Review Comparison: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Review Comparison: Unearthly

Review Comparison is a new feature I'm trying out where I am pulling out the pros and cons of the featured book mentioned in my review and other bloggers' reviews. Please let me know how you like this new feature and if you have any suggestions on how to make it better. I'm still playing around with the format.

Due to the overwhelming response (yay!) this Review Comparison is significantly longer than previous RC posts. 

Click for my original review: 

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
Rating: 4 out of 5

The following bloggers kindly allowed me to include their reviews in this feature: 

Irresistible Reads: 5 out of 5 stars

Manda’s Movements: 5 out of 5

My Precious: 5 out of 5 rings

Books for Company: 5 out of 5 hearts

Daisy Chain Book Reviews: 5 out of 5

Looksie Lovitz: A-

Paranormal Indulgence: 4.5 out of 5

Bookworm 1858: 4 out of 5 stars

Small Review: 4 out of 5 stars

Milk and Cookies: Comfort Reading: 4 out of 5 cookies

Logan E. Turner: 3 out of 5 stars

Sniffly Kitty’s Mostly Books: 2 out of 5 stars

Books Your Kids Will Love

A Backwards Story

One Librarian’s Book Reviews

The Elliot Review

Ruby's Reads

Please click on the links to read their full reviews!

~Conclusions~ 

Many reviewers entered Unearthly with low expectations but were pleasantly surprised. Clara is an overwhelmingly liked main character. Notable likes include: characterization, descriptive writing, engaging mystery, and unique angel mythology. The ending is a cliffhanger that frustrated most reviewers.

 
 

        

 ~Hype and Expectations~

 

• “I wasn’t expecting to like this book…[assumed] insta-love with angels…but I was so wrong!” (Small Review)
•  “Surprisingly I loved it!” (Irresistible Reads)
• “I almost didn’t want to read this one…[but] this book rocked” (Looksie Lovetz)
• “Wasn’t sold on reading this…[but] I couldn’t put it down!” (Milk and Cookies: Comfort Reading)
• “So much more than I thought it would be” (Manda’s Movements)
• “…came into this one with low expectations…I was pleasantly surprised” (One Librarian’s Book Reviews)
• “I never expected to love this book so much…” (A Backwards Story)
• Lived up to the hype (Books for Company)
• Didn’t expect to like it because it’s an angel story, but enjoyed it (Ruby’s Reads)

 

 ~Characters~

Clara:

• Likable voice (Milk and Cookies: Comfort Reading)
• Easy voice, normal girl, “Imperfect and unsure, but never angsty or whiny” (Small Review)
• Refreshing, “I warmed to Clara immediately” (Daisy Chain Book Reviews)
• “I love Clara…[she] comes off as completely normal” (Manda’s Movements)
• Authentic, “Normal teenage girl…helped infuse a connection [with the reader]” (Paranormal Indulgence)
• Smart, realistic, and “so human” (One Librarian’s Book Reviews)
• Believable and likable (My Precious)
• Likable, refreshing, relatable (Ruby’s Reads)
• “Biggest bright spot was Clara’s characterization” (The Elliot Review)
• “My favorite part of this book” Sweet, funny, believable, made smart choices (Irresistible Reads)
• “Immediately likable… Easygoing, unpretentious, funny and believable” (Logan E. Turner)
• Relatable (The Elliot Review)
• Relatable, “Her characterization is so well-done” (A Backwards Story)
• A “lovely character” (Books for Company)
• “The type of girl you would like your daughters to be…” (Books Your Kids Will Love)
• “Yet another female protagonist who underestimates her own beauty” (Logan E. Turner)
• “Somewhat standard” (Sniffly Kitty)

Others:

• “All of the characters commanded my attention” (Small Review)
• “Fully developed personalities” (Small Review)
• “Characters the reader grows to love, adore, and connect with” (Paranormal Indulgence)
• “All the characters…seem like pieces of a puzzle that made the book whole” (Looksie Lovetz)
• “The best thing about Unearthly is the character description…I felt like I knew everyone” (A Backwards Story)
• “…all developed well,” distinct, real, “loved the relationships…especially between Clara and her mother” (Books for Company)
•  “One or two superfluous characters that distracted from the plot…” (Logan E. Turner)

Relationships:

• Love triangle isn’t annoying, different than the norm (Small Review)
• The love triangle is “wonderful…subtle, it sneaks up on you, pulls you right in, and takes you on an emotional roller coaster of a ride!” (Daisy Chain Book Reviews)
• [Love triangle] “delivers …in a way that stands out to me” (The Elliot Review)
•  “Do not fear [the love triangle]” (Irresistible Reads)
• “Yet another love triangle” (Logan E. Turner)
• “I liked how [they] didn’t have this extreme connection” (Milk and Cookies: Comfort Reading)
• “No instantaneous and eternal love” Instead developed “slower, sweeter, and definitely more believable” (One Librarian’s Book Reviews)
•  “I’m pretty happy with how things ended on the love front…” (Manda’s Movements)
• Follows Clara’s relationships with other so “the whole book is not about teenage romance” (One Librarian’s Book Reviews)
• “Romance was surprising and healthy” (Books Your Kids Will Love)

