Customer Reviews

Halo

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(41)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(34)

 

 

Dark forces are gathering. Terrorist attacks, murders, strife, poverty. Just look at the news and you can see them everywhere. Three angels are sent to earth to complete good works and counter the darkness. Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany the least experienced of the three, created a mere seventeen years ago, but also the most connected to the human race.

This is Bethany's first visit to Earth. While her older siblings are able to view their new earthly surroundings and experiences at a remove Bethany is fascinated by all of it and instantly enchanted by the wonders human life has to offer.

Gabriel and Ivy immediately throw themselves into their mission, seeming to know instinctively what good they can do for the small community Venus Cove. Bethany is less certain of her own role in the mission. Instead of finding her own heavenly path, Bethany finds herself drawn to a mortal boy in Halo (2010) by Alexandra Adornetto.*

Halo had a lot of promise. It's been getting a lot of hype. The cover is lovely. The plot is kind of interesting sounding. Adornetto, a veteran author at the tender age of seventeen, has the potential to be a media darling. And angels are the new vampires.

The book also has an intriguing trailer available for your viewing pleasure.

With all of that potential, Halo still managed to fall painfully flat.

Maybe that shouldn't have been such a surprise after seeing the book's epigraphs (excerpts from Romeo and Juliet and from Beyonce's song "Halo").

First and foremost, Halo is massive. The first book in a projected trilogy this one clocks in at just under 500 pages where nothing happens very slowly. Set up is, of course, very important for a story--arguably more so for a fantasy. That said, one hundred pages without getting to the crux of the story is a bit excessive.

Then there is the matter of Bethany, our narrator. Bethany's naivete about life on Earth is amusing in the beginning but as the story progresses it begins to ring false. Everything seems to come easily to the angels: they are preternaturally good looking (to the point that Gabriel causes a near riot when he arrives at the local high school as the new music teacher), they inevitably excel at everything they do, they glow (really). And yet, Bethany can't figure out how to talk to other teenagers when they use slang or reference pop culture? She finds herself tongue-tied and completely obsessed by the first (literally the first, I'm serious) good looking boy she sees. What?

On top of that, everything about Halo felt very contrived.

There are no homely people in Venus Cove, at least if there are they escape Bethany's notice entirely--all of her human friends are beautiful with startlingly blue eyes or titian curls. The angels, unsurprisingly, have wings and Bethany mentions none of them would be wearing tank tops any time soon only to have Ivy walking around in a tank top a few pages later and Gabriel greeting a human neighbor wearing nothing but a towel.

Finally, and most bizarrely since Adornetto is herself still a teenaged girl, I couldn't shake this feeling of condescension each time Bethany started talking about human teenagers. She identifies the cliques at school with their stereotypical modifications to their uniforms (except for the "academic types" who are too timid for such things and carry the official school backpack), she talks about listening to the prayers of teenage girls hoping to date the captain of the rugby team. Bethany keeps worrying about how weak and fragile she is compared to her siblings who are so absorbed in their heavenly mission they never get much of a chance to develop in the story. Every character, it seems, is diluted to the basest elements--especially Bethany whose thoughts are wholly consumed by a mortal boy ten pages into the story.

Halo had many promising elements, but taken together they managed to create an unexceptional book. While interesting and an undoubtedly impressive body of work for a seventeen-year-old author Halo simply did not realize its potential.

*I would tell you more about the plot but my YA Lit professor always said not to give away anything beyond the jacket copy and/or the first twenty pages. I adhered to the latter but, be warned, the plot summary above is for the first hundred pages. Seriously.

Possible Pairings: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, Hearts at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey, Swoon by Nina Malkin, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

I'm not a huge fan of romance, especially the kind where the girl can't rescue herself and instead has to depend on a boy to do it for her. As a result, this really interfered with my enjoyment of Halo because that's basically what this story is about. So, if you have the same opinion on romance, then this probably isn't the story for you.

