Waterfall by Lauren Kate
Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance
Published by: Random House
Pages: 400
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★
Series: Teardrop (#1)
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I have absolutely no idea what happened in this book. There were about seven different ideas all crammed into one, that made everything too convenient for my liking. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first book, but I somehow managed to enjoy the sequel even less.

Firstly, what ever happened to the romance between Ander and Eureka? Did the entirety of the first book mean nothing? We start with one boy and end with another, and I was completely confused about how cold hearted, and selfish Eureka must have been to do what she did. I couldn’t connect with her one bit, and when you don’t like the main character, it’s pretty hard to enjoy their story. On that note, Eureka turned into something beyond my imagining in Waterfall, I thought she was slightly annoying in Teardrop with her mellow drama, but she just took it to the next level. It’s not often that I’m harsh with a book, even if I don’t like it, but I honestly just didn’t like what Eureka became – a murder, manipulative, and unthoughtful. Eureka even got to the point where she seemed to delight in torturing others, which didn’t bode well with me at all.

Another problem I had was that the characters just don’t mourn the deaths of loved ones for nearly long enough. In fact, they almost seem to wipe their hands of them after ten seconds, and then don’t give them another thought. The only exception to this was Diana, Eureka’s mother, who we are constantly reminded of. That, and Brooks, who doesn’t die, but Eureka is always thinking about him, and how Atlas possessed his body – so I guess if I’d just put two and two together I may well have saw the ending coming.

The idea of everybody having a ‘quirk’ annoyed me, because it was just so convenient, and seemed like a cop out. I loved that Claire had a special power in Teardrop, and I wanted it to be explained in this mystical way where maybe she would be connected to the tearline, but no. It turned out everybody has a quirk and they all seem to just magically appear when they’re in Solon’s caves. I liked the amethyst witches – or whatever they were called – and I would love to read something where they are the main characters, because they kept the plot going, and made the story interesting when Eureka was in Solon’s cave and not really doing anything, other than feeling sorry for herself. I was amazed at how little happened in the beginning, and even the middle, but then ALL THE THINGS happened during the final sequence when we were in Atlantis. There was so much more mythology and things to wrap our heads around, and I was just so confused. 

I just need a minute to shuffle my thoughts about the ending, because, seriously? When Eureka’s possessing Atlas’ body she’s so overwhelmed with the fact that she’s a boy, she pees. What? And then this other woman, who is Eureka’s ‘mother’ and Brooks all just fit inside the body as well? The only thing I actually liked about this book was the very end. Eureka can finally be happy because she died and is with Brooks  – at least I thought she died, and I thought she was with Brooks. If this wasn’t the end of the series, then I have absolutely no idea what could happen next. From the ending and the fact that Eureka. Dies. I think this has to just be a duology. The fact that I didn’t really mind when Eureka died, showed that I couldn’t connect with her, it wasn’t like the Divergent series where every single death hits you.

In conclusion, I am incredibly sorry if this review lacks any coherency, but my thoughts are just so jumbled after reading Waterfall, I really don’t know what to make of it. What I can tell you is that I would only reward this book ONE star. I can’t give it a two star rating, because that’s what I gave Teardrop and if there’s one thing I know, it’s that I liked this even less. I’m not going to go so far as to give this no stars , because the final final final chapter – or maybe just the last page – made up for all my dislike, because I could finally be at peace with Eureka’s story, and she could be at peace also, because – wait for it – she died.

Just as a side note, I may well come back an edit this review after I’ve had some time to let my feelings simmer down.