Hallowed by Cynthia Hand {Review}

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publish Date: January 17, 2012
Source: Contest/Own

Goodreads

For months, part-angel Clara Gardner trained to face the raging forest fire from her visions and rescue the alluring and mysterious Christian Prescott from the blaze. But nothing could prepare her for the fateful decisions she would be forced to make that day, or the startling revelation the her purpose -- the task she was put on earth to accomplish -- is not as straightforward as she thought.
Now, torn between her increasingly complicated feelings for Christian, and her love for her boyfriend, Tucker, Clara struggles to make sense of what she was supposed to do the day of the fire. And, as she is drawn further into the world of part angels and growing conflict between White Wings and Black Wings, Clara learns of the terrifying new reality that she must face: Someone close to her will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.

So I’m feeling pretty darn conflicted after finishing Hallowed. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but all the hype gave me too high of expectations. Plus, I’m just feeling generally conflicted about the characters themselves since everything I thought I knew from Unearthly kind of got flipped on its head.

The story itself was great. There was just enough recap to help the reader remember the important stuff from the previous book, but not so much that it bogged the story down. I liked that we followed Clara through her last year of high school all the way to graduation and I’m desperately hoping we actually get to see her in college in the next book. That’s something I so very rarely get to see in YA.

I also really appreciated that the broad storyline was carried over from Unearthly but Hallowed focused mostly on its own story arc and believe it or not, things actually get wrapped up. I know, that seems like a completely impossible thing to ask of a sequel, but Hallowed does it with style.

Then we have the characters. I’m not even sure how I feel about anyone anymore. Let’s start with Tucker. I was totally Team Tucker before starting Hallowed, but I kind of missed snarky Tucker from the debut. I haven’t transferred allegiance to Team Christian or anything, but Tucker didn’t hold quite the same appeal for me this time.

Then there’s Jeffrey. He’s definitely one of my favorite characters and by the end I was feeling so sorry for him :[

The Nusthell: Though hype led Hallowed to be a bit of a letdown for me, I still enjoyed it. It’s a solid sequel that could actually do a good job of standing on its own. If you loved Unearthly then you’re likely to love Hallowed as well.

Pages: 403

Series: Unearthly #2

Rating: Hit