HALLOWED (UNEARTHLY #2) BY CYNTHIA HAND
I bought a paperback of
Hallowed by Cynthia Hand a few weeks ago since I've been meaning to read this since last year. I really loved
Unearthly and have been patiently waiting for its sequel to be released in paperback since hard bounds are just too pricey and heavy. I think this series made me see angels in a different light.
Not necessarily a bad thing though. Anyhow, the story is again told in Clara's POV.
To be honest, I was actually expecting a lot from this book since I did like the first one very much. What I wasn't expecting was the fact that I would be very frustrated with Clara. I really tried to like her. Really, really tried. I really didn't want to hate her since she was so awesome in the first book but she almost made me want to give up on the novel. I get that she's going through a tough time but seriously she acted like a brat who bitched about how frustrating her life is. She didn't even try to look around her and think that maybe not everything is about her "complicated" love life. Honestly, she was confused as ever. She's with Tucker and yet she also gets frustrated with Christian or something. Okay, so before the fans hate me or something I do get that she and Christian are connected in this oh so angelic way but c'mon she has to make up her mind at some point, right? And when she found out that *SPOILER* so yeah, won't mention what that is all she did was either mope around or push everyone away. She could have handled it better instead of being Miss Gloomy Bitch and all. I also felt like the only constant thing that she did in this book is lie or keep secrets and that kinda' got old for me towards the end. Bottom line is I missed the old Clara.
Then of course, there's Tucker Avery. Honestly, I think her relationship with Tucker was a bit dry for me. Yes, they're a couple blah blah blah but I felt like they lacked the spark that was once there when they were just bantering back and forth. I did like the fact that Tucker tried to be there for her and everything but still their relationship lacked the luster that was once there. I just don't know why. But I still like Tucker even if he did have a smaller participation in this book.
And lastly, there's Christian Prescott. I think Christian really amped up his game in this one. He was always there for Clara even if Clara insists that the only reason he's there is because of their "Purpose". I did feel bad for him the entire time I was reading since I felt like he became Clara's punching bag the whenever she was frustrated or something. He wasn't even doing anything bad to be honest but somehow Clara had this bitching streak which for some reason really annoyed me. I'm sorta leaning towards Christian at this point. Haha.
Overall, I still enjoyed reading this novel even if I felt like Clara was the most frustrating character ever. To be honest, she was just immature and I wanted to just strangle her from time to time and tell her to just shove it and grow up. I also felt like she didn't deserve either Tucker or Christian who just wanted to be there for her. She kept on pushing them both away. I'm actually surprised that neither budged which takes a lot of patience in my opinion. She was unpleasant most of the time to be honest and I really got frustrated with her. Another character that I wanted to strangle is Angela. Seriously, the girl has jealousy issues which I feel like is so contradictory to her character since she's supposed to be an angel blood. Other than that, I still liked this novel and I would definitely read
Boundless. The writing is awesome. Very easy to read and understand. The pacing was not fast or slow but just right.
I really just got so tired with Clara and her bitch phase. It kept me on the edge since the revelations and surprises just kept on coming. I did feel awful after Clara's
*SPOILER* just read it, because I can't even begin to imagine if something like that were to happen to me. I'd be devastated. Anyway, I may not have loved this as much as the first one but it's still pretty much a decent read.
RATING: 3.5/5 stars
My friend
Jona sent me a copy of
Radiant which is a novella that bridges the events from
Hallowed and
Boundless a few weeks ago. I actually almost read it then since I had no idea that this was supposed to be
Unearthly #2.5. Haha. But hey, I did stop you know? Well anyway, this is very short and is told in alternating POV's between Clara and Angela. Oh yeah, it's also set in
Italy.
So for some reason, I liked Clara here a bit more than in Hallowed. I think the old Clara is starting to come back even if she still has a lot of issues with everything. I did get frustrated with Angela for some reason. Honestly, she was just so insecure. I just wanted to strangle her. And I didn't like the fact that she ratted on Clara just because she was having a fit. Clara's her friend no matter what and she should have thought of her when she blabbed her secret. I did enjoy uncovering some interesting trivia regarding a certain angel that you'd get to know in Hallowed. Anyway, I did like the fact that we got to see a glimpse of Angela's so called secret boyfriend.I enjoyed reading this novella though. It was just a short read and is definitely an awesome bridge to Boundless.