Bethany is an angel. Meaning, she's a supernatural being with abilities that humans don't have. She, along with two other angels, was sent by Heaven to improve life in Venus Cove. Gabriel and Ivy immediately set to work and get involved in the communities. Bethany goes to high school, presumably to help others. Except she doesn't. She focuses on behaving like any teenage girl: making friends, doing homework, finding a boyfriend, etc. Which is fine--admirable, actually, because it helps her to better understand the humans she's supposed to be helping.

But this is what I could not get over: I can count on one hand the number of times Bethany helps humans. And, each of those times, she didn't set out to help them. Instead, she just happened to be in the area and reacted to the current situation. Not once did she actively seek out a way to carry out her mission. As a result, Bethany doesn't drive this story. Not what I expect from an angel.

On top of this, she does nothing to save herself, or even protect the ones she loves, when a supernatural evil comes to Venus Cove. Since she's an angel, I expected her to be on the front lines because she has to know that humans don't stand a chance against that kind of power. Instead, she hides behind a human to protect her. Definitely not what I expect from an angel.

The premise of angels coming down to Earth is so unique and intriguing, and I really wanted to like this story. If Bethany had been proactive (rather than reactive), then I think I would have. As it is, though...

As far as audience goes, this story would be appropriate for younger teens as everything, even the romance, is most definitely PG.

I would like to preface my review by acknowledging the awesome achievement of a 17 year old writing this massive work. Really amazing.

Okay, why I hated Halo:

-The writing. This book is where purple prose comes to die. Seriously EVERYTHING is described and described in then compared to something else in an irritating similie. 'Xavier's eyes are torquoise and almond shaped, like twin pools of clear blue ocean'. That kind of discription is good and enriching to the story when used sparingly. But in Halo everything is described to this extent and it gets to be completely over the top. There is almost an entire page describing Xavier's parent's house, do we NEED to know the exact flooring and shade of wall paint in Xavier's parents house? I think not.

At LEAST 100 pages could have been cut from this 500 page tome just from the overly flowry descriptions. I think more words are expended on describing the exact floppy-nutmeg-lustrous nature of Xavier's hair than there are or actual diaglogue betweent the main characters. Where was the editor? This book is so overwritten the plot takes a complete back seat.

-Speaking of plot... it really starts at about page 350 and even then it isnt all that scintillating. The obsessi-love between Bethany and Xavier is the main focus. I just can't buy that after a handful of short, stilted interactions together, the two of them are openly declaring their undying love for oneanther, Bethany going so far as to renounce heaven if it meant more time with Xavier. Seriously? Angels coming to earth to help mankind is an interesting idea and yet, Gabriel (that's arch-angel Gabriel) and Ivy (the seraphim) do next to nothing to help the tiny costal town of Venus cove. Why two of the top ranking angels in heaven are sent to a sleepy coastal town in America? Australia? Is beyond me. They are completely two-dimensional as characters, their only notable characteristic is their superhuman goodlooks.

What seemed like an original premise devolves into a blatant twilight ripoff, scenes are changed but it follows such a similar trajectory. I had to roll my eyes when Beth and her friends go up to Port Cerce to buy their prom dresses. Why not call it Port Angelis, rename Bethany, Bella and be done with it?

-This book is very preachy, all the angels and all of Xavier's family go to church and say grace and they never ever swear and there will be NO sex before marriage. They are all so damn goody-two-shoes, it's actually kind of annoying. The one guy who refuses to go to church, Jake Thorn (cliched baddie) is evil. So being a devout churh-going christian = good person/protagonist and being a secular, naturally flawed teenager = bad person/or lost and confused person in need of sheparding back onto the right path. (read: back into the church) Another reviewer described Xavier as "nauseatingly perfect" and aint that the truth. He is a devastatingly handsome, hugely popular, respectful and religious, smart and sucessful, borefest. Unlike 95 percent of teenage boys his age he is content to wait until after marriage to have sex and treats Bethany as if she is "a fragile piece of glass". Actually the only downside to Xavier is his over-protective, psuedo-stalker attitude to Bethany. There is one scene where he plays the 'aeroplane game' and shoves a power-bar into Bethany's mouth to force her to eat which made me cringe.

