Review: Boundless (Unearthly #3) – Cynthia Hand

Posted 6 February, 2013 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review: Boundless (Unearthly #3) – Cynthia HandBoundless by Cynthia Hand
Series: Unearthly #3
Published by Harper Teen on 22 January 2013
Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 320
Source: Kindle Purchase
Buy on Amazon
4 Stars

Boundless starts out with Angela, Christian and Clara going to Stanford to start their freshman year in college. They are all very happy to get away from Wyoming, and for Clara it's like going home. Angela knows exactly what she wants to do - as usual - but Clara and Christian are both undecided when they start their courses.

Of course, just being students is not what Boundless is about for our little trio! There are serious battles to be fought, and all three of them have visions they are trying to sort through so they will know what to do when they need to fight or flight.

As time goes on, Clara thinks she is ready to move on from Tucker to Christian, and they even go out on a real date - which doesn't end the way either of them expected.

Boundless is kind of without bounds, and in some ways it could have been better if it had some boundaries. Clara, Christian and Angela leave for Standford at the very beginning of Boundless, and the readers follow them through information as they arrive. The first night, they are taken out of their rooms by the older students for a run around campus in the dark, and Clara gets to know one of Angela’s roommates, as well as the PHE who’s part of her dorm. She also manages to use just a tiny bit of glory to heal a girl’s broken ankle – without anybody noticing that something is up.

Of course, the Boundless threesome can’t stay normal students for very long, as all three continue having visions, and especially Angela is doing everything she can to figure out what hers is all about, she does not want to screw things up the same way she feels that Clara did with hers. Angela is keeping something from Clara though, and Michale of all people (or should I say angels) is the one to point out to Clara that she might want to figure out why. When she does, she is shocked, it is a huge secret Angela is keeping, and Clara knows that even knowing what the secret is, there is still something Angela isn’t telling her, something really important. This is kind of hinted to in Radiant, but it still takes a while for Clara to figure it all out.

Michael wants to make sure Clara is ready for anything that might happen, and so he trains her for using a glory-sword. Christian is using one in his own vision, so Clara manages to make sure he can come train with them as well. Clara discovers that she has a lot more control over her powers in Boundless, she can travel through glory, the only downside with that is that she often ends up inside Tucker’s barn – and he is not exactly thrilled to see her there.

As they prepare to be ready for what will happen in their visions, Christian and Clara grow closer, even if she still does not feel like they belong together, she knows she can trust him. She always feels happy and safe when they’re together, and the fact that they can speak to each other in their minds is a plus in some situations, but not so much in others. When Christian realizes what’s on Clara’s mind, he gets very upset with her, and only speaks to her while they’re training.

When Clara first notices a strange crow following her around campus, she thinks nothing of it, but soon, she starts to wonder if it is a certain dark angel she would rather stay very far away from. Little does she know why he’s following her, and that he is still hung up on her mom.

Jeffrey shows up again, too, and Clara is both delighted to see him, and afraid of how he’s living his life now. He has a girlfriend, and Clara has trouble acting like a sister rather than a worried mom. Jeffrey agrees to meet with her for breakfast once a week, and they try to build a new relationship. There are so many things going on with both of them that it’s a little hard to follow, and impossible to guess how things will fold out in the end.

When everybody’s visions play out, things go to hell very fast! And Clara needs to trust someone she never thought she’d consider at all, and she has a hard time persuading Christian to help her get through the next step of her vision to make sure she can save the day, and someone she really cares about. There’s an epic battle towards the end, both a battle of minds and an actual physical battle.

During the epilogue of Boundless, all lose ends are tied up nicely; a little too nicely in my opinion, which is why I only gave this four stars instead of five. It just seemed a little too easy after all Clara had been through, and a different, albeit sadder ending, would have made a lot more sense to me. The writing is excellent, though, and the characters are true to themselves. I was drawn into the story of Boundless from the beginning, and I enjoyed being in the Unearthly world once more.

He laughs, a full-blown, delighted kind of laugh, like he finds the whole thing hilarious. It’s a great sound, warm, spine-tingly, and it makes me want to laugh too, but I only smile and shake my head.

It’s a coincidence, I think. It’s not the same bird. It can’t be. It looks like the same bird, but then, don’t all crows look alike? What does it want?

“Tonight I want us to simply be Christian and Clara, two college students on a date. How’s that sound?” “Sounds good,” I say. More than good, even. It sounds perfect.

“Whoever does not love does not love God, because God is love. See, right there in black and white.”

Hell stinks.

 

 

Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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0 responses to “Review: Boundless (Unearthly #3) – Cynthia Hand

  1. I like the honesty here in this review. You give your opinions, take them or leave them, but you do it with kindness even when they’re not entirely glow-y. This sounds like a fun series – I will check it out! 🙂

    • Thanks Leah 🙂 I do try to always be honest, I think it’s important. And this series is definitely worth it!
      Thanks for stopping by.

  2. I’m dying to read Boundless but I’m so nervous. I want it to be just as good as the other two books and wrap up everything nicely to make me happy. 🙂

    • It is very good! I have seen real rave reviews out there! I just thought the ending was kind of like an easy way out – but I think lots of other readers liked the ending.

      • I liked the ending. It wasn’t neat and tidy – though it may have read that way. Plus there is an opening for later in life – I just hope that one can stay “pure” until it can pan out.

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