Hallowed, the sequel to Cynthia Hand's Unearthly, flutters instead of soars. Where Unearthly had been a pleasant distraction from mundanity, reading Hallowed was a chore that had to be scratched off the list before I could go outside and play. Hallowed's writing is arthritic and the plot is immature.
Hand presents us the good and the evil contingents in the angel community; the good angel-kids versus the bad Black Wing angel named Samjeeza. And, that's the extent of the plot. There's a bad guy and he's scaring good kids. His threat is tenuous. Hand hardly births any details that would make the reader fear Samjeeza. She mentions briefly that the Black Wings aim to eradicate part angels from the Earth, but the reason is as ethereal as the angels themselves. The angel-kids shutter, cry, and quake in the presence of Samjeeza, but the reader is gifted scant understanding as to why. Even at the height of conflict (the size of an ant hill), when Clara confronts Samjeeza, Samjeeza appears less like the beefy bully at high school and more like the wheezing math genius who weighs 90 pounds soaking wet.
Then comes the love triangle – Christian, Tucker, Clara. Silky thin. Tucker and Clara who shared a summer of laughs and intimacy, who seemed destined for each other, are split by the mere fact that Clara will potentially live longer than Tucker. Ergo, she must be meant for Christian after all. That's it. They're both angel-kids; he's hot, she's pretty, voila soul mates. Even teenagers need more to keep them together than being modelesque and the same race. If you were worried about Tucker's feelings being crushed by his human lifespan, stop moping. Hand sets him up with Allison, a cameo character, at the end of the story.
I expected more from the sequel, instead what I received was a homework assignment to Hand from her publisher to carry the story further that received a C- in my grade book.
Hand presents us the good and the evil contingents in the angel community; the good angel-kids versus the bad Black Wing angel named Samjeeza. And, that's the extent of the plot. There's a bad guy and he's scaring good kids. His threat is tenuous. Hand hardly births any details that would make the reader fear Samjeeza. She mentions briefly that the Black Wings aim to eradicate part angels from the Earth, but the reason is as ethereal as the angels themselves. The angel-kids shutter, cry, and quake in the presence of Samjeeza, but the reader is gifted scant understanding as to why. Even at the height of conflict (the size of an ant hill), when Clara confronts Samjeeza, Samjeeza appears less like the beefy bully at high school and more like the wheezing math genius who weighs 90 pounds soaking wet.
Then comes the love triangle – Christian, Tucker, Clara. Silky thin. Tucker and Clara who shared a summer of laughs and intimacy, who seemed destined for each other, are split by the mere fact that Clara will potentially live longer than Tucker. Ergo, she must be meant for Christian after all. That's it. They're both angel-kids; he's hot, she's pretty, voila soul mates. Even teenagers need more to keep them together than being modelesque and the same race. If you were worried about Tucker's feelings being crushed by his human lifespan, stop moping. Hand sets him up with Allison, a cameo character, at the end of the story.
I expected more from the sequel, instead what I received was a homework assignment to Hand from her publisher to carry the story further that received a C- in my grade book.
