Torment is the second novel in the
Fallen series written by Lauren Kate. It is a young adult, fantasy, paranormal romance published in 2010 under Delacorte Press.
It continues the story of Lucinda Price, who is cursed by being
reincarnated every 17 years after involving herself in a romantic
relationship with a fallen angel
named Daniel. Something seems to be different during this lifetime, and
Daniel is determined to keep Luce safe from hostile forces while he
teams up with other angels and demons in an eighteen-day long truce. He
installs Luce at the prestigious Shoreline school in Northern California, where she meets a number of nephilim
students who have yet to choose between good and evil. Luce is
frustrated by Daniel's unwillingness to be honest with her and is
determined to discover the truth on her own. The book still revolves
mostly around the concept of religion, fallen angels and reincarnation
with the introduction of shadow travel.
Most reviews were just favorable, rating 3.9/5 in
Goodreads, 3/5 in
Common Sense Media and 8.7/10 in
Fantasy Book Review. Carrie R. Wheadon of
Common Sense Media
said, "This book is romance purgatory -- stuck and seemingly going
nowhere. Oh sure, Lauren Kate had a good thing going in the first book
-- that is, if you liked
Twilight at all and wished the vampires really had wings instead." while
Book, Nerd & Critic
said, "This book was just incredible. Once you reach a certain high in
the book, you just can't stop reading! With twice the amount of drama,
suspense, mystery and passion as the last book..."
Torment debuted at #1 on the
New York Times
Bestseller List, remaining at that position through the week of October
17, 2010. Like its predecessor, the book has also been translated in
more than 30 languages.
Synopsis
Plot
After the dramatic events of
Fallen, Cam and Daniel make an eighteen-day truce to protect Luce from the Outcasts.
Luce is hidden at Shoreline, a school where both humans and Nephilim
attended. Luce finds out more about her past lives with the help of two
Nephilim friends: Shelby, Luce's roommate, and Miles, whose affection
for Luce causes her to doubt her relationship with Daniel. Daniel will
do anything to protect her, which includes forcing her to stay at
Shoreline to keep Luce safe. Discovering some of her past lives, Luce
realizes how their love hurt the thousands of families she once lived
with. During her time in Shoreline, Luce's division between angels and
demons becomes blurry when she discovers that Daniel and Cam are
fighting side by side. At times, Daniel visits her to try to make her
feel happier about her situation. She then finds out he had a fling with
Shelby many years ago. At one time, when Daniel comes to visit her, he
sees Miles kiss Luce on a window sill. She finds out that not only the
Elders want her, but that the Outcasts - beings who are neither angels
nor demons - want to capture her. Luce's parents have a Thanksgiving
party, and when her parents go out the Outcasts arrive in Luce's
backyard to fight the angels. Luce finds out that Miles has feelings for
her, as he can replicate a person, but only if he loves them. Luce is
stressed from the violence and decides to find out more about her past
lives by jumping through one of the shadows, leaving everybody behind
her. Leaving her past and into her future and Daniel, her true love,
follows her.
Recurring Characters
Daniel sends Luce to a new school in California called Shoreline,
where, as he said, she will be safe. Luce doesn't really know safe from
what - that is something she will only discover through history. She is
now hungry to find out about her past lives as Daniel won't tell her
anything. As the story evolves, Luce shows a deep resentment to Daniel.
If they had never met in another past life to begin with, she could have
had a normal life without having to die and be reborn every 17 years.
These feelings will come in conflict with the love she still feels for
Daniel, while developing feelings for Miles which she constantly feels
guilty for. The feeling of resentment towards Daniel is largely due to
the fact that she doesn't understand anything which is why she jumps
through an announcer towards the end, in order to learn about her past
lives and her love for Daniel.
Daniel is a fallen angel, and in
Torment he is Luce's
boyfriend. He is forced to leave Luce in Shoreline in order to protect
her. He makes a covenant, or rather a truce, of 18 days with Cam, so
they can hunt those who want to hurt Luce together. Despite the fact
that he is not meant to see Luce as it draws too much attention, he
still finds a way to get near her. However, every time results in an
argument between the pair as Luce grows impatient with the fact that
Daniel cannot tell her anything.
