Rapture – Lauren Kate

On Sunday I read Rapture the final instalment of Lauren Kate’s Fallen series. And having been a fan of these books I’m sorry to say that I felt it fell a little flat. The final instalment sees Luce and the angels rushing to find three ancient relics which will reveal the secret site of the fall and allow them to prevent Lucifer erasing history.

I would be surprised if the ending of the series came as a surprise to anyone, but that wouldn’t be a huge problem if the writing hadn’t felt so rushed.

I flatter myself, perhaps, to think that I am a reasonably intelligent person who can follow complex plots, so I don’t think that it was any failure on my part that made me feel that the plot hopped around leaving out vast swathes of interim action which should have been included. I would have liked to follow the different groups of angels on their quests to find the three relics, using different narrative perspectives as in Passion. As it was the author insisted on keeping Luce a focus on Luce throughout (except at the very beginning and the end) so we were stuck with pages of description about how attractive she finds Daniel (yeah, we get it, sexy feathers… enough already) while more interesting characters like Arriane, Cam or Gabbe. Miles and Shelby are pretty much out of the entire novel despite the suggestion that they are going to help, and Steven and Francesca are dragged back in at the end of the book for no apparent reason. So the plot was a little disappointing.

As was the characterisation… a particular low point being where the Elders of Zhsmaelim (who are meant to be hundreds of years old) are bickering in the vernacular of nine year olds, with such classy lines as “Forget the rope, dope,” or “What do you have people call you now? Pee?” I can’t believe those lines made it past the editor. The dialogue for Daniel and Luce was just as weak. The lines were sickeningly cheesy in parts.

If you’ve read the rest of the series then you’re going to want to read this book even though it feels rushed and in need of a brutal editing. But to be honest I was left feeling that I could have written better myself. I guess this is why so many people started writing fan fiction after reading Twilight.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

 

 

 

For example, at the end when Luce is made mortal I would definitely have left it with her meeting the mysterious guy in the laundrette (Lucifer) and for them to decide what would happen from there, it would have been a much more interesting!