• Tucker ~swoons~, Christian was ok (Irresistible Reads)
• “Screw Christian, I like Tucker” (Looksie Lovetz)
• “Something about Christian irritated me” (Logan E. Turner)
• “I am obsessed with Tucker” (A Backwards Story)
• Christian is too perfect, Clara’s dates with Tucker are the best part (Sniffly Kitty’s Mostly Books)
• “Just love everything about [Christian]…Tucker didn’t appeal to me at first …but I did grow to love [him] a lot” (The Elliot Review)
• Found Tucker annoying (Bookworm 1858)
• Two love interests are equally interesting, though…rooting for Team Tucker (Ruby’s Reads)

  ~Writing~

• Flows well, “Didn’t feel the length at all” but “wish the first ¾ didn’t feel so meandering” (Small Review)
• “Beginning was a bit slow” (One Librarian’s Book Reviews)
• “Amazingly addictive” (Daisy Chain Book Reviews)
• “I was totally engrossed in this book from start to finish!” (Daisy Chain Book Reviews)
• Easy to read, “Before I knew it I had read 300 pages” (Irresistible Reads)
• Flowed “kept me engaged in the story” (Looksie Lovetz)
• Well written, fast paced, good twist (Milk and Cookies: Comfort Reading)
• Fast paced, good descriptions that “put an image in my head” (Books for Company)
• “I never found myself bored, only more enthralled…” (Manda’s Movements)
• “Starts at a lazy pace…slowly building the characters and action” (My Precious)
• Built a “strong desire to keep turning the pages…” (My Precious)
• “Hand had me racing to the end…I really, really wanted to see the outcome…” (Ruby’s Reads)

• Original plot (Irresistible Reads)
•  “Felt there wasn’t much new being offered…wasn’t enough urgency” (Logan E. Turner)
• Engaging, interesting, good but could have been great with tighter editing (Logan E. Turner)
• Some parts seemed “contrived” (Sniffly Kitty’s Mostly Books)
• “No pointless information…everything is key…” (Manda’s Movements)
• Creative blend of contemporary and paranormal elements (The Elliot Review)
•  “Hand’s writing style is gorgeous and draws readers right in” (A Backwards Story)
•  “The mountain setting made for a beautiful backdrop” (Books Your Kids Will Love)
• Evocative, “did an amazing job with descriptions…” (Bookworm 1858)

 ~Angel Mythology/Mystery~

• “Intriguing and well-crafted mythology” (Small Review)
• “Whole new take on angels” (Paranormal Indulgence)
• “Most interesting angel concept I have read” (Irresistible Reads)
• Unique mythology, “constantly keeps you thinking” (Books for Company)
• Fascinating (My Precious)
• “I want to know more about the rules governing angel behavior” (Bookworm 1858)

• Intriguing, but “execution leaves something to be desired” (Sniffly Kitty’s Mostly Books)
•  “All about maneuvering of the pieces…subtly enacted across the whole book” (Small Review)
• Unique, great depth, fascinating (Daisy Chain Book Reviews)
• “Lots of secrets to be explored and uncovered” (Daisy Chain Book Reviews)
• “Insatiable yearning to bare all the mysteries inside” (Paranormal Indulgence)
• Filled with mystery (Irresistible Reads)
• Intrigue, mystery, and unanswered questions (A Backwards Story)
• Well thought out and interesting, leaves the reader excited for book two (Books Your Kids Will Love)
•  “Tantalizingly revealed” (Bookworm 1858)

 ~Ending~

• Cliffhanger, “A part of me does wish I had waited until all of the books had been published” (Small Review)
•  “I wasn’t too pleased…came a little too sudden…left fumbling and confused” (Paranormal Indulgence)
• Intense…”I’m still a little confused” (Looksie Lovetz)
• “Slightly annoyed that the book so obviously leads into a sequel” (Logan E. Turner)
• “Gave the reader way more questions for the second book” (Milk and Cookies: Comfort Reading)
• “It would have been nice if the story ended with a more definitive conclusion and some small sense of closure” (My Precious)
•  “Unsatisfying cliffhanger” (Sniffly Kitty’s Mostly Books)
• “A bit of a let-down” too vague, felt frustrated (One Librarian’s Book Reviews)
•  “Less than anticipated…a letdown” (Bookworm 1858)
• “No cliffhanger here…a few questions but it ends in the right place…” (Irresistible Reads)
•  “Final enough to be satisfying” (Books Your Kids Will Love)

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Book Review: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
Release Date: January 4, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 435
Received: Library book
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

Goodreads Page

Looking for something to read for the 2011 Debut Author Challenge? This would be a great pick!

