Torment - Lauren Kate

Torment is the sequel to Lauren Kate’s 2009 novel, Fallen. Torment is released in the UK on 30th September 2010 and published by Doubleday Children's Books and is 480 pages long. Thanks to Lynsey over at UK Book Tours for this one!

Plot
Lucinda Price recently found out that she and boyfriend Daniel have lived many past lives together… but only for seventeen years. Daniel is a fallen angel and choosing her caused him a life of pain each time that she dies. Now that he has found her again, Daniel will do everything to make their relationship work, especially because Luce is mortal and wont die when she is 17 this time around.

News of Luce’s mortality has spread and there are a lot of people out to get her. Daniel calls a truce with the demons in order to kill of these hunters one by one and save Luce. In order to keep her safe he decides it would be best if she goes into hiding. Luce is hidden away at Shoreline, a school mixed with humans and Nephilim. Shoreline is supposed to help Luce and keep her safe at the same time but she has no idea what is going on. Daniel is reluctant to tell her anything apart from the fact that she needs to be there…without him. Although Luce makes new friends quickly at Shoreline, everything she thought she knew is not what it seems and she begins to question her relationships past and present with Daniel. Why wont he let her know what is happening and is he telling the truth about what she does know? Luce has a lot to learn in a very short amount of time but will she be able to handle it?

What I thought
One of the things that I really liked about Fallen was the fact that I got to see glimpses of Daniel and Luce’s past lives and I was extremely happy to see more of that in Torment. Luce’s past lives that she can’t remember play a large part in the overall story and I was glad to see that. It was about time that Luce learned more about who she has been previously and what her relationship with Daniel has been like over the years. It really isn’t fair that he knows everything and she doesn’t is it? Luce really came into her own in this book and I ended up liking her a lot more than I did in Fallen. Her intelligence really showed because of how much she questioned everything. I liked the fact that she refused to be bossed around by Daniel and told him exactly what she thought about him trying to do that. Luce in Torment was the Luce I had wanted to see in Fallen.

The shadows that have haunted Luce all of her life play a massive part in the story and this was one of my favourite things about Torment. So much is revealed about what the shadows are and what part they play in Luce’s life and also past lives. The shadows really tie in Luce’s insecurities about not only her relationship with Daniel but also about who she really is. I’m really hoping that the shadows are featured in the next book so that I get a better understand of both Luce and Daniel.

Daniel annoyed the hell out of me but kind of in a good way. He really isn’t around an awful lot in this book and for good reasons, but I would have liked for him to have been featured more. His character really takes a back seat in order for Luce to shine and for her to learn so much instead of overpowering her like he normally does. The reason why I liked him being annoying was because it made me feel like I wanted to jump straight into the book and sort him out myself. He deserves a good slap or at least some sense knocking into him because I didn’t agree with the way that he treat Luce. His attitude really drew me into the story and made me want to find out more about why he was acting this way.

I LOVED the fact that other people knew who Luce was as soon as she entered Shoreline. It seemed to me that if Luce and Daniel had been through so many lives together already, then people who had also been around that long would know about their relationship. Luce’s peers reacted like star struck teenagers when they realised that it was really her and all seemed to have questions they had been told as children about her and Daniel. I know if this was me, I would have been whispering with my friends, wondering what the real story was.

I always love a book with a lot of mythology and background and Lauren Kate didn’t disappoint me. I found finding out about the history of angels and demons fascinating because different characters had different views on what really happened and who was on what side. Not everything was revealed but what I did learn made me question everything was going on and everything that I thought I knew about the characters already. I think that because of this, book 3 will have some shocks about what is really going on.

One of the aspects of Torment that I wasn’t so keen on was the timeline and how realistic it was. The book is set over a period of 18 days and that was way too short for my liking. Some of the things that happened in those 18 days just didn’t fit and I couldn’t really believe that they were happening. Even though I liked Luce, she too was slightly annoying at times. She makes out like 18 days is such a long time to be away from Daniel but at less than 3 weeks, I didn’t really get it. How weak is she that she cant deal without him for only 18 days and especially because he tells her that it is for her own protection. Because of either the constant whining or secrecy from Luce and Daniel, I couldn’t help but feel like they were being stupid and selfish at time.

I think a lot of people are probably going to scream at the ending because of how massive the cliff-hanger is but I thought it was fantastic. Usually I hate unanswered questions but Lauren Kate left me wanting more in such a good way by ending Torment exactly where it should have been left. I’m excited to find out what Daniel does next and what else Luce will learn about her past lives. A huge battle between angels and demons seems imminent and although I know the good guys are supposed to win, I’m not too sure who the good guys are anymore.

So there were both good and bad parts of Torment for me and while I should put it in Purgatory, I can’t bring myself to do it. The good far outweighed the bad and I really did enjoy it overall. Torment has mystery, intrigue, action and romance…near enough everything that I could want from a book. A great sequel that sets the scene amazingly well for book 3 and I can’t wait to find out what is in store next for Luce and Daniel.