Three angels--Bethany; her brother, the archangel Gabriel; and sister, Ivy--are sent to earth to fight the dark forces that are taking over. Their mission is an important one, and keeping their secret proves too difficult for Bethany, who falls in love with human Xavier Woods and discloses everything. Gabriel and Ivy fear Xavier will be unable to keep their divinity quiet, but Xavier proves his value when the Agents of Darkness invade their little town.I really, really wanted to love this book. And I actually did love the first half, but the second half left me with such feelings of disappointment and dissatisfaction that any good feelings I had about the first half were overpowered.
Bethany drove me crazy. A lot of reviews I've read have compared her to Bella Swan from Twilight, only worse. Bella has never bothered me, actually, but Bethany's helplessness and feebleness really rubbed me the wrong way. It seemed that all she was capable of was worshipping and swooning over Xavier. Pages and pages were spent with Bethany remarking on how perfect and handsome Xavier was, and how she knew she'd be safe with him around. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Bethany an ANGEL? And wouldn't she'd be more than capable of defending herself should the need arise? Apparently not.
Okay, I have to get something off my chest. Stupid as it is, I can't even tell you how much it bothered me when everyone started referring to Bethany as "Beth." Honestly, I don't know why it bothered me, and in the scope of things, it doesn't really matter that her name was shortened. But every time I read it, a little shudder escaped me. Thanks for letting me get that out.
So, where was I? Oh, yes. Let me move on to religion. The religious overtones in Halo bothered me somewhat. It is clearly evident that the angels are Catholic, which I'm not. I wish the author had tried harder to keep the religious themes more impartial. She's free to express her opinions (it is her book, after all), but I just felt uncomfortable at times.
I was also disturbed by Bethany's human shortcomings. I know she's a relatively 'young' angel, but partying and lying naked in bed with a boyfriend don't seem like very heavenly/angelic things to be doing. I felt like she should have tried harder to stay true to who she was. I think too much time was spent on the love story. I also thought the villain was introduced much too late in the story.
I did love the lushly-detailed world that Adornetto described. The first half of the book was so well-written, so rich in description. And the cover is absolutely gorgeous.
Halo started out as a promising read, but it left me disappointed.
My rating: 2.5/5
5 comments:
Now I'm afraid to read it.
You have to realize, the author herself is just a teenager... so there is bound to be tons of teenage anguish and love in the story.
Now that you've read the story and know more about Xavier, would you add him to your literary crush list as Mom did? Or is he totally not worth it?
Yeah, I know she's a teenager. That's what actually impressed me so much in the beginning. She has a way with words, that's for sure.
I was hoping someone would ask me about whether I'd add Xavier to my literary crush list! ;) I thought about that a lot as I was reading, and I have to say that he would not make my list. He's a great guy, but he doesn't live up to the other men on my list.
I just got this from the library yesterday. I didn't read your review (because it would ruin the story for me). But I did look at what you rated it. 2.5 out of 5.. Makes me nervous.
You may enjoy it. You'll never know until you read it. :) And something to remember: When I rate something a 2, I'm going by the Goodreads rating system, where a 2 means "It was okay." So for me to rate something a 2.5 doesn't mean that I hated it. It just means that I didn't like it as much as I'd hoped to.
I feel that. I'll probably still read it, even though it wasn't everything you hoped it would be.
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