The biggest downside to this book is the boring, slow-moving nature of the plot. So little happens in the first three hundred pages. Bethany goes to school, Ivy does charity work, Gabriel works as the music teacher, Xavier comes on the scene and falls ridiculously head-over-heels for Bethany. That's pretty much it. For three hundred pages. If the love story were captivating enough this would be acceptable but it isnt. I hate to be crude but Xavier is essentially a thirteen-year old girl's wet dream, the perfect, popular athlete who will make you the centre of his world and will never ask any of those disgusting things like sex of you. I bet thirteen year old go crazy for this book, me - i'm too jaded to find a character like Xavier attractive. I would guess that anyone over the age of 16 will feel the same way.

Halo was a massive waste of money and time, apparently it's going to be a trilogy, but I sure won't be buying the sequel. I think working as a publisher in the paranormal YA market is a licence to print money. Post twilight there have been so many crappy parnormal-teenage-romance novels brought out I can hardly believe it.

I won't go over what previous reviews have done a good job pointing out is wrong with this book, like lacking characters and an insipid plot. Instead, I want to write about how poorly "Halo" was put together. Paragraph by paragraph, Adornetto shifted her character's personalities and betrayed the rules she'd set up. Examples from the first four chapters/sixty pages:

1) Regularly, Bethany's "older siblings" (and why they're her older siblings makes no sense, because Bethany says angels have no parents), angels Gabriel and Ivy, tell her she shouldn't act human, but then Bethany says that as a young, low-ranking angel, she's naturally "more human" than they are. So why shouldn't she? (See pages 9, 10, 13-15)

2) Gabriel says love is forbidden to angels, then that angels don't feel the way humans do. Why forbid it if they can't feel it? (13) Also, he complains that human relationships are "unnaturally intimate," (49) though Bethany says the three angels are close and loving. Where's the difference? Adornetto makes no attempt to show us anything otherworldly or inhuman about their relationship.

3) "I was an angel in the purest, most vulnerable form. I was naive and trusting, young and fragile." -(Bethany, 14) But several pages before told us angels shouldn't be too human, so how do such human qualities make her "pure?" Wouldn't they make her diluted, polluted or impure by angelic standards?

4) The diction and slang are a mess. Bethany calls The Holy Seven a "clique," her sister Ivy a "Mother Hen" (15-16) and her fellow students "kooky" (19) worries about "how much in the dark I felt" (54), and sarcastically complains, "Thanks for the vote of confidence!" (50) Then Bethany misunderstands when her friend calls a boy "hot" ("Most (boys) seem to have a normal body temperature.") and what Gabriel means about how humans "bond" ("As in physically meld together?" I was confused. [49])

5) Despite having access to all human knowledge, and having "listened in on the prayers of teenage girls" (27) and "observed (my school) in the Kingdom" (27), Bethany doesn't understand her school schedule (31), overhead projectors ("We angels were radiant enough in daylight...in the halogen light of an overhead projector, who knew what might happen." [37]), or her gym uniform (40) which she has apparently never seen before class starts. She has a whole speech about having seen different social groups from Heaven, down to their different haircuts and slight uniform aberrations, and she's never seen the gym uniform?

6) In gym, Bethany--who says angels don't sweat--worries she smells bad. Then, ONE PARAGRAPH LATER: "What (my friend Molly) could smell was just the characteristic scent that all angels carried, and rain was a pretty good description." If angels don't sweat and all have the same smell, then...?

7) Bethany understands the human fear of death, but not friendship (despite, again, her relationship with her siblings, who aren't her siblings as they have no parents, but feel like siblings, I guess, despite the fact that they don't feel things the way humans do, so they CAN'T feel close like siblings, because that's a human thing. Maybe.) (50, 56) What makes her understand some things and not others is never explained.

