Chloe King este o fată obişnuită. Merge la şcoală, îşi face temele, mai trage uneori chiulul de la ore, se ceartă cu mama ei, şi se îndrăgosteşte de un băiat… sau doi. Dar, înainte de a împlini şaisprezece ani, descoperă că i se întâmplă multe lucruri ciudate: îi cresc gheare de pisică, vede perfect pe întuneric, devine tot mai agilă, iar când cade din cel mai înalt turn din San Francisco moare, după care învie. Pe măsură ce descoperă adevărul despre originile ei, totul devine o luptă pentru supravieţuire. Din fericire pentru Chloe, ea mai are încă opt vieţi. Dar oare îi vor fi suficiente?
When a reporter on GMA said that the new tv series based on the book would be "like a combination between Buffy and Twilight" I was intrigued. So, I got a sample on my kindle, breezed through it and found myself strangely wanting more. I bought it and read it in one sitting.
It has that effect that The Sims has on you. You know it's sorta brainless, it's an easy read, you spend time trying to get to one level just to realize you could reach another in 10 minutes, but once you actually walk away from the computer, you realize *so much* time has gone by and you really haven't done anything. Yet that strange attraction that brings you back pulls at you, demanding that you get more. Because this is something that I experienced when I read the Twilight series and because there are some similarities with Buffy, I can definitely say that the analogy I heard on GMA was about as close it could get.
Not everyone will like this, but it's a strangely compelling story, unique in its description of HS life without being pseudo-intellectual or another "coming of age" story with nothing but angst and tragedy. Really, it's just a story about how HS is stressful enough without any superpowers and now that Chloe has some strange things going on, well, check it out and read it. The first three books are just 9.99 on Amazon Kindle. Quick, easy read, a nice refreshing break between the classics.
Chloe King's life changes forever when she falls 200 feet to what should have been her death. However, she manages to wake up, completely unharmed. Shortly after she finds herself with not only a strange new self-confidence, but also unusual feline abilities. A group of bad people have also noticed her strangers new powers and they want to stop her from using them, even if it means killing her.
Personal Opinion:
So I recently found this trilogy in an old box of books from my teenage years and decided to do a reread. While being simply written, the story (and the idea itself) definitely kept my interest and was a fun read. Plus it has quite the twist ending that paves the way for book #2. I would say it's more of a mid-teen read, but a good book overall.
I recently discovered that ABC Family is going to be doing a new show based on the book series, The Nine Lives of Chloe King. The previews caught me by surprised and looked so interesting that I had to, of course, immediately go out and find the first book in the series. I'm one of those people who, if I can, enjoy reading the book before watching the movie or show and since I knew I'd be watching the show, I just had to read the book.
Ooooo - it's a good book!
For those interested on June 7, 2011, the three books in the series, THE FALLEN, The Stolen, and The Chosen will be released as a single edition. Should save readers a couple of bucks. I, however, did not feel like waiting until June 7th, especially because the show starts on June 14th. Instead, I shelled out my money and bought the first book, THE FALLEN, all by its lonesome and sat down to see what all the fuss was about. Three hours later I finished it and went in search of book 2.
Three hours? Now I read fast, but typically not that fast! The only times I finish a book in three hours is when it's so good that I forgo snacking and potty breaks. Well, let me tell you, after finishing THE FALLEN, I was famished and had to make a run for it.
Anyone that follows my reviews should know that I have a thing for cats. Well, cats and girls. Okay, in all honesty, animals and people along with any combination of the two. I love shapeshifters of any sort whether the shifting is subtle or all out. Rachel Vincent's Shifters series is one that I can think of in particular that hooked me on cats and now Liz Braswell's Nine Lives of Chloe King Series is continuing the kick. Both authors have a fantastic way of turning an fairly ordinary character into a smart, and powerful feline girl that the reader just can't help but to fall in love with.
Obviously Chloe King is our main heroine in the series. She was a fairly normal teenager until she decided to take a plunge off a tall tower. The fall should have killed anyone else, but something is different about Chloe and it's only after her near-death experience that she begins to learn what. With claws and a desire to run, leap, and balance from impossible heights, Chloe begins to exhibit more and more characteristics of our beloved felines. Life would be great for the girl with her new found powers if it weren't for the crazy psycho that keeps showing up with sharp knives. Seriously - lay off dude!
