Eve's Fan Garden

  Boundless by Cynthia Hand

Release Date: January 22, 2013

Author Website

Reviewer: Kate

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 fulfil 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. (from Goodreads.com)

My Review:

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.

I struggle to write this review because I truly don’t want to give anything away, I want you to go read it. So I’ll be as broad as possible and warn you ahead of time if there are spoilers coming up.

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.

(Minor Spoilers Ahead!) One key part of the story is the idea that despite your purpose, or what you perceive your purpose to be, your heart might have other ideas.  In this book Clara’s dad Micheal teaches her to travel through space, allowing her to move from her campus in California back to Jackson (and elsewhere) with ease. She also learns to travel through time a bit, which I anticipated would be hokey, but the way it plays out is pretty perfect. In order to travel Clara must call her glory and think of a place, the tree in her front yard, a calming place on campus, etc. When she is in a hurry, or panicking her head is overruled by her heart and several times she ends up popping up at Tucker’s barn. This leads to some awkward, but ultimately rewarding discussions between the two of them as they try to figure out what they want from each other and if they will be able to give it. This is one of those rare instances where I love both boys in the love triangle. I could see her with both Christian and Tucker and I would have been happy with either outcome. I liked that Hand allowed Clara to struggle with her choice, it was nice to see her also trying to figure it all out. Her head and her heart have different ideas of what she needs and although there are some difficult moments along the way I think she comes out the other side of everything stronger and with the person she was meant to be with.

Of course Hand manages to capture the places in her book perfectly. One of the reasons I was so drawn to this series in the first place was that it was set in Jackson Hole, WY. Getting to read these books is always a bit like getting to visit Jackson again. Although I admit to hanging onto book two, Hallowed, until I was actually in Jackson so I could read it there! I love that area and I love being able to visualize all the places Hand mentions. I’m not imagining what it looks like, I’m seeing it the way it was when I was last there. I love that.

So this post got lengthy, but I could probably still go on and on. I love this series and I love this book. Although I am extremely sad to have to say goodbye to these characters, Boundless was a fitting farewell. If you haven’t read this series yet I highly recommend you go out and it up.

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Boundless Blog Tour Schedule:  http://mundiemomsblogtours.blogspot.com/2013/01/blog-tour-boundless-unearthly-3-by.html

Don’t miss tomorrow’s tour stops at  Starry Eyed Revue & I Read Banned Books