Friday, January 25, 2013

My Ramblings on Boundless by Cynthia Hand (a teaser)

I reviewed Boundless as part of a book tour over at Eve's Fan Garden. This is one of my favorite series and this book was a fitting farewell to some characters that I've grown to really love. So check out a snippet of my review here and then read the entire thing over at EFG!

Boundless
By: Cynthia Hand
Release Date: January 22, 2013
Authors Website

Summary

The past few years have held more surprises than part-angel Clara Gardner could ever have anticipated. Yet from the dizzying highs of first love, to the agonizing low of losing someone close to her, the one thing she can no longer deny is that she was never meant to live a normal life.

Since discovering the special role she plays among the other angel-bloods, Clara has been determined to protect Tucker Avery from the evil that follows her . . . even if it means breaking both their hearts. Leaving town seems like the best option, so she’s headed back to California - and so is Christian Prescott, the irresistible boy from the vision that started her on this journey in the first place.

As Clara makes her way in a world that is frighteningly new, she discovers that the fallen angel who attacked her is watching her every move. And he’s not the only one. . . . With the battle against the Black Wings looming, Clara knows she must finally fulfill her destiny. But it won’t come without sacrifices and betrayal.

In the riveting finale of the Unearthly series, Clara must decide her fate once and for all.

My Ramblings:

I was terrified to read this book. I put it off for a full week. I let it sit there on my shelf as I read other books, wanting to pick Boundless up, but not quite ready to do so yet. Has this ever happened to anyone else? I love this series. It is one of my all time favorites, so when Katie at MundieMoms contacted us about being part of this tour I of course jumped all over it. Then the book came and I couldn't bring myself to open it. Not because I thought it might disappoint, but because I was not ready to say goodbye yet. It's rare that a series is this good all the way through, and I love reading about the characters and the world that Hand has created in the Unearthly series and I wasn't ready for it to be over yet. I said to someone on facebook that these are book nerd problems. Who else frets about having to say goodbye to fictional characters? After all that though, with the deadline for our tour stop looming, I finally picked the book up and 4 hours later was in tears. It was over. And it was so, so good.

First off this book really does have it all and Hand managed to surprise me several times. There are a few love connections going on in this book, and it isn't all about Clara, Christian and Tucker. We see Angela and Jeffrey both struggle with relationships and trying to figure out who they truly are and what they want. They are all dealing with the constant pressure of living up to their purpose, while still trying to also deal with surviving the real world. We also see some shifting relationships between people who we thought were evil revealing themselves to not be the 100% bad guy we anticipated. There are also a few deaths. Yes, a few. Including one that completely caught me by surprise and reduced me to tears. Not everyone survives in Hands world, which I actually like. It's more realistic then everyone magically living happily ever after. That being said, there is a fair share of magic in this story, which I also like. when you are dealing with angels and heaven and hell, there has to be a sense of faith driving everyone's actions and that leads to impossible things happening. Hand strikes the perfect balance between what we can all relate to and the magic that is there right below the surface. In the end everyone ends up exactly where they are supposed to be. Hand even managed to write an epilogue that I like! I usually despise epilogues, but I felt like Hand took it far enough into the future that it felt like peaking in on old friends instead of trying to wrap up loose ends...

No comments:

Post a Comment