Summary

From Goodreads: 

In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . . .

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny? 

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.

Review

Assumptions, assumptions

So, here’s the deal: I wasn’t expecting to like this book all that much. I totally had it pegged insta-love with angels and not much else. I was prepared for a moping and mooning weak main character. Plus, with the massive amount of pages, I was bracing for some major Twilight Pacing Syndrome.

You know what they say about assuming…

I was so wrong! The book is told in the first person and narrated by Clara. Her voice is so easy to like and flows really well. I have the attention span of a goldfish, so big books don’t usually work well for me, but I didn’t feel the length of this book at all. I was sucked in completely, mostly because I felt like I was hanging out with a girl I would totally be friends with.

There were a few points where I surfaced for air and realized that not much was actually happening. Despite the fact that’s she’s part angel and the whole book revolves around her fulfilling her purpose, she’s a completely normal girl and does completely normal things. Which, you know, can be sort of boring to read about. Like following her for a few chapters as she works on an English project or learns how to ski. The thing is, Clara was such an appealing narrator that I was too busy enjoying myself to realize I should be bored.

Slowly uncovering information about the angel lore helped balance out the more mundane events. Though an angel-blood, Clara is pretty much in the dark about many things (particularly surrounding fallen angels) and so we get to piggy-back along with her as she discovers new bits of information and begins to piece them together. Cynthia Hand has done a wonderful job creating an intriguing and well-crafted mythology.

More than meets the eye

For a while I thought this book was hit with a huge dose of Twilight Pacing Syndrome because the first ¾ were more ho-hum and then the final ¼ picked up in action a lot. But by the end of the book I realized that a ton of those little events I thought were just filler and overwriting (even if they were fun) were actually significant clues. This first book was all about the maneuvering of the pieces, and the movements are subtly enacted across the whole book. Still, I wish this had been more apparent and that the first 3/4 didn't feel so meandering.

My head is spinning trying to put all of the clues together and make sense of what I read. Not because it was confusing or poorly written though. Oh no, Cynthia Hand did an excellent job of giving just enough hints to give me something to play with, but leaving enough things open that I’m impatiently counting down the days for the release of the sequel, Hallowed (with the infuriatingly vague date of “Sometime in 2012” maybe January).

Let’s be BFF 4 EVA

One final note about the characters because, you know, I have to talk about the characters. I loved them! Clara is the perfect type of teenager to read about: imperfect and unsure but never angsty or whiny. She felt real and genuinely nice.

Then there’s her love interests. Ah, can I please make Tucker real and keep him? There’s a love triangle but it isn’t annoying at all. It’s very different from the usual triangle, so if you normally hate love triangles, don’t feel like you’ll automatically hate this book. There is a twist to it that makes it a lot more palatable than the typical indecisive and borderline cheating main character.

Teeny, tiny spoiler:

But she’d better do what I want her to do and I don't care what happens! He called her Carrots for crying out loud! Can he possibly be any better than that? That’s a rhetorical question because the answer is obviously no, it’s impossible to do better than channeling Gilbert Blythe and one of the best scenes in literary history ever. Yes, I’m stomping my little foot on this point.

This is also one of those books where all of the characters commanded my attention, not just the main characters. They all felt real to me with fully developed personalities. Though I’m not sure yet on where they all stand with the Big Bad brewing in the background (woah alliteration!). There’s one cookie in particular I don’t trust at all.

When happily ever after ends

If you’ve read Unearthly already, please stop by Gina’s blog My Precious for an incredible  discussion about this book. It has a ton of spoilers though, so don’t read it if you haven’t read the book already. I totally clogged up Gina’s comment section with my scattered attempts at putting together all of Cynthia Hand’s clues (sorry!). I’m dying to talk about all this with someone!

Because of all of these hidden clues and maneuverings, a part of me does wish I had waited until all of the books in the series had been published. This book does end on a cliffhanger, though it is an appropriate point to end book one. I have a terrible memory, and I have a feeling that as difficult as it will be to remember all of the clues I recognized, it will be near impossible for me to remember all of the clues I missed that will play a major role later on. I think I will have to re-read Unearthly before I read Hallowed.

 Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

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This book satisfies the following challenges: 

• 2011 Debut Author Challenge
• Most Awaited YA Releases Challenge
• Morbid Romantica Challenge
• Library Reading Challenge
• 350 Page Books Challenge

Looking for another paranormal that stands out from the crowd? 
You might like: 

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

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