Cam is also a fallen angel. He makes a pact with Daniel for 18 days
so that both could hunt outcasts sent by the elders who are trying to
kill Luce. He doesn't have a huge role in this book, but he does show a
more caring side as he helps protect Luce from getting killed when she
is lured off campus and starts to seem more protective over her.
Arriane is another fallen angel, from Daniel's side. After rescuing
Luce, Shelby, and Miles from a revealing moment gone wrong, she decides
to stay in Shoreline, from then on, to keep an eye on Luce. Like Cam,
she doesn't have a huge role in the book but she turns up at a
convenient time and sort of clues Luce in a little bit without revealing
too much. She tries persuading Luce to forget her feeling for Miles and
stick with Daniel.
He is another fallen angel, from Cam's side. In
Torment, he
will also transfer and study at Shoreline (it is speculated that
following orders of Cam and Daniel) to oversee Luce better. Still
friendly and popular as ever.
- Mary Margaret 'Molly' Zane
Fallen angel on Cam's side. She says that Shelby's personality reminds her a lot of herself.
Gabbe is a fallen angel on the side of Daniel. Her very polished
looks belie her extraordinary strength. She helps fight the outcasts at
Luce's Thanksgiving dinner.
History teacher at Sword & Cross. He is the only human, besides Luce, to be aware of the fallen angels.
Callie is the best friend of Luce back in Dover Prep School. She
discovers the identity of Luce's classmates during an unfortunate event
at Thanksgiving.
New Characters
He is a Nephilim (part angel, but mainly human), and one of the first
friends that Luce makes in Shoreline. His talent as being part of the
angel bloodline is to be able to mirror others and himself, though he
was only able to do it once before he met Luce (that being a mirror of
his mom). Miles honors his statement that he can only perform this for
people he has strong feelings for. Gentle and friendly, he soon wins her
trust. He helps Luce understand a little more about the Announcers.
Miles kisses her at one point outside her dorm room and confesses his
love to her, Daniel witnesses the encounter. He is liked by Luce's
parents, also and has a friendly sort of banter with Shelby.
Luce's roommate, who is also a Nephilim. A little grumpy at the
beginning, giving the impression of disliking Luce, but with time gets
attached to her. She had a crush on Daniel and insinuates that she had
an affair with him, which was one of the reasons for disliking Luce at
first. (Although in an extract it is revealed that nothing much really
happened other than the fact that she tried hitting on him but he was
too emotionally scarred by Luce's last death.)She loves practicing yoga.
Shelby helps Luce manipulate the shadows to look at the past, and is
great at observing details that help Luce track over her past lives. Her
ex-boyfriend is actually an outcast, who was using her to get to Luce.
Another nephilim who is Jasmine's best friend and one of Luce's
friends in Shoreline. She has an irrepressible enthusiasm, being
extremely lively and fun. Her physiognomy (appearance) is very similar
to that of Luce, telling her that the two no longer seemed twins after
Luce bleached her hair blonde.
Nephilim and best friends with Dawn. She is smoother than Dawn, but she is also perpetually happy, very lively and caring.
Professor of Shoreline along with Francesca, but unlike her, Steven
is a demon. He is called "Silver Fox" sometimes by Dawn. His hair is
silver and is known to have a slim, attractive body. He is the first of
the teachers to agree to Luce's work with the Announcers (shadow beings
that are able to store messages of the past).
Professor of Shoreline along with Steven. Unlike Steven, Francesca is
an angel. She is described by Luce as a beautiful woman with beautiful
body and golden curls. Francesca admits later in the book that she has
feelings for Steven but is unable to commit to them once they have to
fight.
The so-called "Sorry-ass ex-boyfriend" of Shelby, who will spy Luce's
stay at Shoreline without anybody's knowing it even Shelby who will
provide more information. He is one of the Outcasts and will be the one
to lead a group of Outcasts in the Thanksgiving party where fallen
angels, Luce's Family, bestfriend and Nephilim friends will be at.
Types of characters
According to the Bible, a fallen angel is an angel who, coveting a higher power, ends up delivering "the darkness and sin." The term
fallen angel indicates that it is an angel who fell from heaven. The most famous is fallen angel Lucifer himself. The fallen angels are quite common in stories of conflict between good and evil.
Nephilim are the sons of fallen angels with mortals. According to
Torment, a few Nephilim have wings and may possess minor supernatural talents (clones, mind reading, etc.)
No comments:
Post a Comment