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Book Review: ‘Boundless’ (Unearthly #3) by Cynthia Hand

Gabrielle Bondi

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Note: There are spoilers in this review.

Last year with the release of Hallowed, I became totally enraptured in Cynthia Hand’s series about angels. As someone who never cared about angels in literature, it first came as a surprise, and then later a pleasure to finally enjoy a story about angelic beings. Waiting a whole year for Boundless was tough, but not so much in that I couldn’t be patient… I just didn’t want the story to end. That’s why the finales of loved series are so hard to read and sometimes absolutely love. Even if it has a happy ending and everything you wanted to happen did happen, there’s still a lingering bitterness because the story has ended. I won’t be living new adventures with Clara, Angela and company. They all rode off in the fictional sunset without me.

With that in mind, I started Boundless, and less than 24 hours later, I was finished and feeling just like I thought I would. After much thought, Boundless is a sweeping and heart pounding finale to the Unearthly trilogy.

Boundless picks up a few months after the ending of Hallowed. Clara is starting at Stanford University with Angela and Christian. Jeffrey is still missing or “on-the-run.” Just like the previous novels, Clara is struggling to understand her new vision and purpose. This time she sees herself with Christian inside a building aflame with something or someone imminent on hurting them. All the while, she’s getting used to college life, finding it difficult to get over her ex-boyfriend, Tucker, yet becoming closer and closer to Christian, her soul mate of sorts. But things get to a screeching halt when she learns that Angela is pregnant after a tryst with a full-blooded angel in Italy. It all leads to a new bunch of troubles and dangers.

The one thing that really put me for a spin was Angela getting pregnant. I did not see that coming, and I even read the novella, Radiant, so I knew what was going down with Angela in Italy. Still, I never expected it. (Also, I truly recommend the novella; it offers a lot of background and context. Great compliment to the series.) Right when I was becoming worried that story had nowhere to go, BAM! the author brings it on. From that point, it speeds up. Questions start to be answered as more and more visions come to fruition. The emotions are jacked up as Clara faces new and seemingly impossible challenges. But what I loved was that she never backed down. Sure, there were times where she felt lost or confused, but she doesn’t give up. That’s one of the reasons why she’s such an absorbing character, and a good one to follow into this journey.

Boundless is the best book of the trilogy. I can’t say it’s perfect. However, it does a fine job of wrapping up this story with a great, solid and thrilling ending. Hallowed raised the question of free will and asked if that was something Clara was capable of having. Boundless centers a little more on destiny, whether it’s something that is already set in stone or can be changed. It was interesting to see this theme take the lead in the story because of how it connects to Clara’s free will. If one can’t change their destiny, then do you really have free will? It’s a great question and something that Clara is confused about herself. In the realm of this story, that question is finally and satisfyingly answered.

As you may already know, romance makes up a major part of the story. It’s toned down a tiny bit in this one. Or at least it is in the beginning. We get to know Christian as he and Clara become close friends at college. Even though I am always Team Tucker, I couldn’t deny the chemistry between Christian and Clara. There’s something deep and real about their friendship, and believe it or not, I was actually happy to get a good glimpse of it. Of course, I was way happier that she chose Tucker in the end. Clara and Tucker are electrifying; we get so little of them together in the book. Then again, we’re given the best scene between them in the whole series. The scene of them in heaven and a true separation closing in on them, seeing that Tucker just died, as share their regrets and try to say goodbye. It’s completely heart-stopping and unbelievable, yet beautiful. For an honest moment, I thought Cynthia Hand had killed him off, and I refused to believe it. Luckily, a few page later, I praised the angels that Clara saved him, and they got their happily ever after.

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Like I hoped, everything that I wanted to happen did happen. Still, I felt forlorn after finishing it. My only major issue was how corny the epilogue was. I could’ve done without it, or have it be an extra that I would read on the author’s site one day. Regardless of the epilogue, Boundless was a great ending to this lovely series. Even though I am still sad it’s over, I know it’s one of those series that I can re-read over and over and enjoy just as much as the first time.

Rating: 8.5/10 ★★★★★★★★☆

Did ya hear? Unearthly might become a movie or TV Show! Learn more about it here!

Boundless by Cynthia Hand is now available wherever books are sold. Support The Young Folks and purchase the book from our TYF Store, powered by Amazon.

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