Buy Hallowed by Cynthia Hand
Special: $11.99 (Regular price: $17.99)
Publisher: Harper Teen
Format: Hardcover
Reviewer: Melissa on February 23, 2012
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Clara Gardner trained for months to face the fire she’d seen in her visions, but she couldn’t prepare for the choice she was forced to make. And afterward, she realizes that nothing about being an angel is as straightforward as she imagined it would be. Now, in Hallowed, torn between her love for Tucker and her feelings about the role that her and Christian are destined for, Clara struggles with a new revelation: someone she cares about is going to die in a few months. In the compelling follow up to Unearthly, Cynthia Hand depicts what it feels like to fall in love, lose someone, and how confusing it is to grow up.
It’s not that often that I gush over a paranormal novel, but Hand’s first novel, Unearthly, was one I couldn’t put down. I read it in one sitting, so you have to believe that I was highly anticipating Hallowed. With some other series, the second novel falls flat, but this one doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. If anything, this novel is as fast-paced as the first one and pushes Clara, her brother Jeffrey, Tucker, and Christian to grow in ways that weren’t foreseeable, but are always believable. If you were a fan of the first novel, then you won’t be disappointed by the way the series continues.
While the first novel demonstrated Maggie’s – Clara’s mother – need to keep things from her children, and Clara’s growing angst over this situation, Hallowed will move the characters (and reader) in a different direction. Clara, Angela, Jeffrey, and Christian form an angel club, where Angela hopes they can share more information about who and what they are. However, I’d say that this secret club is less necessary than it would’ve been last year. Why? Well, Maggi begins to divulge more information with her children and allows them to meet a group of angels, something that she would’ve never done last year. She doesn’t become an open book, but many of the questions that readers would’ve had about who Maggie is, who Clara and Jeffrey’s father is, and ultimately, who the Gardner teens are will become much clearer before you complete this novel. The more info you learn, the more clear Clara’s purpose will become, and the more likely, you’ll be left anticipating the way in which the rest of the series will play out.
Speaking of Clara’s purpose, one of the great debates that Hand brings up is that of fate and destiny vs. free will. As half human, half angel, Clara is able to make her own decisions, just like a reading teen is able to do so. However, at the same time, the fact that she has a destiny and the question of whether it’s written in stone or mutable is considered by many of the characters, not just Clara. Will the decision she made in book one ruin her chance to please God? Will it put any one else’s purpose in jeopardy? And more importantly, does someone else’s purpose (and Clara’s position within it) define the choices she’ll need to make in life, even if she isn’t give a confirming vision? Questions like these make Hallowed‘s action continue, but they also force readers to keep guessing till the very end.
If you haven’t picked up Hallowed yet, then please do yourself a favor and get on that. You won’t regret it.
Buy Hallowed today and benefit from free shipping and 33% off the regular price!
Melissa has always been a voracious reader of fiction and has an M.A. in English Literature to prove it. Like many other adults, she got caught up in the young adult crossover fiction phenomenon. Now, one of her great joys comes from sharing her love of YA lit on this popular review site. Come with expectations of intellect, magic, and honest reviews, and you won’t be disappointed.
