Tuesday 12 June 2012

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Review: Rapture by Lauren Kate

Rapture by Lauren KateRapture by Lauren Kate (review copy) - WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the others in the series. Read no further if you're planning on reading this series and don't want it spoiled for you.

The sky is dark with wings...

And time is running out for Luce and Daniel.

In order to stop Lucifer from erasing the past, they must find the place where the Fall began. Only Luce can break the curse, and it is her choice alone that will decide all of their fates.

But as Dark Forces gather, great sacrifices will have to be made in this final, epic struggle...

In the fight for Luce, and for Love, who will win?
From Amazon UK

I fell in love with the Fallen series from the very beginning, and have eagerly anticipated every book that followed, diving into it's pages with excitement, certain that I was in for a reading high. Unsurprisingly, I started reading Rapture, the final book in this fantastic series, with the same expectations. Unfortunately, I finished the book feeling a little disappointed.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a really good book. Daniel and Luce's love is just as strong and beautiful as you have come to expect, and their determination to fight the curse and be together is still as awe-inspiring. They are together pretty much throughout the whole story, which is lovely. It's great to not see the fights they had in Torment, the secrets Daniel was keeping that frustrated Luce, or her jumping through announcers without him in Passion, with Daniel desperately trying to follow. Now, they're together, and though they have their beautiful moments, they were constantly on edge, hating how time kept moving forward, towards when Lucifer's second Fall will land.

For Daniel, Luce and co have nine days; nine days to find ancient angelic relics that, when put together, will reveal the location of where The Fall will happen. The only problem is, they're not enitrely sure what or where these relics are. They have very basic-but-might-be-wrong ideas, but it looks like it will be extremely difficult to get these relics together, if they're even able to. Except, well, in my opinion, they didn't find it that difficult. They had some issues with some some enemies, but otherwise, they found these relics quite easily. There were a few "obstacles" to start with, but hey, look, there's the relic! It felt a little too easy for me. I also never understood why they would tell them where the Fall would take place. I got how, but I either missed it, or why this would happen is beyond me. Those who have read the book already will get this next point - I didn't get all the knowledge surrounding the second relic. Again, why? How? Everything to do with the relics feels like there should have been some sort of prophecy or something that explained things, but there wasn't. They just believed it would all work because... well, I don't know. I'm really hoping I simply missed it, and may find it out on a second read.

Despite this, I sailed through Rapture anyway, desperate to get the answers to all the questions that had been building up in my head since book one; would Daniel and Luce finally break the curse? Why the curse in the first place, really? And what is Luce's part in all this, apart from having lived and died countless times? What have they all been hiding from her? And we finally get our answers, everything is tied up and makes sense at last! However, as I read this book, I found myself putting things together too early on. It wasn't that I had theroies I thought might possibly the reason for XYZ and how ABC would turn out - they weren't theories, I knew. It felt blindingly obvious to me what was going to happen, and I can't understand why. Every other book in the series constantly had me guessing, and I never knew what to expect, but with Rapture, I guessed most things. There was one thing I didn't guess, and sure, it was pretty major, but I felt all the twists should have been surprising, and I found it disappointed.

And because of all the build up over the whole series, I thought there would be a much more action packed climax than I got. As you read above, there are to be "great sacrifices" in this book, and there were, but not from a hugely action packed climax. Nor did those sacrifices upset me much, which is surprising considering how much emotion I was feeling while reading all the previous books. However, I did think the ending was really sweet, and I did get a little teary over Luce and Daniel, and had a smile. But did anyone else who read the book find the silence on a certain aspect on the very last page to be infuriating? More questions, but it's the end of the series! I really didn't understand that at all.

Rapture is definitely a book fans of the Fallen series should read! Despite my disappointments - how easy some things were, how I knew the outcome of other parts - it's still a good story, one you can get swooped up in as you watch Luce and Daniel take a final stand for their love, and discover all they needed to do it. It's undeniable that Lauren Kate can write completely addictive novels, and you will not be able to put this book down, just like I couldn't. It just could have been a little better for me.

Thank you to RHCB for sending me a review copy.



Published: 21st June 2012
Publisher: Doubleday
Buy on Amazon US
Lauren Kate's Website
Fallen Series UK Website

My other reviews from the series:
Fallen (Fallen Book 1)
Torment (Fallen Book 2)
Passion (Fallen Book 3)
Fallen in Love (Fallen Companion Novel - Book 3.5)

Other reviews:
Eleusinian Mysteries

20 comments:

  1. I just know these books aren't right for me, but every time I see the gorgeous covers, I try to convince myself that I really need them.

