Teardrop by Lauren Kate

Date finished: 1 January 2014

Series: Teardrop, #1

Rating: 2*

View on Goodreads.

What a mediocre way to start 2014.

Seventeen-year-old Eureka won’t let anyone close enough to feel her pain after her mother’s death. As she uncovers an ancient tale of romance and heartbreak about a girl who cried an entire continent into the sea, her mother’s death and the appearance of mysterious boy Ander seem connected, and her life takes on dark undercurrents that don’t make sense.

To be perfectly honest, I have a sort of weakness for Lauren Kate’s novels. I have no idea why – every time I read them, I just disappoint myself. I loved Fallen, but I only dragged myself through the next two books in the series because I had hope for the story. Then I gave up. I have a feeling this series is going to be the same.

I really want to give Teardrop more than two stars… but it was just so iffy. The idea for the story was there, and Lauren Kate’s writing was almost there, but I felt so detached most of the time. I don’t know whether to blame this on the two dimensional characters or the holes in the storyline, so I’ll criticize both.

I felt no sympathy for Eureka (and that name… ugh). At all. I found her irritating and dull, and for the majority of the book I found myself shouting at her to FEEL SOMETHING and DO SOMETHING. I had no connection with her, and I think that was because of her flat personality. It might have had something to do with the third person narrative as well – which I personally don’t like, as it purposefully removes you from the main character, almost like putting a wall up between the actors and the audience so that you can’t really see what’s going on inside. I get using third person narrative if you are continually switching points of view between characters, but Teardrop only really focused on Eureka’s point of view, so I really didn’t get it.

Furthermore, I have to point out that I hated Ander. I found him weak and stupid and useless. He needed more emotion, more passion. He was just the typical “perfect boy”, and that really irritated me, because there is no way that a boy can be that calm and collected all the time. I actually don’t think he showed a single emotion throughout the entire novel.

Onto the holes in the storyline… Sweet holy alien babies, I got so incredibly irritated with that stupid Book of Love. Wasn’t it supposed to be this massive, ancient hardcover book? Well then why did we only get snippets of the story that made absolutely no sense at all? It just jumped around as though the reader was supposed to fill in the blanks on his or her own. I hated that. I want to know exactly what was in that book. I need to know the full story, and see all the illustrations. I think Lauren Kate should write a separate Book of Love with the entire story and the illustrations and notes from Eureka and her ancestors. I would so read that. (Sort of like The Codex that’s just been released from The Mortal Instruments series.)

But that wasn’t all (wow I’m really ranting now, aren’t I? I’m sorry.) There were holes in the actual storyline itself, not just the Book of Love. I needed more explanations, more detail in what was going on. And not just “filler chapters” – those are terrible. I don’t care if you leave out a whole week in the story (as an author, that’s totally your decision) so long as the rest of your writing is the perfect balance of summary and detail. As a reader, I love using my imagination in a novel, but too much freedom leaves me feeling confused and desperate for details. I hope Lauren Kate’s further novels in the series fill in the blanks, and answer my questions, otherwise I will be severely annoyed.

I really wanted to love Teardrop. Don’t get me wrong – it was okay. It just wasn’t all there. I only hope that Lauren Kate expands on it, and improves it tremendously along the way – and that I don’t lose interest in it as I did with the Fallen series.