Clara has known she was part-angel ever since she turned fourteen two years ago, but only now is her purpose- the crucial rite of passage for everypart-angel - becoming clear to her. Clara's purpose leads her family to Wyoming, where, amidst terrifying scenes of a bush inferno, she finds the boy of her visions, Christian. He is everything she could wish for-so why does she also have feelings for enigmatic classmate Tucker?
Clara discovers that her purpose is only a small part of a titanic struggle between angels and their destructive counterparts, the Black Wings. And when the fire of her vision erupts and both Christian and Tucker are in danger, who will she choose to save?
From debut novelist Cynthia Hand comes a riveting tale full of supernatural powers, forbidden romance, and the choice between fulfilling destiny and following your heart
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Unearthly #1
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Pages: 432
Additional Notes: Whats with the cover? At least show a face...
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Here, for once, is a YA paranormal romance which didn't make me want to scream, or puke, or both.
Whilst the premise makes this book seem like every other PNR cluttering today's YA shelves, this book is surprisingly good especially when compared to the other angel books out there*cough* Hush, Hush *cough*
Clara, for once, is a character who I *didn't* feel like strangling, in fact I actually quite liked her personality. Although she does spend an awfully long time mooning over Christian, which got on my nerves, at least she had a decent reason to be so.
Normally when characters flit between two guys I get insanely annoyed, however I actually didn't mind when Clara got together with Tucker whilst Christian was away. Their relationship felt natural and easy, and I loved their casual banter. Tucker for one is an amazing person. And Clara made up for it with her practical outlook. One of my favourite quotes was "Here they're all of 16 years old and convinced they've found true love."
The other characters we had here was her mother, who seems there just to supply information, Angela, another part angel, who makes up for all the curiousity Clara is lacking, Wendy, Clara's BFF and Tucker's twin, and Jeffrey, Clara's brother who I for one want to see more of.
I had a bit of a quarrel with the writing style. I just couldn't decide whether I liked or disliked it. Whilst it was easy and laid back, many of the scenes were skimmed over, only described in a few sentences where I would have preferred more detail. The language felt at time very chick-lit/realistic then PNR, which isn't necessarily a bad thing and some phrases were worded a bit awkwardly. "He lifts a strand of my hair (which has popped free of its ponytail) and inspects it in a sunlight. The brackets here seem out of place, unnecessarily interrupting the sentence.
The plot was probably the weakest point. It wasn't bad, especially for a PNR. There were a number of unnecessary scenes, especially at the beginning involving Clara at school, where for about 200 pages Clara seems to do nothing but admire Christian and have the vision over and over. It was fairly obvious, from the blurb of this edition at least, what would happen Having read Hallowed before, I was glad to see that there was a good reason for that, and it was actually quite important for the larger story arc.
The world building was actually very sound, and including Angela as a way for us to learn more about their world was smart. I for one would like to learn more about the 'Nephilim'
Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot more then I though I would. Whilst lacking in plot, made up with good characters and sound world building. Proof that good PNR still exists in YA today.
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