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    1. Oh, all the others were fantastic novels! The cover are beautiful, they do look really awesome on my bookcase :)

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  2. Hello Jo!
    I fell flat after reading Fallen and it's sequel: it's just never been a series I've enjoyed. However, I agree with V, the covers are just so enticing! I'm glad to see you so passionate over Rapture though, and I might just finish reading all the books because of it :)

    Happy reading!
    -Kirthi

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    1. Hi Kirthi! :)

      I can understand that, there are books others have raved about that I just didn't like at all. But yes, these covers are just so gorgeous! If you do continue with the series, I really hope you enjoy it! :)

      Happy reading to you too!

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  3. Oh I totally understand some of your disappointments with this. For a long time, I was hoping/expecting this... EPIC ending. I wanted a WAR, a battle, a bloody showdown to end it all, but... well I figured maybe I was just being bloodthirsty :P So I grew to accept it and I was happy to finally have all secrets fully out in the open.

    I was actually quite surprised that I shed a few tears too in the end! But oh, it was a beautiful epilogue <3 I *think* you're referring to a certain... someone... in regards to the silence? If so, YES. I AGREE! I want to know more!!

    Fanastic review, Jo! You managed to capture so much more of what I wanted to say.

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    1. I know! I think there should have been a bit more going on at the end. Oh well! I, too, was happy to finally understand everything :)

      It wasn't the epilogue that made me cry, it was... the second to last chapter? Before all that happens that leads to the epilogue. That was pretty cute, though.

      YES I AM! I hope there's going to be a short story or something. It can't just be left like that. It makes no sense. A major certain someone! Details please, Lauren!

      Thank you! :)

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    2. Covers are gorgeous!!! Story was beautiful, but left me feeling a little disappointed. The beginning lagged and ending seemed hurried or not as fulfilling as the other books.

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    3. They are really beautiful :) I know exactly what you mean! :)

      I don't know if it was you or someone else posting as "Anonymous", but I had to delete an anonymous comment, because it was far too spoilery. I understand all your questions, and get that you'd want to discuss the ending (who wouldn't?), but they're all too spoilery for those who have yet to read the book, and so I had to delete it.

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  4. I absolutly love the fallen series and the covers are just beutiful. great reveiw.

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    1. Thank you :) The covers are amazing! Thought I've just noticed Luce is wearing a white dress for this book! They're all dark in the others. Very fitting! The series is awesome too, mostly :)

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  5. I disagree re the action in this book. It's completely jammed with it. I also don't understand how someone can be disappointed by something they find to be "awe-inspiring." I suppose that's what you get in the post-secular era, where God, if He exists, is really rather a bore.

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    1. I think you misunderstood some of my points. Regarding the action, yes there are a number of action scenes in the book, but I'm referring to the climax, the pivotal point towards the end of the book. Considering the build up there has been since Fallen, I would have expected the climax to be much more action-packed.

      To bring things down to the very basics, I found the love between and determination of Luce and Daniel awe-inspiring - the strength of their feelings and how Kate wrote them. But I found the events of the book disappointing. I loved the feelings, not so much the events.

      I suppose we can't all get the same thing out of books. For me, compared with the others in the series, this was a little disappointing. I still enjoyed it, though.

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  6. For me the book that just didn't work for me in this series was Passion. (I just wrote my review of the whole series -- probably didn't really do it justice because it has been awhile since I read the first three books.) But like you, I thought the climax was a tad anti-climactic :-)

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    1. Oh, I didn't mind Passion, I really enjoyed it! But yeah, the anti-climax was a little disappointing. The series was good overall, though :)

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  7. so what is luce ?she and Daniel get a happy ending?i just can't wait until appear my country :))

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    1. Haha, I'm afraid you'll have to wait and read the book yourself! I'm not going to spoil it for you :)

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  8. It seems to be that if you liked the first three, you hate the last two. Or if you hate the first three, you like the last two. It's all a matter of opinion.
    So, I thought that the first three books were really good. Then the author's writing started going downhill in her short story collection Fallen in Love and Rapture. Rapture was one of those books that you stay up all night reading cause you think the endings worth the all-nighter. Got no sleep last night and I'm not thrilled to say that this book wasn't worth it. The author had it building up to something great. I'd figured out the twist to Luce's past right after the diving artifact. I thought the ending would be her best book yet at the rate she was going. Sadly with the development in the ending. Up until the last 100 pages I hadn't felt like the book was a waste of my time. It actually made me kind of mad as I read the last pages. It just wasn't really satisfying knowing that the book was wrapped up using that. It had degraded the quality of her previous books in my eyes.

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    1. I know what you mean, but I didn't think it was all bad. I still enjoyed reading it, but in comparison to her previous novels in the series, there was definitely something missing. I actually really liked Fallen in Love, though.

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  9. Sorry, Anonymous, I had to delete your comment as it was spoilery. I don't want to spoil the book for those who have yet to read it yet.

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  10. I'm so glad to know I wasn't the only one who cried during the ending of this book! Ohemgee. I think all the books in the series were amazing.

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