Unearthly (Unearthly, #1)

by Cynthia Hand

[tellemonstar]

Clara is a fairly level-headed and intelligent teenager whose reactions to the various discoveries she makes throughout Unearthly are delightfully realistic. She explains that when her mum told her she was an angel-blood, she thought her mother had gone crazy. It wasn't until her mother proved to Clara that she was definitely telling the truth, that she accepted that maybe her mother hadn't gone completely bonkers. I loved how she had to learn to fly - it wasn't just a natural-born talent. It made the whole idea of angel-bloods much more realistic.

I love the idea of angel-bloods having a 'purpose'. The fact that they must piece together what their purpose is, through visions and dreams, makes it all the more interesting, although it does make it very frustrating and difficult for Clara - she doesn't know when the events in her vision will occur, just that they will occur at some point. I really want to know what Jeffery's purpose is, and Angela's as well, so hopefully we will find out more details about those.

The insta-attraction thing with Clara and Christian was nicely done. Explained as "well every girl lusts after Christian, so it's perfectly normal" but also as part of her purpose. With the last couple of chapters revealing everything, it made sense in a nice, non-stalkerish way. However, I really liked Tucker over Christian, and I would love to tell Christian to bugger off and let Clara figure out who she wants for herself. (Tucker!)

The one thing I found a bit frustrating was Clara's mum. She seemed very hesitant to give out any information to Clara, yet later on when Clara's friend Angela, who is also an angel-blood, asked about angel-related things she seemed quite happy to answer. I know she is trying to protect Clara as much as possible, but it's still annoying, because it seems as though it's not okay for Clara to ask questions, but if anyone else does then it's all good.

Cynthia Hand weaves well-researched and thought out angel mythology through Unearthly, and it makes the whole thing much more interesting and cohesive to read. The angel mythology in the book, which is a mix of Christian, Jewish and Islamic mythology, stays very much true to itself. There are no sudden changes to the mythology or random breakaways from the set mythology, and I really must applaud the author for this because that is something that drives me absolutely nuts.