My favorite aspect of THE FALLEN was Chloe. Braswell did an excellent job of making her feline without making it corny. I've ready corny shapeshifter books and although they can still be good, the awesome factor of the story is diluted slightly by the feelings of, "Uhh...really? I'm not believing it." Braswell makes Chloe a truly believable character both in the form of her physical nature and her personality. She's a teenager. She's rebellious. Aside from the dangerously sharp claws, I can see a lot of myself in her. That's what makes her so easy to relate to.
If a great character doesn't do it for you, perhaps some nice action will. Packed from the first page to the last, THE FALLEN leaves the reader guessing and wondering throughout the book. The action of fighting for her life and discovering her ability to break the boundaries of a normal human's balancing skills combined with the suspense of learning that not everything is as it seems makes for a story that's addictive and very difficult to put down.
My suggestion - if you haven't already read the book, give it a try. With the story being so good, I'm excited to see where the show is going to take us. If it's anywhere near as good as Braswell's writing, it should be a wild ride!
As an interesting side note - if you are looking to borrow or purchase the book now, you may not be able to find it under the name, Liz Braswell. The earlier printings of the book were put out under the pen-name, Celia Thomson.
Chloe King is a book about a girl who has cat abilities but there is a alliance named "The Order of the Tenth Blade" who wants to kill people like her.
I chose this book because the title made me relate to a series I had read when I was younger named “Warrior Cats” which I loved, it had clans of cats who are warriors and Chloe has cat abilities. I could really relate to Chloe’s thoughts and challenges she faces in school. Chloe thought like a normal teen except she had surreal powers. There is an another character who interested me, his name was Alyec. Alyec who also had cat abilities and was in Chloe’s school, in fact Chloe had a major crush on him. Chloe and Alyec went from students just seeing each other in classes in to a team and love interests. Most kids wished they had strange powers but this book shows another side to the story. I expected this book to be about a girl turning into a superhero but I was completely wrong. It is about a girl trying to live a normal life. Honestly, I loved almost the whole book except one part where the language and actions were not appropriate for elementary kids. But this book really made me have a peek in to teenage life. The book did have a few inappropriate and discomforting words and descriptions. But overall the book is interesting because of the cat abilities and the "drama". I would recommend this book to 6th grade and forward.
I have a feeling I'm going to annoy someone out there. Sorry in advance!!! I found this book to be captivating enough to have to read it in one sitting and far far far better than the super sweet sugary ABC series. But then I'm from the U.K. and find these USA t.v. series made from young adult fiction to concentrate far too much on how people look (Paul in the t.v. Series is a token ethnic minority soooooo contrived), they are completely shallow it's as if some t.v. Exec has taken all the gritty plot and characterisation from the books, thrown that away and been left with a sugary sweet yucky series that vaguely includes some paranormal stuff to appeal to the zeitgeist! ABC please look at the BBC series 'The Fades' to see how it's done!!! (incidentally I do quite enjoy the vampire diaries on the small screen but other adaptations such as The Secret Circle are just not real enough- I mean the grannies in that show have had so much plastic surgery they look younger than their grandchildren, what's going on???!) anyway, I digress, am just making the point that the book is much better than the show!!!!!!! Yay for reading!!!
I don't know if cat people qualify as more folklore or more fairy tale, but yeah, there are cat people. I'm not sure if I like the protagonist or not--she's very moody and unpredictable, but one would assume discovering one's cat heritage would be rather hormonal and disconcerting. 🤷♀️ Quick read.
When the Nine Lives of Chloe King started up on ABC Family this summer I fell in love with yet another series. The show was captivating. Shortly after I heard that it was a book and had to read it. Needless to say I was quite disappointed, which is unusual because I normally love the books of TV shows or movies that I watch. I found the Chloe in the book annoying and the relationship between her and her mother strained in comparison to the fine balance of single mom parent and friend routine that they have on the show. Not to mention the fact that the role that Brian, Chloe's friend/crush, was completely flipped from the show. Chloe's friendship with Paul and Amy is on the rocks half the time and she only seems to like Alec for his sex appeal and seems to think he has rocks for a brain. Basically, the relationships within the novel were a bit not only different, but not as well put together as what I found to like on the show.
The writer's style was catered to my tastes though. She wrote the different point of views of different characters in the book which I like because sometimes I want to know what going on in the heads of the other characters. Another high note is that the story all flowed evenly. I think the idea behind the story was great and the world seemed to agree a bit at least because the TV show is doing quite well.
