Brought to you by OBS staff member Annabell Cadiz

Torment
Author: Lauren Kate

Synopsis:

“Hell on Earth.

That’s what it’s like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel.

It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to down the Outcasts-immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students; Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.

At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn’t told her everything. He’s hiding something–something dangerous.

What if Daniel’s version of the past isn’t actually true? What if Luce is really mean to be with someone else? . . .

How many lives do you need to live before you find someone worth dying for?

Review: Torment is the highly anticipated second installment to Lauren Kate’s Fallen Series. The book follows Luce as she continues her journey to discover the truth of who she really is and the great battle to come. Readers get to see her emotional journey into some of her past lives and what she had gone through. Readers also get to see Luce develop in her own gifts.

My favorite character, hands down, is still Cam! He is brash, straight forward, rude, and terrifyingly sexy! He’s the bad boy you know you should really stay away because you know trusting him would probably be really fatal but can’t stop wanting him anyway. Daniel is still so sweet and brooding, a quiet sexiness. I wouldn’t mind snuggling up to him *wink*

Some of the old players are back: Arianne, Roland, Gabbe and Molly. Arianne gets a bigger role than all the others in Torment, I would have wished to also have seen more of the others. Arianne is still kicking butt and taking names and doing it with her own unique style. I love reading her! Luce still annoys me to no end! She whines too much about the same things throughout the book and makes ridiculously stupid decisions! New characters come into play: Shelby, Miles, Sebastian, and Francesca. Shelby is a pistol! She tells you like it is and has her own only child syndrome issues to deal with. Miles is so sweet and cute and geeky. He is just a down to earth, genuine good guy. He’s the one you know you could take home to mom and dad without fearing dad would pull out the shotgun *hehe*.

I didn’t understand why Lauren Kate put a love triangle so quickly into the series. Fallen gave readers only a small glimpse of Daniel and Luce’s relationship. In Torment readers will get to see more of Luce and Daniel’s romance but the love triangle gets mixed up too early, readers will barely have time to adjust to Luce and Daniel’s connection before Luce and Miles start having one. I did like the fact that Luce’s attraction to Miles wasn’t based on looks but on a deep friendship they developed (a good lesson for young people–or really anyone for that matter–to learn!)

Luce’s constant whinnying about how long Daniel is gone and why he doesn’t have the time to just sit and explain things to her was annoying! Daniel is off protecting her! Hello! She could sit back and wait.

I love the angels versus demons aspect and the moral dilemmas the characters have to undergo. But Luce’s impatience and repetitive complaining kept me from falling in love with this series. I love Cam, Daniel, and the secondary characters more than I do Luce. I enjoyed this book. The secondary characters are wonderfully written and the story of true unconditional love is beautiful. I just wish Luce would suck up and get smarter and learn some dang patience!

Pretty decent read. I’m curious to what will happen in the next book. What new powers Luce develops and what happens to her relationship with Daniel. I also can’t wait to see what more trouble Cam stirs up *wink*

For all you fans of Fallen, you will enjoy Torment more for the fact that there is far more action and more emotional turmoil the characters have to undergo. Plus, you get to see Daniel and Luce’s relationship a little more. Don’t hold expectations too high because there will be certain aspects of the plot that may frustrate you, but for the most part for the second installment, Torment does a nice job of moving the story forward and increasing curiosity.