Adornetto is a kid writing her fantasy who hasn't figured out that consistency, characterization, and continuity are as important as romance. I get that. It takes all writers time to learn that. But her adult editors thinking they could publish this unedited, nonsensical crap, crowing it was something brilliant, thinking we readers are all so stupid that none of us would notice, astonishes me.

Halo follows Bethany (Beth) a teenage angel who arrives in a small town with older angels Gabriel and Ivy to fight the evil forces which have invaded. When Bethany arrives in town everything is new and exciting to her. She's never been human before so everything from clothes to ice cream is a new experience. When she's enrolled in school (with Gabriel as the new music teacher) she just hopes to make a friend. She ends up falling for Xavier, a mortal boy putting herself at great risk. Later there is an introduction of a dangerous force to the town and the risk it presents both to her and to the town as a whole.

While the book is very large (around 500 pages) there are three story arcs to keep the reader rewarded and interested and it's more than just a romance with a paranormal element. The mythology that the author created is strong and the location is beautiful. The romance is beautiful and although it's desperate at times it's sweet and lovely to read.

Appropriateness: The novel will appeal to both the younger and older end of the young adult audience. The book did not seem to be written at an overly difficult reading level so it will appeal to reluctant readers who are turned off by very difficult text. Likewise it is also appropriate for young readers who want to read super romantic stories about older kids because there is no sex or explicit violence. There is no drug use and although there is a small amount of alcohol use the alcohol is portrayed in a very negative light (it's a pretty good lesson for readers as to how quickly alcohol can make one loose control). There are discussions of sex but the main characters do not do anything more than kiss. There are some mentions of suicide, a crush on a teacher and there is some minor action.

The novel is very well written (shockingly so when the author's age is taken into account)and it's the best romance-centric paranormal I've read in a while. I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.

~SPOILERS BELOW~

Dear Lord, what a tiresome book. Saccharine and preachy and... ew. Pure torture from start to finish. Written by Australian teen Alexandra Adornetto, it's the literary equivalent of Avril Lavigne's "Complicated", but without the redeeming value of a catchy hook. She takes a very superior tone that makes one wonder exactly who the hell she thinks she is. Okay, life is tricky. War is bad, terrorists are evil, financial crises are unfortunate, and reality TV isn't humanity's finest invention. We get it, you creepy teenage evangelist author person.

Shut the hell up.

In case you don't know anything about Halo, let me fill you in. Released to a flurry of publicity mostly based on Adornetto's tender age (she turned 18 in April) and the admittedly gorgeous cover with which her novel has been graced, this alleged antidote to Twilight's sinister influence is the latest teen romance craze. Instead of goblins, ghouls or creatures that go bump in the night, our objects of paranormal affection are angels, but not even the cool Fallen kind. They're proper winged and incandescent emissaries of the Lord, and they are just SO BORING. This book is 400 pages of excruciating torment; it's "Touched by an Angel" as written by an adolescent James Michener, with a heroine like a lobotomized Laura Ingalls crossed with the girls from "Little Women" at their most teeth-grittingly self-flagellating. Bethany is a holier-than-thou little wench, the kind of deathly dull drama queen and beyond-moronic martyr that we should none of us suffer to live. I WANT TO HER TO DIE HORRIBLY. I mean, who'd have thought that an angel of the Lord would be more naïve, more obsessive, more vacuous, more gullible, more foolish, more needy and more easily infatuated than your average Jonas L. A. viewer?

Man, this book is long. I felt every minute of the accursed time I spent locked in its death grip somewhere deep in my ill-used soul, and I resent every one of them.

It's so awful, you guys. Just AWFUL!

By the end of Halo, I'd reached a new personal best; I had thrown this ridiculously imbecilic and unjustifiably weighty tome at the wall at least fifty times. I threw it every time Bethany discovered yet another new facet to her supernatural coolness. I threw it every time she mooned over the controlling and ickily co-dependent School Captain, Xavier. I threw it every time her sanctimonious a**hole-hood reached new, almost Dr. Phil-ian, heights. I threw it every time she was pathetically helpless, petulant, or shallow. I threw it every time she acted like a complete and utter dunderhead. (It's a wonder I don't need to call in a plasterer.)