To see more of my reviews please go to: ink-puddle.blogspot.com
Chloe King's life was pretty average until she falls off the edge of a building and dies. When she magically springs back to life, and pukes her guts out, her friends are, to say the least, surprised. Yet, Chloe isn't just alive, but changed. As she later discovers she is a "Mai", an ancient race of cat-like beings who were mystic advisers to the pharaohs themselves! Now she has to deal with an Order of slayers trying to kill her at every twist and turn simply for what she is, or what she could become. Chloe has only nine lives, now eight, since she lost one. On top of everything else she's falling, hard, for a guy she barely knows. Could Brian be more than just next crush on her list? Chloe may soon find out. The story has cussing and, repeated, death in it. Also, its only the first in the series and is a real cliffhanger leading into the next book. The grammar and language is, for the most part, basic (not counting words spoke in a foreign tongue). A wonderful adventure fantasy story for anyone interested.
This book literally has no plot...there's just a whole lot of nothing going on. The series, although not so good, is way better than this 1st book. Plus I like the TV show Chloe a whole lot better. The book Chloe is annoying and I hate how she just wants to have fun with both the guys.
I'm still going to read the other 2 books but I'll probably rate them all together and not separately.
2.5 So the writing isn’t great and a lot of stuff made me roll my eyes. Like she’s like oh he’s two years older so he can watch porn...? Like what? Also Chloe was completely chill about everything that happened which is so unrealistic. Also her friends are low key annoying. That being said it is a fun-ish quick read. Also literally nothing was explained.
Chloe jest nastolatką, którą samotnie wychowuje lekko nadopiekuńcza mama. Dziewczyna posiada dwójkę przyjaciół, z którymi od lat są nierozłączni. W przeddzień swoich szesnastych urodzin udaje się wraz z nimi na jeden z wieżowców San Francisco. Przyjaciele dobrze się bawią w swoim towarzystwie, jednak nieostrożność Chloe doprowadza do tego, że wypada przez okno jednego z najwyższych pięter budynku.
Miałam dość duży dylemat przy ocenianiu tej książki. Nie chciałam podchodzić też zbyt surowo do tej historii i warsztatu autorki, bo jestem świadomą ile lat temu ta książka została wydana, oraz jakie książki były wtedy modne i popularne. Niestety jednak mój zdrowy rozsądek wygrał i jeszcze podczas pisania opisu obniżałam swoją ocenę o jedną gwiazdkę. Ta książka jest po prostu poprawna. Nie mamy tutaj zbyt wielu zaskakujących zwrotów akcji, a autorka pisze bardzo prostym językiem, teraz można by powiedzieć wattapdowym. Ogromnym plusem dla mnie był sposób przedstawienia relacji między główną bohaterką a jej przyjaciółmi, ale również między mamą, czy nowo poznanymi. W sytuacjach czasami abstrakcyjnych, gdzie Chloe zachowuje się zbyt ufnie do jeszcze obcych jej ludzi, nie jest to przyjęte za normalne zachowanie, a główna bohaterka zastanawia się nad przyczyną. Sam pomysł na fabułę jest również wyjątkowy i intrygujący. Nie spotkałam się wcześniej z tego typu zmiennokształtnymi w książkach. Niestety, ale jednak sama tajemnica nie jest aż tak intrygująca, żebym czuła nieodpartą potrzebę sięgnięcia po drugi tom. Zamierzam jednak skończyć tą serię, więc wiem, że będę musiała po nią sięgnąć w najbliższym czasie, bo obawiam się, że bardzo szybko zapomnę o tym co działo się w tym tomie. Myślę, że w tych czasach ta seria również mogłaby zdobyć sporą popularność wśród społeczności booktoka.
I’m not sure if I wanna rate this book. For one, I’ve seen the show and it was much better. And also: I think it’s one of those that doesn’t hold up over time. The over sexualization of the characters is just plain weird to me personally, but granted I was born in a different country and different culture. Even skipping over that fact, the plot itself felt very simple and, excluding the final plot twist (that let’s be real - we saw it coming), we haven’t actually found out anything important throughout the 200 something pages. We’re not even closer to understanding what happened to Chloe. Her character feels very flat and isn’t really likeable enough for me to care personally. Her friends… I definitely preferred the show version. This petty fight for most of the book was not it. Both main love interests were just… meh. And the fact that Chloe didn’t even try to get to know them was insufferable. We get it. You wanna kiss them. Now, move on. The emphasis on that is just WEIRD. They’re 16 (and 18, which is also… questionable)!!! Overall, I’ll continue this mess, because I genuinely wanna know how would it end if the show continued. They left it on such a cliffhanger that I’m willing to get through the two other books to have answers.
