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A review by fuzzy1999
The Halo Chronicles: The Guardian by Carey Corp
2.0
Rating: 2.5 stars
This review doesn't really contain any major spoilers, but if you haven't read the book, read with caution.
I had high hopes for this book. I haven't read many books featuring angels and have been meaning to read this for a while, but was a little disappointed. I think that maybe I waited too long to read it, if I had been 13-16, I might have enjoyed it, but at 18, I found it too cheesy.
I don't think Corp is a bad writer, it's just that I don't feel like she conveyed all the characters realistically. I liked Alexia (most of the time), Derry and what little we did learn about Becke and Jonah, but Gabe... he irritated me. I get that he's eternal, an angel and whatever, but he's in a 16 year old's body. Nothing that came out of his mouth remotely reflected his age. He was too perfect, too righteous, too romantic to the point where I found myself cringing a bit every time he professed his love to Alex. Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of romance, but I felt like Corp made that the focus, and because I didn't fully believe the insta-love story, this was definitely a downside to her book.
Another down point is that I would have liked to have learnt more about angels, what Gabe did in his previous lives and what Alex's powers were actually meant to be for. Corp doesn't really delve into this a lot. Alex's supposed to be some powerful chosen-one, but until the second to last chapter, she is entirely powerless and always dependent on Gabe. I felt like the supernatural element to the book was more of an afterthought because, although frequently described, the halo-thing wasn't really developed. In terms of fantasy/supernatural elements, this book scored low for me.
There were some dark elements in this book to do with abuse, which I understand is sometimes necessary to write about, but they felt slightly misplaced in this book because of how unbelievable the other elements (i.e. the romance and Gabe) in this book were. I'm not entirely sure which age group I'd recommend this to, because the themes of abuse are blunt (no sugar-coating), but yet at the same time, I fell like only a younger audience could tolerate the amount of cheesy romance in this...
Back to Alex, I said that I liked her most of the time, however, sometimes she irritated me. I don't feel like she developed as character. She doesn't become a better or stronger person, if anything she becomes worse. She becomes increasingly dependent on Gabe (who personally I found was more clingy and possessive than cute and protective).
Right now, I'm not sure if I'll read the second book (presuming there is one).
This review doesn't really contain any major spoilers, but if you haven't read the book, read with caution.
I had high hopes for this book. I haven't read many books featuring angels and have been meaning to read this for a while, but was a little disappointed. I think that maybe I waited too long to read it, if I had been 13-16, I might have enjoyed it, but at 18, I found it too cheesy.
I don't think Corp is a bad writer, it's just that I don't feel like she conveyed all the characters realistically. I liked Alexia (most of the time), Derry and what little we did learn about Becke and Jonah, but Gabe... he irritated me. I get that he's eternal, an angel and whatever, but he's in a 16 year old's body. Nothing that came out of his mouth remotely reflected his age. He was too perfect, too righteous, too romantic to the point where I found myself cringing a bit every time he professed his love to Alex. Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of romance, but I felt like Corp made that the focus, and because I didn't fully believe the insta-love story, this was definitely a downside to her book.
Another down point is that I would have liked to have learnt more about angels, what Gabe did in his previous lives and what Alex's powers were actually meant to be for. Corp doesn't really delve into this a lot. Alex's supposed to be some powerful chosen-one, but until the second to last chapter, she is entirely powerless and always dependent on Gabe. I felt like the supernatural element to the book was more of an afterthought because, although frequently described, the halo-thing wasn't really developed. In terms of fantasy/supernatural elements, this book scored low for me.
There were some dark elements in this book to do with abuse, which I understand is sometimes necessary to write about, but they felt slightly misplaced in this book because of how unbelievable the other elements (i.e. the romance and Gabe) in this book were. I'm not entirely sure which age group I'd recommend this to, because the themes of abuse are blunt (no sugar-coating), but yet at the same time, I fell like only a younger audience could tolerate the amount of cheesy romance in this...
Back to Alex, I said that I liked her most of the time, however, sometimes she irritated me. I don't feel like she developed as character. She doesn't become a better or stronger person, if anything she becomes worse. She becomes increasingly dependent on Gabe (who personally I found was more clingy and possessive than cute and protective).
Right now, I'm not sure if I'll read the second book (presuming there is one).