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK! Please do not let my suffering be in vain. If I have saved even one person from this unmitigated agony, then I -- in the proper Bethany spirit -- can consider my time in purgatory worth it.

This review is an excerpt. Full review at Geek Speak Magazine - geekspeakmagazine (dot) com.

Read Halo was like drinking straight from the syrup bottle. This book has got to be the most self-indulgent, overworked drivel I've read in a long time. I'm no literary snob, but this book was unbelievably sacchrine and cliche (and this is coming from someone who liked Twilight).

Please, give Alexandra Adornetto a word limit for the next book. There is no reason for this book to be almost 500 pages long. Where was the editor? I think we have a new purple prose queen. This book drips with page after page of overwrought descriptions of places and people of no importance. Luckily, I figured this out about 20 pages in and started reading faster. Trust me--you're not missing anything important if you speed read this. A fourth of the way in, I wanted to scream, "We GET it already! Xavier is perfect! You are so in love! He has almond-shaped turquoise eyes and nutmeg hair! Enough!"

Finishing this book was tortuous...the Beyonce quote on the opening page should have been the first clue.

Cliche, cliche, cliche. From the characters to the plot to even the names, this book is one big cliche. Xavier is painfully perfect, as Adornetto reminds us every few pages. "But wait!" Adornetto might say. "I gave Xavier a flaw! He didn't believe Bethany about the dance!" Nope, doesn't count. She'd already written his character to be too perfect at that point so that didn't even seem believable. Besides, it was resolved five pages later, after Bethany wanted to DIIIIIIIE because her boyfriend wasn't talking to her. And in case Jake's snake tattoo and black wardrobe didn't clue you in, Jake Thorn's going to be bad. Can you get any more cliche?

Please, editor, reign in this self-indulgent writing and make Adornetto actually develop a plot besides Bethany and Xavier's obsessive love (and limit it to 300 pages). The premise is good--I like the whole "good angel trying to help the world and falls in love with a human"--but the execution here...felt like an execution.

Twenty minutes into reading Halo I was impressed. The descriptions were beautiful and the premise seemed intriguing. Bethany's wonder at her new world drew me in and I couldn't wait to find out what was in store with the angels in Venus Cove.

An hour in (I read it on a Kindle, so I can't gauge by pages) I was starting to get a bit annoyed. Adornetto describes everything in startling and, IMO, unnecessary detail from the walls to the floors to the windowsills. Her language is beautiful, granted, but there's just too much of it. How many times do we need to hear about Xavier's nutmeg hair flopping into his eyes? Every time she mentions his hair, which is quite a few too many, its nutmeg/walnut/cafe au lait color is mentioned as well.

Beyond that, the relationship between Xavier and Bethany was completely unrealistic. Here we have the most popular boy in school, whose perfection is not limited to his looks, intelligence and athletic ability, but extends to his desire for an intensely committed relationship where he's not the least bit bothered by not even getting past first base. Yeah, she's an angel I get it, but he isn't.

Their love seems to be of the Bella *I'll throw myself off a cliff if I can't be near you every second of every day* variety, which is annoying when human teenagers claim to feel that way, much less a celestial being who looks down on her human companions for being too vapid.

Bethany also manages to seem incredibly dull, even though she apparently has access to all human knowledge. When the main antagonist appears (halfway through the book, which is a pacing nightmare) though he's described in a very sinister way, she has no idea that he could be Bad. When he happens to be around whenever Bad Things Happen, she never once wonders, Geez, I've been sent here to this town because Bad Things Happen here, maybe the dude with the *serpent tattoo* who has a thing for *reptiles* has something to do with it?

This is a firmly non-secular angel story, where the angels attend church (which denomination I wonder?) and share meaningful glances with the local minister and probably sing in the choir. I became intensely frustrated with this book and pushed my way through to the end, which is basically just a set up for the sequel which I will not be reading.

