Fantasy Romance with Teeth Soul and Ruin

First published by Delacorte Press in June 2011, the third installment in the Fallen series offers readers several ways to immerse themselves, in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, audiobook, or Libby app at local libraries. Its availability ensures fans can easily continue their journey with Luce and Daniel.

Luce and Daniel’s story repeats across time periods in the storyline Kate presents. Luce chooses to enter one Announcer after another, each one transporting her to a different past life in a nonlinear pattern. There is no clear sequence to her jumps, making her journey unpredictable and disorienting.

At any moment, Luce might find herself in different eras: one jump sends her to World War II Russia, where she evades the Nazi invasion; another lands her in World War I Italy as a nurse. She briefly becomes an 18th-century English mean girl, an actor at the Globe with Shakespeare, a courtier at Versailles, a Mayan sacrifice, an impersonator of a Chinese king, or faces the ire of a Pharaoh’s daughters in ancient Egypt. The transitions between these lives happen abruptly, without order, and in every life, Daniel’s past self is nearby, always witnessing her death and suffering greatly.

Throughout her journey to find the source of the curse leading to her recurring death, Luce has help from a gargoyle named Bill. He guides her through the Announcers and gives her tips at each new destination, making her quest more manageable.

Meanwhile, Daniel follows Luce through time, revealing an intriguing difference in the cleaving process. As readers observe, Luce seamlessly goes 3D, as she merges with her past self, and releases without issue. In contrast, Daniel requires Miles’ assistance and a start shot to cleave from his past self. An ordeal leaving him nauseous. This discrepancy invites a closer examination: why is Daniel’s experience so unlike Luce’s?

In this book, Kate weaves a tapestry of sadness, ecstasy, doom, and hope; the tone lands bittersweet and repetitive. As the plot unfolds, Luce misguidedly puts her trust in the wrong hands, and Bill’s true identity emerges, when Daniel disrupts a sinister plan in ancient Egypt. However, the tension never truly escalates, even when situations ought to feel dangerous. The plot with such potential fell flat under monotone writing, rendering it a 2.5-star read.