Tuesday 21 January 2014

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Review: Teardrop by Lauren Kate

Teardrop by Lauren KateTeardrop by Lauren Kate (review copy) - Never, ever cry... Seventeen-year-old Eureka won't let anyone close enough to feel her pain. After her mother was killed in a freak accident, the things she used to love hold no meaning. She wants to escape, but one thing holds her back: Ander, the boy who is everywhere she goes, whose turquoise eyes are like the ocean. And then Eureka uncovers an ancient tale of romance and heartbreak, about a girl who cried an entire continent into the sea. Suddenly her mother's death and Ander's appearance seem connected, and her life takes on dark undercurrents that don't make sense. Can everything you love be washed away? From Goodreads

Having loved the Fallen Series over all, despite being disappointed with the last book, I just had to read Teardrop. However, my overall feelings are pretty "meh".

I've never read anything about Atlantis before, and apart from playing the computer game India Jones and the Fate of Atlantis so many years ago that I don't remember much about it, I know nothing about the legend. So I was coming to Teardrop blind, with no expectations. What the book did is whet my appetite for the actual legend, which I'll probably look up at some point, but otherwise, it's a lot like Fallen. By which I mean, you don't really get any answers in this book at all.

There's the ancient tale mentioned above, which Eureka reads in The Book of Love, the story of how Atlantis was flooded, which was left to Eureka in her mother's will. And you discover that Eureka is somehow related to the story. But by the end of the book... we know a few things, that I won't give spoilers about, but they seem hardly worth the length of the book. Seriously, with what we discovered, I don't know why Teardrop is as long as it is. It takes so long for Eureka to ask the right questions, or suspect much of anything. And some of the answers are really quite predictable; you might not know exactly what's happened, but you have an idea. When you know something 200 pages before Eureka does, her cluelessness can cause many an eye-roll. Sure, Kate has a talent for writing a gripping tale you can't put down, desperate to find out the answers to all your why's, but when you get to the end and you're still none the wiser, it's damn frustrating!

It was ok with the Fallen series, because it was her first series, and it seemed exciting and original. But if Kate is going to continue the same formula of revealing nothing for several books, then I'm not sure I see the point in reading them. I am intrigued by the story of Atlantis, and I'm intrigued to see where the story will go after the ending of Teardrop, but if the next book in the series continues to reveal nothing, I think I'm going to give up. I can't be doing with being kept hanging on for years on end. Give us something in the sequel, Kate, please! Otherwise, what's the point in me continuing?

Thank you to Random House Children's Publisher's for the review copy.

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Published: 24th October 2013
Publisher: Doubleday Children's Books
Lauren Kate's Website

4 comments:

  1. I got this book for Christmas (who can resist that cover?) but I haven't got around to it yet, I really liked the Fallen series (I adored the first one) so hopefully I'll enjoy this, I have to say though that yours is one of many 'meh' reviews I have seen so I don't particularly have high expectations.

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    1. The cover IS absolutely gorgeous! I love it! I loved the Fallen series right up until the last book. I really enjoyed the first book, too, but you were still left with so many questions at the end of each book. It was acceptable for that series, but to continue doing the same thing with the next? I just think it's a bit much. Too samey. It just seems a little... like I'm being cheated. Reading a book and getting very little from it. Just doesn't seem fair. God, it really frustrated me! I don't normally get ranty about books in my reviews, but I was just so annoyed by this book!

      I do hope you enjoy it when you read it though. Hopefully you'll have a better experience! :)

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  2. Teardrop is a masterpiece and is the most unique YA book out there now.

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it! It just didn't really do it for me.

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