Overall rating: 4/5 Stars
Overall Swoon-worthy moments: 7.5/10
Summary:
For months part-angel Clara Gardner trained to face the raging forest fire from her visions and rescue the alluring and mysterious Christian Prescott from the blaze. But nothing could prepare her for the fateful decisions she would be forced to make that day, or the startling revelation that her purpose—the task she was put on earth to accomplish—is not as straightforward as she thought.
Now, torn between her increasingly complicated feelings for Christian and her love for her boyfriend, Tucker, Clara struggles to make sense of what she was supposed to do the day of the fire. And, as she is drawn further into the world of part angels and the growing conflict between White Wings and Black Wings, Clara learns of the terrifying new reality that she must face: Someone close to her will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.
Now, torn between her increasingly complicated feelings for Christian and her love for her boyfriend, Tucker, Clara struggles to make sense of what she was supposed to do the day of the fire. And, as she is drawn further into the world of part angels and the growing conflict between White Wings and Black Wings, Clara learns of the terrifying new reality that she must face: Someone close to her will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.
Note: I cannot promise for a tad bit of spoilers to not appear. Take caution as you read!
Review:
Cynthia Hand is sure not born to disappoint! As I’ve read the 1st novel almost a year ago, I was enticed with her knack of using dreams as a foreshadowing without overly doing it or making it too obvious. Cynthia’s type of writing involves ‘give little information, rattle your brains out’. This happened to me again on the second book, “Hallowed” which I devoured in one sitting!
Hallowed had the same formula to it as Unearthly did (the 1st novel of the Unearthly Series). Truth be told, Hallowed gave me more, as I recall, butterflies in the stomach and swoon worthy moments than Unearthly did.
And that is the beauty of it! Cynthia does not only have the skillful mind to weave a story such as Clara’s but also she is those authors that try not to flood you with too much swoon worthy scenes making it just: Chapter 1: I kissed him. Chapter 2: He kissed me. Chapter 3: Oh I want to run my hand over that sculpted biceps—Chapter 4—you see the pattern! This isn’t what you get from Cynthia Hand,
“There’s nothing more inspiring than the complexity and beauty of the human heart”
Cynthia truly makes it as emotionally real as possible. The raw emotions, deep thoughts that Cynthia includes with the voice of Clara’s story-telling is wonderful key point about this novel as well. With the protagonist, Clara’s thoughts and emotions vivid to the readers, we as readers will be riding that emotional rollercoaster with her. Whether her heart races seeing Christian, or when she feels like she “belongs with Christian” but loves Tucker and as a reader, having to consume all these emotions as well can drive us insane as much as it drove her crazy.
I absolutely love how Cynthia had adults involved. I feel sometimes YA novels lack of parental supervision. Also, Clara’s mom is such a wonderful mom so her role in the plot was a beautiful addition—in fact, I actually wouldn’t have loved the story as much without Maggie’s participation in the story progress.
In an Angel-paranormal novel, it is likely for the reader to find ‘the book of Enoch’ lurking through its pages (which this story did have it) but also a beautiful reference of ’Paradise Lost’ was made frequently in a few chapters. One of my favorite was:
“The mind is its own place, and in itself/ can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven”
Overall, a wonderful series/ sequel and if you're a young adult/ adult looking for a story that’s a whirlwind storm of scattered thoughts and emotions, woven together by beautiful, suspenseful but the right amount of suspense— not that doing-it-too-much-suspense and a very thought-provoking read on this whole issue of Satan, God, Free-Will, Good vs. Evil and more then this is definitely your read!
Happy Reading Everyone! <3
Extra notes:
Highlighted Quotes:
“You’re cute when you’re slow”
-Tucker
“The Absence of Uncertainty”
-Christian
“There’s nothing more inspiring than the complexity and beauty of the human heart”
-Clara
“They need water, and suddenly I can’t stand the thought of leaving them to dry up and die. So I crush them between my hands. I tear off their heads and then I let the petals sift through my fingers, falling oh so slowly, gently, onto the dark soil.”
-Clara
- When I was reading this passage, I couldn’t help but love the symbolism in this statement. Water is a source of energy and life while us humans often compare ourselves to roses to symbolize every beauty has its thorns. Also, the choice Clara made because she couldn’t stand the thought of leaving them, she ends off killing them much faster. —- A little foreshadow? Maybe? Maybe not? But really the point is, I love these little details of symbolism and foreshadowing.
Review + Notes written by: Michelle M.
Originally posted on litupmyworld.tumblr.com
No comments:
Post a Comment