Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Review: Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand
Hallowed (Unearthly #2)
By Cynthia Hand
Publisher:
HarperTeen

To Sum It Up:

After choosing to listen to her heart rather than pursue her destiny, Clara wonders what consequences her decision will bring. She also wonders how Christian is supposed to fit into her life, since fate seems to be telling both of them that he’s an inevitable part of it. As Clara worries about her future with Tucker, a new fear arises to give her even greater concern. Clara begins having troubling dreams filled with overwhelming sadness, and eventually the cause of her sorrow becomes startlingly clear: she’s going to lose someone she loves.

Review:

I continue to love the Unearthly series with all of my heart, though Hallowed just about shattered it. This book left me feeling a ton of different emotions all at once; no, this is not your run-of-the-mill middle book in which the story merely serves as a lead-in to the conclusion of the trilogy. Hallowed was every bit as engrossing as Unearthly was, and then some.

In Hallowed, Clara finds herself in quite the conundrum. Love triangles in YA books usually send me running in the opposite direction, but this one has such a different twist to it, and it’s so expertly written, that I don’t want to look away. What do you do when you love someone, but it seems that God has somebody else in mind for you? I mean, these aren’t your parents or your best friend telling you that you’re not with the right guy—it’s GOD. Clara even sarcastically notes that she never pictured herself as the girl caught between two guys, but that she is. And I love her for making that observation. I didn’t agree with all of the decisions that she made throughout the book, but I had to give her a lot of credit for acknowledging her mistakes. I respect heroines who take time out for a little self-reflection.

Although I am Team Tucker all the way, I can’t hate Christian. I can’t even dislike him. I felt like I got to know Christian much better in Hallowed, and he’s a decent guy. He’s in the same boat as Clara, with the whole God-Wants-Us-to-Be-Together thing, so he understands what she’s going through better than anyone. And therein lies the crux of this love triangle: how do you ignore a connection like that?

So poor, human Tucker really has the odds stacked against him this time around. There’s this sincerity to him that just makes me melt; I love how he always wants to know the truth, even if it’s going to hurt. I also love how he’ll do whatever he thinks is best for Clara, no matter what the expense is to his own heart.

I actually cried while reading Hallowed. Now, I may get a bit misty-eyed on occasion, but this time, tears were streaming down my face. And I rarely, rarely full-out cry while reading. One event in the book struck particularly close to home. I knew that it was going to happen for a while, but I didn’t think that I’d react so strongly. Cynthia Hand wrote these scenes with such moving beauty; there’s no doubt that rereading them would set off the waterworks again.

If you loved Unearthly as much as I did, and believe me, I loved Unearthly, you won’t be disappointed with Hallowed. Oh, you might be a jumble of emotions after reading it, like I was, but this is a must-read sequel. This series—simply amazing.

All in All:

I’ll reiterate what I said in my review of Unearthly: Best. Angel. Series. Ever.

10 comments:

  1. Most definitely this is a series I have to read now. You just keep selling it to me. I however think I'll need access to all the books first! haha.

    I tend to get rather emotional with books, so I shall definitely have to think about reading this one.

    Great review! :)

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    1. Yes! I do think you should give this series a shot when you're able to.

      I sometimes get emotional while reading, but it's usually out of frustration or anger. I rarely cry, but something happened in the book that I could really relate to, and before I knew it, I was blubbering.

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  2. Ah! Glad to hear you think it is best angel series ever. I need to get caught up!
    Happy reading,
    Brandi @ Blkosiner’s Book Blog

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    1. Angel books and I haven't gotten along very well in the past, so this was a nice surprise. I hope you enjoy the rest of the series!

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  3. I most read this series! I am listing!

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    1. I hope you love it as much as I do when you read it! It's definitely one of my all-time favorite series.

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  4. I was definitely really impressed with Hallowed, and I think it still managed to surprise me, even after how much I loved Unearthly, This series doesn’t suffer from 2nd Book Syndrome at all, and even though I have a personal problem with the way Hand approached the whole “God wants us to be together” theme (which is so interesting and could have been better), I still really enjoyed Hallowed as a whole.

    (off to check out your review of Unearthly now—doing things out of order)

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    1. Whenever I start the second book in a series after loving the first one, I'm wary of being disappointed. I was extremely happy that it didn't happen here.

      I'm quite curious—what do you think Hand could have done differently with that particular theme? Looking ahead (but without spoilers), I think Boundless explores the power of choice vs. letting destiny take its course at greater length than its predecessors. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it and on the final book as a whole!

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  5. Back to back! Team Tucker! I wonder what the scene is. I cry over books too and I want to know what turned on the waterworks for you.

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    1. The scene that made me cry is a spoiler, so that's why I didn't go into specifics. I tried to type it here and then hide the text so it would only be visible when highlighted. Apparently, though, Blogger doesn't allow CSS styles in comments, so I couldn't do it. :( If you'd still like to know, you can always DM me on Twitter.

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