Review: Hallowed (Unearthly #2) by Cynthia Hand

 

Hallowed (Unearthly #2)

by Cynthia Hand


For months Clara Gardner trained to face the fire from her visions, but she wasn't prepared for the choice she had to make that day. And in the aftermath, she discovered that nothing about being part angel is as straightforward as she thought.


Now, torn between her love for Tucker and her complicated feelings about the roles she and Christian seem destined to play in a world that is both dangerous and beautiful, Clara struggles with a shocking revelation: Someone she loves 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.


In this compelling sequel to "Unearthly," Cynthia Hand captures the joy of first love, the anguish of loss, and the confusion of becoming who you are.

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My Review

Hallowed starts right where Unearthly stopped. Clara ends up saving Tucker from a fire (that turns out to not be natural, but manmade), instead of saving Christian, like in all the visions she had of her purpose as an angel-blood. She then discovers that Christian is also an angel (and could have saved himself from the other fire in the woods) and that he thought that his purpose was to save her. They are now both confused about their real purposes and afraid they might have failed.

Clara starts having a new recurring dream. In it, she's in a very beautiful place, surrounded by people she knows, but intense sorrow fills her. As she looks around, other grieving faces meet her gaze. She searches for Tucker, but can't find him anywhere. Only Christian is there to give her comfort. She assumes that he's the one that dies. Then she decides she will not allow that to happen, God's wish or not.

Samjeeza, the leader of the Black Wings, who tried to kill Clara's mother and herself in the first book, comes back to stalk her. We have some deeper insight on some of the reasons for his sadness and obsession about her mother.


The love triangle starts to get seriously interesting. It seems as if everywhere Clara looks, there is Christian. He speaks in her mind, he is kind and thoughtful, he waits outside her window to check on her, he takes her skiing... and Tucker is not amused, even with Clara clearly "stalking/babysitting" him all the time to try and avoid his apparently imminent death.
Angela, Clara's friend, founds the Angel Club. She invites her BBF, her brother Jeffrey and Christian to join. Jeffrey starts to act weirder and weirder. He gest ruder and more violent. Clara questions him about the night of the fires, when he disappeared, but he comes out very evasive and irritated. And highly suspicious.


I liked that in Hallowed Clara discovers more about her powers and lineage. She has empathy, which means she can pick up on the emotions of the people around her very easily. Sometimes even read their thoughts. Which comes in handy, most of the time. We also see more of the other angels (who were closer than she could've ever imagined), their meetings and other secrets.Like I said, I liked the book very much, but something really bothered me. 


Apparently it never occured to Clara to ask her brother about his darkening wings, or why he never shows them around their mother or other angels. And that was very annoying. I mean, I get it that she had a lot on her mind, but couldn't she look away from her crushes and her own problems for just enough time to pay a little more attention to her own family? I guess we'll find out more about those issues in the next volume.


A bit of spoiler alert here: Christian finally kisses Clara. *squeals* We finally find out about her mother's purpose, we see more of her father, more of other angels... and Tucker is not the one who dies.


*I received an e-ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*