This book is so different from the series I’ve watched (at least three times — though there’s only one season 😅), and that was actually quite refreshing!
At first, it gave me Twilight vibes — the main character is 16 and definitely acts like it (which, to be fair, is true). But honestly, this one was way more fun to read! 😁
There’s still plenty of “teenage behavior,” but I was kind of ready for it :)
I’m really excited to continue the series and see how the books differ from the show. And I’m so glad I bought the 3-in-1 edition — that cliffhanger would’ve left me screaming with rage! (Seriously, one of the weirdest ways to end a first book!)
Oana: Ce părere ai avut despre carte în momentul în care ai citit-o? Irina: Eu sincer m-am bucurat de ea şi am devorat-o cuvânt cu cuvânt, literă cu literă. Mi-a oferit ocazia de a mă ataşa de personaje şi de a le cunoaşte lumea. Întreaga acţiune a fost neaşteptată, iar cartea a fost plină de suspans şi de mister.Tu ce crezi? Oana: Trebuie să recunosc că aveam în plan altceva să citesc. Însă când mi-ai povestit despre ea şi cât de mult ţi-a plăcut, am hotărât să o încep imediat. Mi-a plăcut mult, deşi unii spun că nu este un volum cu foarte multă acţiune şi că este mai mult de acomodare cu personajele. Despre acţiune ce zici? Irina: Dupa cum ziceam, acţiunea s-a dezvoltat într-un mod proporţional -părerea mea- cu acomodarea personajelor. Au fost anumite scene care m-au ţinut în suspans şi nu mi-au permis să las cartea jos din mână până nu am terminat-o. E vreun lucru care nu ţi-a plăcut la ea? Eu sunt nerăbdătoare să citesc continuarea, aştept plină de entuziasm link-ul de precomandă. Oana: Cu greu mă gândesc la aspecte care nu mi-au plăcut. Poate singurul detaliu este acela că suntem puţin "lăsaţi în aer", neştiind nişte detalii , zic eu vitale, pentru a înţelege ce se întamplă cu adevărat în viaţa lui Chloe. Care a fost secvenţa ta favorită din carte? Irina: Sincer, nu pot să aleg, pentru că toate secvenţele mi-au plăcut. Dar este una care într-adevăr m-a şocat şi mi-a declanşat apetitul pentru lectură: în momentul în care ea l-a gasit pe Xavier în acea cameră, aproape mort, chiar nu am ştiut la ce să mă aştept în continuare. În acel moment, mă gândeam că nu ea provocase acele răni, ci că cine ştie ce alte creaturi fantastice. Care este personajul tău preferat şi de ce? Oana: La finalul cărţii, mi-am dat seama că cel mai mult m-am ataşat de Alek.. [că tot vorbeam de personaje masculine]. Am zis la final pentru că la început eram puţin confuză.. neştiind ce ascunde Alek defapt. Era genul de băiat popular, agasat de toate fetele şi care te tratează de pe o treaptă superioară. Dar când acţiunea a evoluat mi-am dat seama că e cu adevărat drăguţ, şi mai e şi rus! [:))] . Dacă ai amintit de Xavier, ţin minte că mi-a plăcut foarte mult scena din parcare cu el şi Chloe, iar în mod special mi-a plăcut felul în care erau descrise sentimentele şi emoţiile lui Chloe. Tu ai vreun personaj favorit? Irina: Asta o să fie puţin ciudat, dar mi-a plăcut foarte mult de Chloe. Nu ştiu dacă este un personaj foarte apropiat de alţii, dar eu m-am ataşat de ea, mai ales pentru faptul că seamăna puţin cu mine. Cred că tu mă cunoşti destul de bine încât să îţi dai seama de asta. Bine, eu nu am ochi de pisică sau super puteri, dar pisica este animalul meu preferat. Personalitatea noastră nu diferă însă şi o consider impulsivă şi câteodată arţăgoasă, ca şi mine. Cum te aşteptai să evolueze toata povestea, necitind descrierea, ci doar titlul cărţii? Oana: Mă aşteptam la vreo transformare spectaculoasă a lui Chloe sau la vreun declin ( " Căderea " ). Ăsta a fost primul gând. De obicei, înainte să încep