The premise of Halo is intriguing. Three angels come to Venus Cove to combat the forces of evil (yet to be ascertained) and work to blend in with the rest of the town. Bethany enrolls as a student at the local high school; Gabriel is hired as a music teacher at the same high school; and Ivy is the homemaker/community service volunteer. Each in their own role try their best to blend with the community, but they draw attention no matter where they go, if only because of their otherworldly intense beauty. Bethany exhibits all the normal signs and behaviors of a normal teenager- she is a bit of an oddity being unfamiliar with a lot of the normal things most other teenagers are very familiar with. But she comes into her own, making friends and catching the eye of the school captain, Xavier Woods. Xavier is a bit of a loner himself; even though he is the object of the affection for many of his schoolmates, no one girl has managed to capture his attention, that is until he meets Bethany.

The story moves very slowly. Your interest is only secured by the interest you feel towards the characters- particularly the human development of the youngest angel, Bethany. She is the most human of the three, being the newest angel. (I'm a bit confused about where the angels come from... Considering Ivy and Gabriel being seraphim and archangel respectively have been around a LONG time... Was Bethany really a human that had died and became an angel- and that's why she seems so human and connected to the human world? Halo doesn't answer these questions- maybe it'll be addressed in future books. It does seem to ask you to suspend reality...)

The book is targeted to the young adult reader- specifically grades 7-9. If not for the development of a romance between Bethany and Xavier, there would be little to secure your interest-- and definitely not much to keep a young reader from quitting on the book all together. There really wasn't that much going on in the story other than the question of what is causing the evil in the town that brought the angels to Venus Cove and the imminent complication of a possible romance between an angel and a human.

Fans of the supernatural romance genre will probably enjoy this tale, but be prepared to weed through a lot of extra pages to get at those bits. I feel like the book really could've used a good editing job, and considering the author is the daughter of two English teachers, I found that the lack of editing ... surprising. Yet again as a young author, her pedigree does show, even though the story lacks a lot, the writing shows great promise. If you have the patience to stick with it, you are left hanging. The ending is fairly abrupt, leaving room for the subsequent two sequels. I'm not all that intrigued to read more. Hopefully the next installments will grow from this and the writing will improve. There are worse books to read- and this is a rare find in the YA section- being a profanity free, clean story (while there is mention of sex, it is not in detail or described).

Overall an okay, fluffy read- I would get it from the library before spending the money on it. For fans of angel romance stories, I found Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush Hush to be far superior and much more riveting of a read. But for Twilight fans looking for a new swoonworthy romance to dream about this just may be right up your alley...

PJVs QUICKIE POV:

This review is going to start like many reviews I've read recently regarding this book --- I loved the cover, was dying to read this one and once I started reading I was horribly disappointed.

REVIEW:

Dark forces are running rampant in the world, so to combat the forces of evil God sends three angels to a tiny little town called Venus Cove. The angels are siblings, the oldest Gabriel is wise and fierce, the middle is Ivy who is a healer and the youngest is Bethany who is barely an adult.

The angels must work undercover amongst the humans to right the wrongs of evil, so what better way to immerse yourself in human life - go to high school. Bethany enrolls and Gabriel becomes a music teacher. Ivy - well we really don't know what Ivy does.

They make it about one day in high school before Bethany is smitten with a jock and ready to throw everything away for the boy. The romance is interrupted though, when the angels are faced with evil - who has his eye on Bethany.

The book was really quite bad in my opinion, and I hate giving these terrible reviews, but I couldn't get into it at all. The characters were just off, these Angels, sent by God acted like imbeciles, petty, childish and just off. Between the spurious interaction between the angels and the INSTANT love connection between Bethany and Xavier, I felt the author severely left out a good bit of emotional connection between the characters. It seemed her main focus was on descriptions and scene settings which could have been glossed over - I would much rather read great dialogue than about the mundane setting.

In a whole, everything was just very flat and uninspiring. Even the bad guy was reminiscent of a cartoon character. Really the only thing I liked about this book was the cover.