27 December 2011

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Halo Bookplate


Three angels are sent down to bring good to the world: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. But she is the most human, and when she is romantically drawn to a mortal boy, the angels fear she will not be strong enough to save anyone—especially herself—from the Dark Forces.

Is love a great enough power against evil?


This was an incredibly difficult read. I will readily admit this was an impulse buy based on the amazing cover. Unfortunately the inside of the book just doesn’t measure up to it, or even to a mediocre cover. It falls into the all-too-common difficulty with angel books: angels are perfect beings with no emotions and no free will, and that makes personal conflict and inner turmoil a hard thing to introduce because, by definition, an angel experiencing those is a renunciation of everything they are. I know, I know, it’s my constant refrain with angel books and why I don’t like them. However there is much more wrong with this book than just a mischaracterization of a legendary being. The plot is so slow it’s pretty much non-existent until the last hundred pages. There are the bare bones of an angels-working-on-earth idea but it’s completely covered up by Bethany’s ultra-scary relationship with a mortal. As soon as Bethany falls in love the entire plot is about her obsessing, clinging, and whining over her ultra-love. The end of the book tries to redeem things with a battle scene between ultimate good and evil, but it falls very flat because the set-up is so scant. In all I would recommend that anyone who’s not a die-hard Twilight fan to pass on this book.

2 comments:

  1. I have not heard good things about this one. I originally bought a copy of it, then sold it immediately.

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  2. Wow. I originally thought this book looked appealing for the same reason that you did, but after reading your review I took it off my "to-read" list very quickly. Thanks for the save!

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