Review: Passion

Passion by Lauren Kate

Pages: 420, paperback

ISBN: 9780385618083

Publisher: Doubleday

Date Released: June 16th, 2011

Genre: YA / romance / paranormal / angels / bad romance

Source: library

Premise:

Before Luce and Daniel met at Sword & Cross, before they fought the Immortals, they had already lived many lives. And so Luce, desperate to unlock the curse that condemns their love, must revisit her past incarnations in order to understand her fate. Each century, each life, holds a different clue. But Daniel is chasing her throughout the centuries before she has a chance to rewrite history. How many deaths can one true love endure? And can Luce and Daniel unlock their past in order to change their future?
(Taken from Goodreads)

*SPOILERS AHOY!*

I shouldn't be surprised that I hated this book. After what the first two books made me feel, I should have avoided Passion like the plague.




The writing was mediocre. It would have been acceptable (barely) if it had been her first book, but as it's her third, it's embarrassing.It reads like an unedited first draft, which is not impressive. Another aspect of the writing that I hated was the dialogue. When Luce is traveling back in time, why does everyone speak with a modern tongue?

I really hated the characters. Luce was pathetic, constantly doubting whether or not she loves Daniel, and if their love is worth all the pain. I would have liked this line of thought if it actually meant something, and wasn't just added for a few lines of drama every couple of chapters.
Every decision Luce makes is for Daniel, and not for her. And then, in the end, despite this being her quest for knowledge, Daniel solves the curse, and she has no hand in it, getting nowhere. I'm sorry, but I like my female characters to not be completely dependent on their guys, and Luce is unhealthily dependent on him.

Daniel was just as perplexing. We find out that each of Luce's past lives all had very different personalities--and that was one of the few aspect of the story that I liked, because it was realistic. But what didn't make sense was how Daniel can love every incarnation of Luce, despite the plethora of different personalities amongst them. There is one version of Luce from a Victorian era, who is described as a "bitch" by Luce and the other characters. She supposedly has a vain and vapid personality--sadly, she's my favourite character in this book--yet Daniel loves her, because she's Luce. Only, she's not really. She's her own person with her own life. I don't know, it just cheapens their whole relationship--not that it wasn't already pretty cheap from all the abuse.

I was very interested in the going-back-in-time thing. It was the best thing in the book. It was fascinating seeing the stories and lives of Luce's past selves, and, I won't lie, they were vastly more interesting than Luce herself. This whole concept, though, was cheapened when the actual plot took place in the last 30 pages, rendering the first 390 pages useless. That, I hated. Luce didn't even have any part in the climax an the solving of her past, which just shows how anti-feminist this book is. This is just a load of crap.

Ultimately, I have to say that this is a disappointing read. It could have rated higher, maybe 2 or 2.5 stars, but that was tarnished by the joke of an ending, and the most laughable cliffhanger. Though, I have to say, this is the best book of the series.
I probably will check out Rapture when it comes out, only to finish the series and so that I can review it on here with what might be the minority opinion. Here's hoping the series can redeem itself with the last book. (I doubt it will).

Cover Art: 1

Plot: 2

Characters: 0

Writing: 1

Level of Interest: 1

Total Rating:

1 sad cloud