I ♥ Books: Fallen by Lauren Kate

Name:  Fallen
Author:  Lauren Kate
Pages:  452
Publisher:  Random House's Children Books - Delacorte Press

Summary
This is the story of a girl named Luce, who gets sent to a reform school after an incident where a guy died. The place and the people are really weird, she sees strange things that have been plaguing her her whole life and she's pretty much just trying to make it through school without getting in too much trouble and letting anyone else die. Also, there are angels. Angels and demons. It's like a two for one special.

Discussion
I got this book as a birthday present and I'd seen it in bookstores on display everywhere, so I was curious and excited to see what it was about.

When I started reading it I thought "Oh. Bad stuff happened to you. I'm so sorry.", but eventually I got over that and got a little annoyed at Luce for not having her priorities in order. People were very unhappy and some of them were even dying, but all she cared about was the hot blonde dude who liked being a dick to her.

There's another dude too. Classic tall, dark and handsome. The only difference between him and the blond is that he's actually nice to Luce.

At this point you can probably figure out for yourself that this a love triangle and that Luce is conflicted. I don't understand why we always end up here. Love triangles are the stupidest literary move ever. I understand this book falls in the fantasy genre, but could we at least try to keep the romance aspect of it a little more on the realistic side. Guys do not compete for a girls affection as aggressively as this and if they do, tell me. I'll buy a ticket to watch.

I'll be honest, the story was compelling. I wanted to know what happens next. Despite the fact that the main character's love life bugged me, I was really curious about how it all would turn out.

The characters were written very well. The way they're introduce is very descriptive and I could get a really clear image of how they looked and who they were in my head. The supporting characters were fantastic. I actually liked them more than the main characters. They get even better later in the series.

My Favourite Line
Uh... I can't remember anything. I'm going to have to reread it, aren't I? Ugh.

(Rereads half of book)

Okay. My favourite line is:

"She felt her lips pull up in a smile back at him, but then he raised his hand in the air. And flipped her off."

There. Best move by a romantic interest, ever.

My Verdict
This was not a bad story. I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped to, because it was just a little bit too sappy for me and the protagonist was just really annoying. I understand that it's an introduction to the series and because it's the first book, it has to set the tone and stuff, but it definitely wasn't my favourite. If you like angsty, YA books about fantasy creatures and romance, give it a go.

Rating

Video Review

Here, have an essay!

I am a journalism student, solely for the purpose of being able to write decent, credible things on the internet. I practically live and breathe online media, so I figured it would be a good idea to study something that would give me a place within the realm of bloggers. One of my favorite things we've done in the course so far is write columns for our theory class and I'm really happy with how mine have turned out.

For our second assignment, we had to write a column in response to a column by David Bullard on how journalism is a bogus degree. You can find his column here. Here's mine:

Studying journalism: Yay or nay?

A lot of aspiring, young journalists start out at the exact same place: a first year journalism class that gets smaller and smaller every semester. I don’t know if it’s because they think they don’t and never will have sufficient writing skills, they chose an entirely different career path around June, or realising that their dream of dismantling the establishment board by board might be trickier than they first thought. Maybe it isn’t any of those. Maybe it’s because a journalism degree is a massive waste of time, money and anxiety meds.

At one point or another, every aspiring journalist was exposed to something that made him or her want to become journalists. Newspapers and other publications may have had a hand in it, but it’s more likely that broadcast media was the bigger influence and by that I mean that they saw a character in a television show or film that made them think ‘Wow! That looks cool!’. With that in mind, they go out into the world and enroll in a journalism course hoping to be the next Hunter S. Thompson, only to realize that the pay blows, there’s no trace of glamour and the newsroom is quite a sucky place.  

But let’s face it; I have zero newsroom experience whatsoever. Who am I to be discussing the ups and downs of the unglamorous journalist lifestyle? The closest I’ve ever come was watching Lois Lane do her thing at the Daily Planet, and that not only counts for less than two XP (experience points), but also makes me one of the aforementioned delusional journo wannabes.

Despite David Bullard’s argument in his column that a journalism degree is a bogus degree, and the fact that I often feel this to be the truth, especially when I’m up to my neck in media ethics and theory essay prep work, there’s probably more to it than just that. For starters, just going to university and having that experience is a big plus.

Spending a ton of money on university isn’t a totally worthless endeavor. You get the opportunity to do a thing that professionals call “networking”, you learn how to put yourself out there and you can waste all your precious study time on Tumblr and YouTube, as long as you pass your classes and keep your parents happy. More importantly though, it gives you the time and opportunity to expand your mind and get to know your wants and needs for the future, better than you could in high school anyway. Also, did I mention student discounts?

It’s not like studying journalism means you’ll be a journalist. It’s a degree that qualifies you to do a bunch of weird things, most of which involve writing of some sort. You could teach English to impoverished Cambodian orphans, you could be the sassy new news anchor on SABC 2, or you can live off of cigarettes and booze being a freelancer for underground street art magazines. The possibilities seem kind of endless. 

Whether or not journalism is a ‘bogus’ degree, I can’t quite say yet, but what I can say is that there’s more to a journalism degree than eventually becoming a journalist.

Word count: 520

I got a 76% for this assignment. That's a distinction by our standards, so I'm happy with it.