3.5/5 stars
HarperTeen, 2013
434 pages
YA Paranormal Angels
Source: Library
I was quite impressed with the first books in this series (Unearthly and Hallowed), finding them to be very well done examples of angel mythology. My biggest problem is that I just was never really on the Tucker train. I have seen loads of bloggers gush about him but I never got it. I could read the writing on the wall about Clara's feelings for him but I was never that excited about him otherwise. If you similarly aren't that impressed with Tucker, I expect you'll find this finale fairly lackluster. But if you're in the majority who loves Tucker, you'll probably be pretty happy.
The parts that didn't really involve Tucker were very good though especially the story of Clara's friend Angela whose story takes what was to me a surprising twist. Clara's brother Jeffrey also has some interesting twists; I really sympathized with her worries over his (poor) decision making. As for Christian, he has some difficult moments and some aggravating ones as well. I liked him less in this book than I have in the previous ones but he does have his heroic times.
One of my favorite parts is totally random though: see, my job involves some of the geography of California so I was pleased to see mention of some of the cities where I've done work. I felt so familiar with them and it made me smile.
I don't want to go too deep into the plot to avoid spoilers but know that while I think the plot mostly moved along at a good pace, there were some points where it dragged. The book does take place over about the course of a year so there is certainly time for adequate character development but I wanted a bit more action and a little less of everything else.
Overall: A strong enough conclusion to the Unearthly series-I think big fans will be pretty satisfied.
Cover: I love how we've had this same girl in a dress with different colors for all three covers although the purple of the first is still my favorite.
Other Opinions:
Chick Loves Lit
Feeling Fictional
The Midnight Garden
Uniquely Moi Books
I didn't really like the first book so I don't think I'll be finishing up this series. I'm glad you liked it though! Great review:)
ReplyDelete-Danna
I respect that-I am easily swayed by blogger hype so I continued. I just wish the romance had worked better for me.
DeleteI'm a Tucker fan, so I'm excited to read this one. It's part of my summer series challenge, so I need to get to it soon!
ReplyDeleteGreat review!
Tucker fans should be pretty happy :) Hope you get to it soon!
DeleteI loved all three books so much. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteThis doesn't pertain to me but: I think that whenever you read a review of a book that you have not read there is the risk of reading spoilers you don't want to see. I don't think that you meant to do this, but I feel like what you wrote about Tucker is a spoiler. I would have been super upset if I had read this review before reading Boundless.
I understand what you mean about spoilers but I just felt like it was pretty obvious from the first book that Tucker was the one for Clara. It would have been incredibly radical if they hadn't found their way back to each other.
DeleteOnce again, we agree. I felt the way that the love triangle was handled was really disappointing. My disappointment wasn't as tied to the person Clara ended up with, but how she acted and treated both of the guys. I just lost respect for her as a character. I love this series as a whole, but this book made me sad...
ReplyDeleteI thought Clara handled the situation pretty poorly too and I felt like the romantic aspect dragged the whole book down. I loved the parts going after Angela in particular (I meant to write more-it reminded me of CS Lewis's THE GREAT DIVORCE, for starters-but planned my time poorly.)
DeleteI loved Unearthly and enjoyed Hallowed so I was looking for more than 'satisfaction' with book 3! Bummer, but I don't think I'll be rushing to read this one.
ReplyDeleteI bet it will work better for you as I wasn't that big of a fan of the earlier books. Hope you still read it :)
DeleteI liked the first book but never got around to reading the sequel. I am glad you liked the final book even with its flaws. So many times it seems like the final book in a trilogy can be a letdown.
ReplyDeleteI've definitely read more disappointing conclusions to trilogies...this was still okay. I'm just not in love with this series as a whole.
Delete