Fallen (Guardian Trilogy Book 1) We meet Maggie as she is entering into a transition point in her life. Used to travelling from place to place, hardly ever settling down for more than a few months, this is the first time she will have roots. Maggie will be living alone in New Orleans. I loved the setting for sure. So rich and vivid. I couldn't wait to see what happened to our protagonist.
 
Unfortunately I wasn't a huge fan of Maggie after the start of the book. She came into the story as an independent and feisty girl. One who was totally able to take charge if necessary. However the further into the book I read, the more she slowly became a damsel in distress. Someone who needed saving at the drop of a hat, and pining for a guy. I had a hard time with this. Still, I can definitely say that the secondary characters make it all worthwhile! Each time one of them popped into the story it made me smile. I'm hoping in future books Maggie might gain a little of her independence back?
 
Fallen is a book with a great premise, but sadly it suffers from some definite writing issues. There were points where I was trying to hard to ignore grammatical issues that I actually lost track of where I was in the overall story. As an example, Maggie uses the word "anyways" around 12 times in the first 20 pages. I wouldn't have minded normally. Sometimes being in the narrators head and using their vocabulary is fun. In this case though, I felt like it detracted from my enjoyment of the story. The writing is overall a little forced, just be warned. It does get better about halfway through though.
 
Apologies if this is a rambling review, but honestly that is how my thoughts are after finishing. I think that Laury Falter definitely has something worthwhile here. I would have liked to see a continuously strong Maggie, and maybe a little bit more character building. Add in some editing and I see a series that I'd be interested in following. ( )

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Fallen is just another one of those angel stories. Really, it was a chore to read, filled with flat characters, plot holes, and a story that just didn't work.

It can be classified as a mixture of this:
[bc:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361039443s/41865.jpg|3212258]
and this:
[bc:Fallen|6487308|Fallen (Fallen, #1)|Lauren Kate|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358267190s/6487308.jpg|6678670]

I am not accusing the author of copying these two books; I am merely pointing out that the similarities are too obvious and difficult to ignore, and that this book blurs in with the other popular paranormal novels out there. It lacks originality and fits the stereotypes of the YA paranormal genre.

First mistake: flat characters. This book has loads of them. Not only were they flat, they were also unreal, and just... uninteresting. I did not feel a connection of any sort to the characters, let alone the protagonist, Maggie.

The dialogue between the characters was very unrealistic; they did not speak like people living in the 21st century, that's how fake the dialogue seemed. An unreal dialogue led to writing that was, to sum it up, choppy. It did not flow at all, and I did not feel like I was viewing things from an adolescent's POV.

The male interest of the protagonist is Eran. Flat, one-dimensional Eran. Now, Eran was meant to come off as swoonworthy, based on how he was portrayed and described. But he was not. He was just another one of those guys so prevalent in YA fiction, the ones that pop up in the main character's room in the middle of the night, *cough*Edward*cough* and this action is put in a positive light because the guy has good intents; he wants to "protect" the heroine. This ticked me off, ALOT. The damsel in distress thing is really grating on my nerves, and I hate that even in modern time, girls are viewed as weak and in need of a guy to take care of them.

I really am confused about the whole guardians-angels thing. The problem was, nothing made sense by the end of the book, as the explanations were confusing and tedious. This is how it is similar to Fallen by Lauren Kate; the explanations are bad and do nothing to explain the plot. There was also the fact that the villain was la-aame. I don't understand what makes the villains "bad guys", and why they are after Maggie.

I feel like I am being a bit harsh in my critique of Fallen, but it is necessary to point out the flaws in a novel. If you are looking for a good angel story, just skip this one. It seems that this sub-genre of YA paranormal is lacking, and in my experience, there are only a select few that represent the angels topic well. Not this one, that's for sure. ( )

The story was wonderful, but the execution was lacking. As other reviewers mentioned, a good editor would have greatly improved this novel -- in my case, it would have meant a 4th star. Some of the secondary characters were really flat and predictable. For example, Mr. Warden. It would have been way more interesting seeing him either hate everyone (as is implied by the student comments) and see him struggle with the Fallen.

I also agree with comments that the fallen/reborn/only options seem convuleted. ( )

The fallen is a YA paranormal romance with the typical components. Girl meets strange boy at times wants to rip his clothes off and others rip his head off, trying to protect her friends who have become her family by sacrificing herself.. What I find unique is the authors creation of a plausible fringe world that could be possible.

Laury Falter explores the paranormal including the ability to speak to the dead, reincarnation, guardian angels, fallen souls, what heaven is like. All of these thing taking place on the fringe of our society with most of us none the wiser except for those few who are sensitive to the paranormal.

I find myself questioning "What would my heaven be like?", "have I been here before?", "Have You?" ( )

Much like Twilight series but with a stronger heroine. ( )