Book Review: Passion by Lauren Kate.

Product details:
Publisher: Random House Children's Books.
Release date: June 23rd 2011.
Paperback, 464 pages.
Rating: 4½ out of 5.
Ages: 12+
Series: Fallen #3
Other books in series: Fallen, Torment.
Source: Received from publisher for review.

 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?

 * Please Note: There are spoilers for previous books in the series in this review!

With its rich, evocative descriptions, and lush, historical settings, Passion by Lauren Kate is a masterful work of art in book form.  A lot of my favourite books (All You Desire, My Name is Memory) have subjects of past lives, reincarnation and soul mates as their themes, and so when I discovered that this book was going to take us through the ages with Daniel and Luce,  I knew I was in for a treat.  Passion is a breathtaking journey through time from Moscow to Milan, from Paris to Prussia, Tibet, Ancient Egypt and everything in between as Lucinda strives to find the answers to the curse that blights the all-consuming love that she and Daniel share.

Torment ended with an epic battle that saw Lucinda step into an Announcer which would take her on a journey through her former lives. On her journey, she is joined, not by Daniel, but by a mysterious companion who goes by the name of Bill.  Daniel is in hot pursuit as he tries to prevent Lucinda from doing anything rash that might alter her destiny, but for one reason or another Daniel is always just a step behind and Luce is out of reach as she tumbles through time in her quest for answers.  Every time Luce lands in a different lifetime she witnesses pivotal moments in her previous incarnations with Daniel.  We get to see the beauty of Daniel and Luce’s relationship as it unfolds and grows through time, and finally Luce, who could never get any answers from Daniel, learns the secrets of their love and their powerful connection to each other, as she dies in his arms in Moscow, tends to his wounds in Milan and is saved by his love over and over again, lifetime after lifetime.

While I got a little lost in the romance of all of this, I should also point out that an ominous feeling pervades throughout Luce’s journey through time. Sure, Daniel and Luce fall in love over and over again, but we also know that there is no happy ending for these two. Luce is on a quest to find answers, to stop her cycle of death, and the utter despair that follows for Daniel every time he loses her.  While I criticised Daniel for his unseemly behaviour towards Luce in Fallen, I now know exactly why he behaved as he did. Your heart will go out to him when you read about all that he’s gone through.  I had my issues with Luce at the start of this series too, but she’s no longer the needy girl that appeared at Sword and Cross.  In this book, Lucinda is feisty and independent and I am now totally rooting for her.  Of course, one character I’ve never had any issues with is Cam.  I’ve loved him right from the beginning, and when you find out more about Cam and the secret behind his bad boy behaviour, you might fall in love with him even more than you already do!

Rich in detail and description, the historical aspect of this book is breathtaking, and I can only commend Lauren Kate for her research on this one as Luce travels through times of war and peace, finds herself in the beautiful hall of mirrors at the Palace of Versailles and makes an entertaining trip through time to the Globe theatre in London.  This book is very different to the first two in the series, and if you are expecting more boarding school shenanigans at Sword and Cross or Shoreline, then you may be disappointed, but you shouldn’t be.  This book is detailed, sophisticated, wonderful in every way, and my favourite book of the series so far. 

While the previous books in this series have contained lots of surprising plot twists and both had dramatic conclusions, they have nothing on this one!  In Torment  I wondered if there was more to Luce than we might have first thought, and now on concluding Passion, I am even more intrigued by Luce than before.  I simply loved the ending of this book.   It’s truly breathtaking and sets everything up for a hugely dramatic conclusion when Rapture, the final book in the series releases in spring 2012.  I cannot wait to see how it all ends!