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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read the first part of this trilogy something like a year ago and fell in love. Clare is a pretty awesome main character; strong, honest and interesting young woman. The love triangle still irritates me a little, especially in the end (I guess it wouldn't irritate me as much if Clare had done like I wanted her to do...). But I really like all the characters and I'm definitely going to buy the last volume too. It's a nice change to read about other supernatural creatures than vampires and weres. I like the whole angel thing. Hallowed didn't have much action, but there was lots of emotional stuff going on.
I LOVE this series so far. Someone mentioned in a previous comment how this series is everything they wished the Hush, Hush books to go, i totally agree.
Generally, the love triangles get really old, i think they have been over done. However, there is nothing that stops me from saying how much i love how this one is written. The characters are not whiney, annoying or petty, well, maybe jeffery is, but thats just one character. :) you will so enjoy this read.
Generally, the love triangles get really old, i think they have been over done. However, there is nothing that stops me from saying how much i love how this one is written. The characters are not whiney, annoying or petty, well, maybe jeffery is, but thats just one character. :) you will so enjoy this read.
This book defiantly was as good as the first. The plot twists I surprisingly didn't see coming. I really hope that Clara ends up with Tucker. Her and Christian just don't mesh as well for me. Now to read the next book!
Again with the predictability. It was like chapters beforehand I was able to guess the "twist" the author was going throw at us. Again I liked it, but the whole, "Quartarius, Dimidius, Triplare" thing is really stupid. Really really really stupid. Truly there was no need to specify their specific concentration of blood and make it a "thing". I did almost cry about Clara's mother. Angela as a character I find to be absolutely annoying and I'd slap her in the face if I could. Christian... so predictable and one-dimensional. Please authors... stop writing what you want men to say to women. Make it realistic. Otherwise it's just entirely nauseating and unbelievable.
3.5 EDIT (6/10/12): As time has passed, I find myself liking this installment less and less.
I wasn't entirely dissapointed in this sequel to Unearthly, a paranormal YA book that I fell in love with earlier this month. I thought it was a well-written, welll-researched, trope-defying YA paranormal angel book. However, there are three things that seriously ruined this sequel for me: the predictability, the lack of tension, and the climax, or lack of one.
Now, Hallowed is basically a continuation of the story that Cynthia Hand started in her first installment. After Clara's vision unfolded in Unearthly, this book picks off with Clara beginning her senior year at school, wondering what the consequences of her choice at the end of the first book will be, dealig with her complicated feelings for Christian, and her boyfriend whom she loves named Tucker. Along the way, Clara begings to have a new vision, which she lerns is now part of her "purpose". She pieces everything together to learn somebody she loves will die - very soon.
Now, that part about somebody dying? Yeah, I guessed who it would be just by reading the inside flap. So, when you're meant to be shocked out of your mind when you're told who will die 150 pages in, you're just left sitting there, reading 200 MORE PAGES before the death actually happens. Now, that doesn't mean I wanted the person to die. I actually enjoyed that person's character, and I teared up when it was confirmed they would die. However, learning about the death so early into the story, the tension completely collapses.
This book has no climax. There is no high point in the story. Now, Unearthly didn't have the most action-packed climax, but you could still tell where the action became a climax. Hallowed has little to no action. The last 50 pages are just the death, the funeral, some love triangle stuff, and it's over. By the way? That death happened in one sentence, so there wasn't anything very dramatic about it.
So, knowing exactly how the story was going to end not even halfway in definitely makes the book . . . well, boring. Not the kind of boring were I still wasn't excited about it - because I was, even when I had 15 pages left going "WHERE IS THE CLIMAX?!"
Now, while I am definitely rolling my eyes at the ending, I won't deny it: I still love this series.
First off, I loved the hits it takes at Twilight (Edward watching Bella snooze to be specific). Seriously, they had me laughing until it hurt.
Clara isn't the best female protagonist out there, but she's not the worst. She doesn't let Christian or Tucker give her BS, she won't let anybody push her around for that matter, and you can feel her struggle about wanting to be strong, even when her whole life was unraveling.
Tucker . . . well, I like him. He's funny, not abusive, or a stalker, and has a personality! But you can definitely tell he's the jealous type, especially when he got jealous over one dance. However, it's quite obvious where his character is going.
Christian is fine to. However, his whole "watching over Clara outside her window" kind of had the whole EDWARD ALERT! EDWARD ALERT! going off in my head. Still, he's not too bad. At least his character is interesting.
The love triangle is okay, although I think everyone but the 2% Team Christian fans know how this is all going to end. It's fairly well-done, but I did prefer it in Unearthly, when it wasn't as official as it is in this book. Still, it's not as awful as it is in some books.
The mythology is interesting, and some people won't like how the book has a strong religious tone to it (not preachy, but more prominent than in Unearthly) but I don't mind (seeing as I believe in it).
The writing is still great, and I like that while it's present tense, it doesn't sound off. In Wake by Lisa McMann, another book in present tense, the whole book felt weird, because of how it was written. In this book, I felt like it pulled me into the story more, because of how you don't know what's going to happen to Clara, and neither does she, because it's all so in the moment.