să citesc o carte, citesc mai multe recenzii la rând. M-am obişnuit cu asta şi am aşteptat destul de mult înainte de a începe Căderea. Ce aşteptări ai de la următorul volum? Irina: Crede-mă că am mii de gânduri despre ce se va întâmpla mai departe. Mă aştept ca Alek şi Chloe să fie împreună şi să treacă peste anumite obstacole-căci sigur vor întâmpina alte obstacole, că daca nu, nu ar mai exista povestea-. Eu sincer abia aştept să aud întreaga poveste a provenienţei acestei specii, şi sper că o voi putea citi în carte. Dar de coperta, ce zici? Căci până acum ne-am axat doar pe conţinut. Oana: Cred că dintre toate variantele de coperţi, îmi place cel mai mult cea românească. Are ceva al ei, unic. E deosebită şi îmi plac în mod deosebit ochii lui Chloe şi backgroundul. Ţie îţi place? Irina: Da, este genială, am văzut mai multe variante, dar a noastra este cum ziceai şi tu, unică şi frumoasă. Este superbă, mi se pare că surprinde întregul conţinut. Cel mai mult îmi place privirea ucigătoare a lui Chloe, nu ţi se pare că se uită într-un fel nimicitor? Oana: O, ba da, dar nu ştiu cine este ţinta. Poate Brian? The-nine-lives-of-chloe-king-the-nine-lives-of-chloe-king-24622300-500-600_largeIrina: Probabil, sincer cred că da. Adică, merită o bătaie bună.Încă de când am văzut coperta, ştiam că aceasta fată-pisică mă va cuceri total.;)) Oana: Care a fost prima impresie despre carte? Irina: Mă bucur ca ai intrebat asta. Prima impresie a fost ceva gen: wow! Ştii tu, prima pagină, chiar înainte de prolog: Chloe King mai are 9 vieţi.Încă de atunci am facut o asemănare între ea şi o pisică. Dar mi-am dat seama că una dintre vieţi a pierdut-o. Dar a ta? Oana: Sincer, mă întrebam când se va mai taia o viaţă din cele 8 care îi rămân. Prima impresie.. Hm, a fost una destul de bună, deşi prologul m-a băgat în ceaţă. Totuşi, lectura cărţii a fost ceva diferit de celelalte fantasy-uri şi poate că mă aşteptam să îmi placă aşa mult. Deci, ce nota i-ai da? Irina: Într-o notare cuprinsă între 1 şi 10, i-aş da nota 10, chiar o merită. Dar tu? Oana: Sunt de acord cu tine. Dacă primul volum a fost de nota 10, stai să vezi continuarea ! Irina: Sunt sigură că Liz Braswell ne va lăsa din nou cu gura căscată. Eu vă recomand cu tot dragul să citiţi această carte, fiindcă merită citită! Ce mai staţi? Mergeţi la cea mai apropiată librărie şi cumpăraţi-o!
The nine lives of Chloe king by Celia Thomson was an amaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzing book. I really liked the character Amy Martin,shes Chloe kings best friend. Her quirkiness and humor attracts me to Amy. The book is about a ordinary girl who lives in life full of drama. On her 16th birthday Chloe finds out she has nine lives like a cat. Chloe found out she had nine lives because of her newly found friends who knew she had powers. Her powers include super speed,fast reflexes,jumping high, and basically everything that a cat can do. She inherited her powers from her father. For you to know the rest you have to read the book which I strongly recommend. I also like how this book was set in San Francisco where i'm from. My favorite quote in the book is"by the end, you were all that we had in common" stated by Chloe's mother in page 166. I like this quote because it made Chloe's mom look bold and relentless. READ THIS BOOK ASAP.
2.5 stars, and I probably would have given this book a higher rating had the main character been more likable. She was a complete snot to just about everyone she encountered and had major attitude. Not to mention the entire book felt like filler and nothing was explained about why everyone wanted to kill her. I don’t plan on continuing the series.
