Jessica Sorensen

Shannon McManus

The Fallen Star

For eighteen year-old Gemma, life has never been normal. Up until recently, she has been incapable of feeling emotion. And when she's around Alex, the gorgeous new guy at school, she can feel electricity that makes her skin buzz. Not to mention the monsters that haunt her nightmares have crossed over into real-life. But with Alex seeming to hate her and secrets popping up everywhere, Gemma's life is turning into a chaotic mess. Things that shouldn't be real suddenly seem to exist. And as her world falls apart, figuring out the secrets of her past becomes a matter of life and death.

Laura Kehoe

I went into this book not entirely sure if I would like it. The premise sounded interesting enough for me to give it a chance (especially since it's free), but it's not my normal brew. So maybe that's why I wasn't as into this book as I'd hoped. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and I was really annoyed with the male love interest who was super controlling and just obnoxious. I was also thrown off by the writing style because there were so many awkwardly worded sentences that slowed down my reading, forcing me to reread many of the passages. That being said, I still think the concept is really cool and I'm glad I gave the book a shot. It's an interesting idea and I would have liked to read more about the fallen star and it's power, rather than so much focus being placed on the romantic attraction between the main character, Gemma, and her love interest, Alex. But maybe if I'd liked Alex better I wouldn't have minded that so much.

Eleanor Luhar

I remember starting this book aaages ago, but I never got round to finishing it. This time I managed to read it all the way through!

I think the main thing that drew me to this book at the time was the cover. It looked pretty, weird, edgy... I was a pre-teen who was obsessed with all these kinds of things.

The Fallen Star is written from Gemma's point of view, the teenage protagonist of the novel. She's not like other teenagers; she doesn't remember her mother, she spent a majority of her life completely unable to feel, and her irises are violet. She has no idea what any of it means - and refuses to ask her grandparents, her guardians, as they appear to hate her - and tries to make sense of the horrific nightmares that begin to haunt her at night.

Then suddenly a couple of new kids turn up. Alex appears to hate Gemma - and causes a strange, electric feel in her - and his sister Aislin is trying to get them to get along. But then Gemma is sucked into a strange vision, and everything gets a whole lot more serious.

Gemma discoveries the truth about her entire life; her mother and how she disappeared, why she's so different, and even what happened to her memories and emotions. But there's nothing she can do about it, as it's up to her to save the entire planet.

This is really just a typical YA novel - cheesy almost-romances, a "unique" protagonist who's responsible for the safety of the human race... Yeah, there's a lot of books like this. It does have some good ideas in it - the Foreseers, the Death Walkers - but it just seems too cheesy to me. Gemma is such an impressionable character, who overreacts to everything that is said or done. I mean, she is a pretty accurate teenager at most times, in the way she thinks and feels about Alex. But she also tries too hard some times. In fact, all the characters do. They don't seem natural in the way they talk or act, everything just feels so forced.

As for the writing... It's pretty amereurish if I'm honest. There are pieces of missing punctuation, incorrect spelling and grammar, and the same words and phrases repeated where Sorensen apparently couldn't find anything better to use.

This is generally an easy read, though it is rather painful at times. The plot's okay... The characters leave something to desire however, especially Gemma. I just didn't connect with her or feel for her at all. So I'm afraid I'm only going to give this book 2.5 stars, and I'm not sure I'll be buying the rest of the series any time soon!

Cortnie

This was a book that was extremely difficult for me to finish. the last half of it was extremely slow.

There were parts that were extremely cheesy and the dialogue was pretty awful and over used. There were places where it didn't seem like the author even knew what she was talking about; the word usage and the grammar was pretty awful, too.

Honestly, the idea was a good, original one but it didn't seem like it was thought out well enough. Too fast paced in places and too slow in others, I feel like the author should have taken more time with it.

**New Cover, same edition** For eighteen year-old Gemma, life has never been normal. Up until recently, she has been incapable of feeling emotion. And when she's around Alex, the gorgeous new guy at school, she can feel electricity that makes her skin buzz. Not to mention the monsters that haunt her nightmares have crossed over into real-life. But with Alex seeming to hate her and secrets popping up everywhere, Gemma's life is turning into a chaotic mess. Things that shouldn't be real suddenly seem to exist. And as her world falls apart, figuring out the secrets of her past becomes a matter of life and death.

The Fallen Star

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