So, while I didn't like it as much as Unearthly, I'm still going to be anixiously awaiting the next book. So, if you're worried about Hallowed not living up to Unearthly, don't. For the most part, everybody has at least enjoyed it, just as much, if not more than Unearthly.
I wasn't entirely dissapointed in this sequel to Unearthly, a paranormal YA book that I fell in love with earlier this month. I thought it was a well-written, welll-researched, trope-defying YA paranormal angel book. However, there are three things that seriously ruined this sequel for me: the predictability, the lack of tension, and the climax, or lack of one.
Now, Hallowed is basically a continuation of the story that Cynthia Hand started in her first installment. After Clara's vision unfolded in Unearthly, this book picks off with Clara beginning her senior year at school, wondering what the consequences of her choice at the end of the first book will be, dealig with her complicated feelings for Christian, and her boyfriend whom she loves named Tucker. Along the way, Clara begings to have a new vision, which she lerns is now part of her "purpose". She pieces everything together to learn somebody she loves will die - very soon.
Now, that part about somebody dying? Yeah, I guessed who it would be just by reading the inside flap. So, when you're meant to be shocked out of your mind when you're told who will die 150 pages in, you're just left sitting there, reading 200 MORE PAGES before the death actually happens. Now, that doesn't mean I wanted the person to die. I actually enjoyed that person's character, and I teared up when it was confirmed they would die. However, learning about the death so early into the story, the tension completely collapses.
This book has no climax. There is no high point in the story. Now, Unearthly didn't have the most action-packed climax, but you could still tell where the action became a climax. Hallowed has little to no action. The last 50 pages are just the death, the funeral, some love triangle stuff, and it's over. By the way? That death happened in one sentence, so there wasn't anything very dramatic about it.
So, knowing exactly how the story was going to end not even halfway in definitely makes the book . . . well, boring. Not the kind of boring were I still wasn't excited about it - because I was, even when I had 15 pages left going "WHERE IS THE CLIMAX?!"
Now, while I am definitely rolling my eyes at the ending, I won't deny it: I still love this series.
First off, I loved the hits it takes at Twilight (Edward watching Bella snooze to be specific). Seriously, they had me laughing until it hurt.
Clara isn't the best female protagonist out there, but she's not the worst. She doesn't let Christian or Tucker give her BS, she won't let anybody push her around for that matter, and you can feel her struggle about wanting to be strong, even when her whole life was unraveling.
Tucker . . . well, I like him. He's funny, not abusive, or a stalker, and has a personality! But you can definitely tell he's the jealous type, especially when he got jealous over one dance. However, it's quite obvious where his character is going.
Christian is fine to. However, his whole "watching over Clara outside her window" kind of had the whole EDWARD ALERT! EDWARD ALERT! going off in my head. Still, he's not too bad. At least his character is interesting.
The love triangle is okay, although I think everyone but the 2% Team Christian fans know how this is all going to end. It's fairly well-done, but I did prefer it in Unearthly, when it wasn't as official as it is in this book. Still, it's not as awful as it is in some books.
The mythology is interesting, and some people won't like how the book has a strong religious tone to it (not preachy, but more prominent than in Unearthly) but I don't mind (seeing as I believe in it).
The writing is still great, and I like that while it's present tense, it doesn't sound off. In Wake by Lisa McMann, another book in present tense, the whole book felt weird, because of how it was written. In this book, I felt like it pulled me into the story more, because of how you don't know what's going to happen to Clara, and neither does she, because it's all so in the moment.
So, while I didn't like it as much as Unearthly, I'm still going to be anixiously awaiting the next book. So, if you're worried about Hallowed not living up to Unearthly, don't. For the most part, everybody has at least enjoyed it, just as much, if not more than Unearthly.
adventurous
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
So many emotions right now, I am laughing through my tears. Mostly likely a review will follow shortly once I have regained my composure. But let's start with just, I Love This Book.
Kaum hatte ich das erste Buch beendet, musste gleich das Zweite her und auch wenn manche andere Trilogien in der Mitte einen kleinen Hänger haben, Hallowed von Cynthia Hand hat es auf keinen Fall. Wieder wurde ich von ihrem wunderbaren Schreibstil mitgenommen, die Seiten flogen nur so dahin obwohl es in diesem Buch sogar noch weniger Spannung gab. Trotzdem hat es Cynthia Hand wieder geschafft mich an das Buch zu fesseln. Es gab einige wirklich spannende und traurige Entwicklungen und so langsam wurde mir klar, warum die Autorin eine Trilogie aus dieser Geschichte macht und das es wohl noch ein großer Teil kommen wird. Denn ich natürlich auf keinen Fall vermissen möchte. Was mir leider wieder weniger gefallen hat, war das Clara ihre Freundin vernachlässigt oder vergessen hat und diese Aufkeimende Dreiecksbeziehung. Zum Glück scheint diese nicht im dritten Buch geplant zu sein.