This was a surprisingly woke book for it being written in the early 2000s. I really liked Chloe’s character, and I thought the build up of her powers was cool. I didn’t buy her and Brian’s connection like at all, but that’s okay. I’m sure she’ll end up with him over Alyec cause conflict, but I guess that’s the way of things.
It’s just a fun, silly book, and I love fun, silly books.
This book started out good but I think it lost me along the way. I was obsessed with the television adaptation growing up and I’ve always been upset that it got canceled after one season so I decided to read this series. I guess I’m just not a big fan of the love triangle trope because there’s always an obvious better choice for me. I didn’t like Alyec at all, the way he was written was just terrible I fear. In fact, a lot of the dialogue was bad and I kept thinking to myself “this isn’t how people talk”. The whole Amy, Paul, and Chloe conflict got old fast for me and almost none of them were likable. I feel like if Chloe wasn’t the main character I wouldn’t be rooting for her as much as I was because even she was annoying at times. Brian was my favorite character, I think as a kid I thought their age gap was much larger which made me not like him in the TV series but I’m glad to learn he’s only about two years older than Chloe and he’s like a breath of fresh air in this when everyone else is just agitating. It takes a long time for this book to get to the point. I think I’d like this better if it wasn’t so dragged out and Chloe discovered her abilities, began training, and The Order was introduced earlier. I feel like if you haven’t watched the show a lot of the lore surrounding this could be so confusing. Chapter Twenty was the most interesting chapter of the book (literally the second to last chapter) and the last chapter itself was only about a page long. I’ll be finishing the next two books still because I want to see how this all plays out. I hope Jasmine is in The Stolen.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
“A” for effort, I guess. Many plot holes, cringey characters, pretty much zero explanation. It was a good idea that was very poorly executed, unfortunately.
This was an extremely fast read. Think, Heroes meets Buffy? A few continuity errors and characterizations outside of Brian and Chloe aren’t currently matching up, but definitely worth the fun.
I'm disappointed with this story and wouldn't recommend it, however I've heard the television adaptation was better. I can't verify if this is true.
The book I read, The Fallen, could have been great. The concept for Chloe's character was really interesting. There was so much potential! Unfortunately, I don't believe that I've ever read such a poorly written traditionally published novel geared towards young adults.
In the first chapter, Chloe King falls off of Coit Tower, a two hundred foot drop, and doesn't die. I was hooked! I couldn't wait to dive into the rest of the book. Heck, I wanted to read the entire series!!! But, by chapter three, I was beginning to have my doubts. About halfway through the novel, I thought I'd switched stories. This wasn't a paranormal story anymore. It had morphed into a badly written teen romance...that had NOTHING to do with the original storyline. By the end of the book, I was frustrated that I'd wasted my time.
First of all, Chloe King is supposed to have turned into some sort of cat-girl. There's so much the author could have done with that! Cat Girl. That's the story. It's a great idea for a YA novel. Instead, Chloe spends the entire book whining about her two friends, Paul and Amy, not having enough time for her anymore, every since her only two friends finally "hooked up" with each other. When Chloe isn't whining about that, she's obsessing over all the hot guys that have suddenly fallen into her life. ??? The girl had a near death experience. That's pretty significant. But no one seems to be concerned about that, including Chloe's mom. How can that be? If my kid almost died, I would lose my mind! I'd be insanely upset. Chloe's mom...nope! The mother doesn't really react to anything. In fact, mom could easily be replaced by a potted plant, and it wouldn't change the storyline. The book would be the same. There isn't a single conversion between mom and Chloe that moves the story forward.
Chloe's friends, Amy and Paul, could be replaced by a lamp and an end table. There isn't one conversation that shows us that these two characters were Chloe's former best friends. Instead, Chloe feels that she must remind the reader, constantly, of her friendship statuses. Did the author assume we wouldn't know otherwise? After chapter two, there certainly aren't any friend-like conversations going on between these characters. There aren't any conversations between Chloe, Amy, and Paul that move the plot forward.
Chloe is only sixteen years old, but she could have grown and evolved as a person during the course of this book. There were ample opportunities. Instead, Chloe is shallow. She doesn't grow. She doesn't mature. She doesn't learn any life lessons. She does improve her relationships. She doesn't think about her actions. She's not a role model. She likes hot guys and she has cat claws. That's it. Oh! And a mysterious stranger wants her dead towards the end of the book.
