre Dame de Paris", (Our Lady of Paris), the story was originally meant to be focused on the cathedral itself, and not entirely on Quasimodo; the change of focus is something that contemporary interpretations of the narrative have to thank for. And if you read the book carefully, you can see how everything that happens in the story is directly or indirectly connected with the cathedral, it in itself being the central character of the whole book.

Hugo uses his descriptions of the scenery of Paris in the 1480's and his descriptions of Notre Dame to share symbolically what the narrative is trying to teach us. It is a deeply thought-provoking book that comments on many political issues that are prevalent both in Hugo's day in in the times of Medieval Paris. Unfortunately, trying to briefly cover them all in this short review would not do the book any justice, so I recommend that the reader of this article seeks for himself/herself a copy of it to read for themselves.

The copy I read was the Wordsworth Classics edition, and is the one that I would strongly recommend, if it is available to you. It contains an introduction by Keith Wren, who delves into the political issues the book discusses in greater detail, and helps readers understand what Hugo was trying to say within those political debates. If this edition is not available, I am certain there are plenty of detailed online essays that also discuss the political issues of the book in greater detail.

A classic and a must-read for all Victor Hugo fans out there.