{Flash Review} RADIANT by Cynthia Hand



Missed out on this series?  
The first book, UNEARTHLY, is on sale for $2.99 on nook, Kindle, iPad, etc!  
Check it out...or buy a copy if you loved it and don't yet own it!

Check out my reviews of the other books in this series:

UNEARTHLY
HALLOWED

RADIANT is a $1.99 e-novella taking place between HALLOWED and BOUNDLESS.  

BOUNDLESS is the final book in the trilogy and in stores next month!  
There's also a sneak peek at the end of the novella if you can't wait to read BOUNDLESS.  
Get started now!


O P E N I N G   H O O K:

CLARA'S HAVING VISIONS AGAIN.
It's the fourth of July.  If we were back in Wyoming, we'd be celebrating, eating watermelon, and watching the fireworks over Jackson Hole, making fun of tourists.  Instead we're in Rome wolfing down my grandmother's infamous spaghetti with the whole Zerbino clan, my aunts and uncles and cousins crammed shoulder to shoulder around the table.  We're a loud bunch, the Zerbinos.  Borderline obnoxious.  The aunts are gossiping about the woman who lives next door, who seems, as far as they can tell, to have three separate-but-equally-serious boyfriends who don't know about one another.  They're gabbing so loudly about it I'm sure the lady next door can hear them.  I look across the table at Clara like can you believe I'm related to these people? but her eyes are completely blank.  I ask her a question, and she doesn't answer.  She doesn't hear me.  
She's seeing the future.


(page 6, nook e-book edition!)

Since RADIANT is a novella, I'm reviewing it in flash format.  It's a great short story to tide readers over until BOUNDLESS comes out on January 22nd.  One of my favorite things about the Unearthly Trilogy is the way author Cynthia Hand forces readers to care about all of the book's characters, not just the main character and her love interest(s).  You want to know more about her family and friends, too.  This is one reason I loved UNEARTHLY so very much.  Hand is great at developing her secondary characters.  With RADIANT, it was fun to see not just the perspective of Clara, but her best friend, Angela, too.  I've grown to like Angela so much over the course of this series, and it was great to sneak a peek at her brain.  It would have actually been nice to see the entire novella in Angela's POV, especially since that's where the meat of the story was, but Unearthly is about Clara's journey, so it makes sense to involve her now as well.

At first, I thought I'd hate the way the novella alternated perspectives, but there's so much about Angela that we still don't know.  I loved seeing the way she views Clara, Clara's purpose, and her own purpose.  I also thought the summary, which mentioned that the novella followed Clara and Angela on the summer vacation, sounded like frou-frou filler fluff to tide us over.  It's not filler at all, though, so if you're thinking that, too, get that thought out of your head immediately.  I didn't expect all of the knowledge that brought me right back into Hand's world and made me even more anxious for BOUNDLESS!  That last sentence.  That last sentence!

Laced with hints that all is not well and that deep, disturbing surprises are coming in BOUNDLESS, RADIANT quickly captured my attention and left me breathless.  Things might change a great deal more than I was expecting in the final novel, and RADIANT is a catalyst for great change, especially when it comes to the dynamics of the so-far strong friendship between Clara and Angela.  I love that Hand manages to keep me guessing with this series, even as she gives hints and clues along the way.

If you love the Unearthly series and/or are a fan of Angela, you're going to want to check out this e-novella, be it on a nook, a Kindle, an iPad, your phone, your computer, etc.  Get it somehow!
~*~
C O V E R   D E S I G N:

The Unearthly series is one where the covers are gorgeous in person, but flat on-screen, and RADIANT is no exception.  All that white would be silver in person, so it looks meh on the screen.

  I do like the way the gorgeous font is kept, along with a vision of the heavens, which is absolutely appropriate for this series!
  ~*~
O F F I C I A L   I N F O:

Title: RADIANT
Author: Cynthia Hand
Publisher: HarperTeen Impulse
Release Date: Dec. 4, 2012
Received: Purchased
SUMMARY:
From New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Hand comes a riveting original novella (available only as an ebook) set in the world of the Unearthly series. 

Clara is desperate to get away—from the memories that haunt her in Wyoming and the visions of a future she isn't ready to face—and spending the summer in Italy with her best friend, Angela, should be the perfect escape. . . . 

For as long as she can remember, Angela has been told that love is dangerous, that she must always guard her heart. But when she met a mysterious guy in Italy two years ago she was determined to be with him, no matter the costs. Now she must decide whether she can trust Clara with her secret, or if telling her the truth will risk everything she cares about. 

Alternating between Angela and Clara's perspectives, Radiant chronicles the unforgettable summer that will test the bounds of their friendship and change their lives forever

Comments

  1. Oh well, 6 yrs is such a long journey.. we hope that you could still continue doing your daily dose of your blog..
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