If all this weren't enough, this book: 1) Starts with a prologue that may or may NOT have anything to do with the characters in this particular book. No idea why it's there. 2) Uses an excessive amount of F-bombs for a non-gritty, Wonder Bread, YA novel. 3) Has plenty of underage drinking. Mom even plays bartender on more than one occasion. 4) Couldn't pass the Bechdel Test if its life was dependent on it. 5) Seemed to promote college age guys "hooking up" with sixteen year old girls. Umm...jail-bait, anyone? 6) Is filled with nearly every teenage cliché ever written. Stolen cars, etc. 7) And the final sin...the story ends on a cliff hanger, after a rediculous battle on a bridge, begging the reader to read the next novel. No thanks. I'll pass.
There are WONDERFUL stories written for teenagers...stories about magic, coming of age, becoming an adult. This story could have had all of these elements, but didn't. The characters weren't likeable beyond the first couple of chapters. No one reacted in a realistic fashion to anything. The main character, Chloe, is just too shallow!!! She doesn't do anything, learn anything, or promote anything of value.
Real teenagers, in my experience, are quite thoughtful. They may be young, but they care about things. They're insightful. I saw no none of this depth in the characters in this book. What shame!
Herkesin zevklerinin farklı olduğu gibi edebiyattan beklentisi farklıdır. Bir kitabı beğenmediğim zaman bu kitabın kötü olduğu anlamına gelmez, sadece bana hitap etmemiş olabilir. Bu yüzden hiçbir eseri "kötü" diye nitelendirmek istemiyorum fakat bu kitap için söylenebilecek başka bir şey yok. Hayatınızda okuyacağınız en gereksiz ve kötü kitabı aramıyorsanız The Fallen'dan uzak durabilirsiniz. Bir zamanlar dizisi popülerdi, ben de bu sebeple kitapları merak edip okudum. Şunu belirtmeliyim ki dizisi kat kat iyi. Konusu diğer fantastik-genç-yetişkin kurgulardan farklı diye ilgimi çekmişti. Yine kullanmaktan hoşlanmadığım bir diğer kalıp ise "boş bir kitap"tır. The Fallen için bir istisna yapıyorum çünkü gerçekten boş bir kitaptı. Karakterler çok yüzeysel, olaylar havada kalmış (olay örgüsü iyi işlenememiş), kuru bir anlatım... Konusu sebebiyle potansiyeli olan ama anlatımı yüzünden dibe vurmuş bir kitap. Durumu özetleyecek olursam, 12-13 yaşlarında (sadece genç-yetişkin okuduğum bir dönem) bu kitapla tanışsaydım muhtemelen yine sevmezdim. Bol okumalı akşamlar:)
I'm deciding on a four for lots of reasons. First of all, I'm reading this as a bind up but I wanted to separate the books in case I didn't feel like reading the second one right away (which is the case) so good choice, Past Rachel. Anyway. This book was really good. I'm a huge fan of oldish bind-ups that publishers re-bind and market as new again (you guys know I'm a huge Christopher Pike and Elizabeth Chandler fan). I just find they have a certain feel to them, like I don't know, they're different. So I liked this because of that, and also because this was an awesome concept. I generally don't like books about werewolves much at all (could be residual trauma from the eternal Edward-Jacob debate of 2007). So a book about a cat-girl is right up my alley! This is really short, and the plot is one of those books where we don't have even half of the story behind what's happening yet, which is perfect for this book. The reason I'm taking a star off is because of these characters. UGH. Chloe is... someone I would like to slap. Repeatedly. And maybe its because this girl is like 15 (the book starts the day before her 16th birthday but lets be real here) and every little life event is really her world imploding. I mean there are just things that she does that really bothered me. She acts really immature and then starts throwing herself at men (which isn't that mature either) but my point is that the author chooses to make this girl act like a whiny 15 year old on one chapter, and like a scandalous vixen making out in alleys with men (MEN) who she meets in BARS. I think if I was younger and having the option to do things like that was years away (not that I go to bars and kiss men I don't know NOW but I COULD if I wanted) then I could relate to her more. AND if I was 15 and my world was equally turmoil filled I might like her better. Also her love interests in this are macho douche-canoes that make me want to pull my hair out. So BASICALLY we have all that happening, and oh, she's also a cat and people are trying to kill her, which is pretty cool (for me, not for her). But read this if you'd like! I mean, its fun and short and really not that hard to get through! If you're younger you may like it more, but either way I enjoyed it.