The Fallen Star
Genre: YA, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy
Written by: #1 NYT best selling author Jessica Sorensen
Available as Paperback or ebook
Buy it here:
Published by: Creative Space in August '11
ISBN: 1461052149
Well this is one is gonna be a tough one to write, but here we go!
Usually, Jessica's books are pretty high up on my list of YA favourites, her books are sweet and usually highly entertaining, however... it saddens me to say, that I don't think 'The fallen star' is gonna make the cut.
The story started out sweet and mysterious enough, and I was ready to throw myself into a new paranormal romance series.
Social outcast and protagonist Gemma walks through life unable to feel any kind of emotion, she's hollow and completely numb to anything going on around her..her family is a little on the odd side and to top it all off she seems to be on the verge of losing her sanity.
(Sound familiar yet?)
For the first time in her life, Gemma actually starts to feel something, an electrifying warmth overcomes her whenever he's near her, coupled with an indescribable want to be close to him.. Alright, fair enough.
And of course, right of from the start he seems to hate her guts.
They argue and glare at each other a couple of hundred times, but nothing drastic happens for a while, apart from Gemma finally finding out she's not losing her mind and someone really is following her. Someone very dangerous at that. A little later she finds out there's definitely something dodgy going on with Alexander, however much he's trying to hide it. Why won't he just stop lying to her? And how on earth does he know her grandparents? Or was it foster parents?
So without any more spoilers, let me just cut to the chase.
I can't quite put my finger on what it was exactly, but for me, there was just something missing in the story. I kept waiting for something big to happen, for something to shock me, anger me or whatever else, but...
nothing. Just, nothing.
I myself almost felt numb and emotionless the further I got into the book.
And as much as that may sound like an accomplishment for the author to project the protagonists feelings onto the reader, it really didn't work the way it should of. I really just couldn't connect to Gemma, as much as I tried to...and believe me, I tried.
It was more like being in a constant limbo, waiting for something to rip you out and swallow you whole... but nothing happened and I just felt myself getting progressively more frustrated with the story. I tried my hardest to stay focused, but in the end I lost the battle and was glad when it ended.
I finished the book with mixed feelings, especially because I enjoyed the majority of her other distinctive works. So please don't let that stop you from picking up any of her other books!
More thoughts on the characters:
Never being particularly fond of weak female characters, (I'm sorry to say) Gemma irritated the absolute fudge out of me. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against shy or introvert characters, but Gemma was just downright infuriating. Even when she was able to feel, all she did was mope around, hopelessly pining after Alex.
And Alex just really needed a good slap.
It also angered me that the character portrayal was so plain weak in general, just describing how green someones eyes are and mentioning that they're attractive just isn't gonna cut it, and if I'm completely honest, Laylen seemed to be the only character remotely interesting throughout the majority of the book. I really don't intend to be purposely mean, but is there really a point in writing a review if you're not being completely honest? The answer to that would be no. At least in my books. (Hehe, pun intended.)
The handful of supposedly romantic moments between Alex and Gemma all felt a little too clinical which made it quite difficult for me to connect to them on a more emotional level.
The narration wasn't dreadful by any means, nor was it linguistically unappealing, it was just missing a little more..fire. For a lack of better word. More heart, more charisma and above all, more emotion.
