Review: Boundless by Cynthia Hand

Boundless by Cynthia Hand
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication date: 22nd January 2013
My rating: 4 stars

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 fulfill 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.

I have quite a few series’ coming to an end soon. So with Boundless even though I was eager to discover how things would play out, I was sad to have to finally part with this beautiful series. My January’s from next year would never be the same again. I will no longer be stalking my postman coming down my street with such ferocity waiting for my copy to arrive. I can no longer eagerly anticipate the different cover reveals and then stare at them longily for hours on end. There will be no more visions, no more fear of the unknown, constantly guessing the what if’s, but most importantly there would be no more cute Tucker with his dimples *cries*

So you can probably tell the dilemma I found myself in, I wanted my copy to arrive as soon as possible so that I could finally find out everything I had agonisingly been waiting for the last year, but I knew once I’d picked Boundless up I’d probably whip through it so quickly and I wanted to savour every single page as slow as possible. Well I failed at my latter attempt sorry Rachel! ( I have become the worst read-along partner ever as I devoured this book right up) but anyone that has read a book by Cynthia Hand would agree with me that it’s not possible to read this series slowly. I wanted my answers and I wanted them now.

So Boundless picks off with Christian, Angela and Clara heading off to Stanford University, poor Tucker is left behind. But their visions have been telling them Stanford is the place it’s supposed to happen. Clara didn’t leave Wyoming behind in the best possible way and Tucker’s still on her mind. If you were expecting Hand to provide a smooth journey in Boundless, you couldn’t be more wrong. Cynthia Hand has once again proved to be the master of surprises; honestly the amount of spanners she threw into the works from so early on had me shook up in surprise. When I wasn’t gasping in shock, my poor heart was being thoroughly stomped upon. I always knew that Clara would have a tough decision to make between Tucker and Christian, Hand totally messed me over in Hallowed that I didn’t have a solid team anymore. And again in Boundless there were just so many sweet gestures from both guys, and they both went above and beyond what you’d expect that I knew it would be horrible for one of them to be rejected.

The settings of California and Wyoming were perfect for this novel, we were able to get to know the place where it all started for Clara where she first discovered who she was, and the place most important to her mother. But I enjoyed flitting from California to Wyoming, getting a sense of where the major life events in Clara’s life took place. Being back in Wyoming definitively had me nostalgic to back to where it all began in Unearthly.

Hand has once again provided us with a mesmerising read in Boundless; honestly this woman goes above and beyond to impress me with her latest instalment. I can’t praise her enough in creating such a magical world and restoring my faith once more in paranormal books. Her writing is exquisite and so easily to fall in love with that I had no problems in believing this picturesque world she created was real. The Unearthly series is one that will always remain a favourite in my heart with its brilliant pacing and hugely lovable characters, I’m sure it’s a series that I will read time and time again.