Author: Lauren Kate
Genre: YA, Supernatural, Romance, 3rd in a series
Perfect for: those who have read the first two in the series. This does not work as a standalone.
Star Rating: 3/5 stars
Taken from Goodreads, "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."
I can't help it. When it comes to this series, I'm addicted. I can't help but enjoy stepping into the world Lauren Kate has crafted, but to be completely honest, I always finish these books (well, 'Torment' and the newest novel, 'Passion') with gripes. The best way to describe my thoughts about the Fallen series is that I want to love it so much that I hold it up to higher standards that it never seems to reach. I know I shouldn't, but I really liked 'Fallen'. The sequels.... There have been great parts and then not so great parts. But on to the topic at hand-- 'Passion'.
'Passion' is the third book in the Fallen series. It continues exactly where 'Torment' ended. Much of the storyline is centered around Luce learning about her and Daniel's past lives together in a search to find out why she loves him and why their cursed. I think anyone who's read the series has wondered about the past, so all in all, the concept sounds pretty good, right? Well, sort of.
At 430 some pages, 85% (ish) of the book showcased Luce and Daniel playing 'catch me if you can' back in time. While it was nice jumping into the past lives for a while, mid way through, I found myself wondering when we'd get on with the story. The time jumping was all fine and good, but there was just too much of it.
We got to see very little of the secondary characters in this novel, but Daniel, Miles, and Shelby had a good scene together and we did get a small peek into Cam's background, which was nice. 'Passion' will please those readers who can't get enough of Luce and Daniel's tragic love, but doesn't progress the story very much.
The best way to describe 'Passion' is that it reads like the middle of a story. It doesn't have a standalone intertwined into the big storyline. It's very 'Empire Strikes Back' in that way. The last 15% of the story is where most of the action happens and is a major set up for the fourth installment.
For me, 'Passion' read a whole lot like 'Torment'. It was a quick, addictive read, but left me wondering why it had to be so long. The more I think about it, 'Passion' would have been so much better as a novella. It's 400+ pages just seemed a bit repetitive and didn't move the story along as much as I expected.
Even though I had my gripes, I am not giving up on the series. The last 15% of the novel (where the plot really kicked in) caught my attention enough to make me look forward to the release of the final novel in the series. 'Passion' gets 3 out of 5 stars.
