Unearthly by Cynthia Hand was a young adult debut last year – which I read and loved. When I picked up the sequel, Hallowed, I realized I’d never gotten around to reviewing Unearthly. I decided to correct that immediately!
Basically y’all, Unearthly is like a miracle (I promise to try to keep the angel jokes to a minimum). As a general rule, angel books seriously suck. I’ve read about all sorts of Patches and Bethanys and what have you and thought they were all a complete waste of time and space. So, to say I went into this series hesitantly is a massive understatement. But, let me assure you – Cynthia Hand has succeeded where many others have failed. She has written…not only a good angel book: a great one!
Clara isn’t a whiny princess too afraid to open her mouth or explore her powers. She is very focused on the fact that she has a duty. Her mother (yay for actual parenting in a YA novel) intrigues and frustrates her as she tries to discover the true range of her abilities. Also – she compares her relationship with her mother to Gilmore Girls. An awesome reference to make me immediately like someone. So, basically I really loved the way her character was written – she acts like exactly what she is: a teenager. But she also has a lot of believable depth and maturity that makes her someone you want to be around (or at least read about).
Next up…Tucker Avery. If you want to convince me I’m supposed to like a guy in the fastest way possible – invoke the awesome power of Gilbert Blythe my friends. That is all it will take. He called Clara “Carrots” the first time they initially met. Enough said. (Gilbert Blythe and Gilmore Girls all in one book – excuse me while I explode from the awesome.) Also – DIMPLES.
Christian Prescott. I’m not really his biggest fan y’all. Even though certain events in the book make me have to rethink this – he doesn’t really come off as having much depth. I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the series might change my mind! Enough said on the men in Clara’s life, I want to avoid spoilers in case anyone hasn’t read it yet.
Same goes with the plot, I don’t really want to spoil anything. Things aren’t really too complicated anyway. Clara is trying to discover what her purpose is as an angel. She keeps getting visions, gradually they have more detail. All she knows is that it involves Christian – and fire. The only thing that bugs me at all is that Clara’s mom has supposedly given her as little angel information as possible because she wants her to be normal, but then when Clara tries to have a life outside of obsessing about Christian and her vision she gets in trouble. Kinda annoying, but it all goes with the plot so it wasn’t a huge deal.
So anyway you guys: this is a paranormal seriously worth reading. Especially if you’re as frustrated with all the other angel novels out there as I am. This one is different. Promise.
