Monday, November 22, 2010

Halo Book 1

**********SPOILER ALERT************

Halo (Halo, #1)

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I gave Halo only two stars. I liked the story but thought it was unrealistically soppy and inconsistent. I must say I also found the characters very frustrating.

Halo is the story about Bethany, Ivy and Gabriel, angels (Agents of Light) send to small town suburbia to find and fight the works of the Agents of Darkness. As they do not know when they arrive what they will face in the small town, they simply spread good deeds around and work towards changing the attitude of the residents towards good. Bethany is the youngest angel of the three. She feels human emotion more intensely than Ivy and Gabriel and struggles with this throughout the story. She also seems to be more human than angel in her dealings and feelings. She meets and falls in love with Xavier, the distant and unobtainable school captain and hunkish eligible bachelor of the small town. From the onset their love is deep and undeniable. After meeting Xavier Bethany seemingly forgets about her mission to stave of the forces of evil in the small town. She becomes entirely engrossed with her relationship. This does not seem realistic to me at all. I also found it extremely strange that the antagonist in the story played such a small and insignificant role. He shows up late, makes small waves and is vanguished (by love haha!) without much effort. Whatever!



My problem with this book is however mostly with Bethany herself. She comes across as a whiny and spoilt child who cannot decide between her love for Xavier and her devotion to the Creator. Surely such a problem should not even exist for an angel? She is also weak and entirely dependant on Xavier for her happiness and everything that she does. I found it laughable that she would also be dependent on Xavier for her safety and protection. Okay I get that some girls only want to be cosseted and protected, but lets get real? She is an angel for goodness sake. Surely they have some divine powers. She is weak and looks to Xavier for recognition and acceptance in everything that she does. If not Xavier then Ivy and Gabriel. I do not enjoy seeing women portrayed in this manner as I believe women are much stronger and independent as how Bethany is portrayed. Maybe thats just my age. But if it was my daughter reading this book, I would certainly not want her to think that this is the way of things, not even to mention that I would not like her to think that angels will forego their devotion to the Creator in favour of a flighty and obsessive romance.



I believe it will not take any more effort from a writer to make her female characters stronger and independent and it will certainly make the book more enjoyable to read. These characteristics do not have to be overpowering and/or take away the femininity of the character. Ivy for example is the perfect embodiment of the balance between strenght, capability, kindness, and independence. I can think of the Vampire Academy type of female who is strong and independent and who can love a man as an equal. This takes nothing away from the love story at the end of the day.





At the moment I do not think that I will continue reading the series.



View all my reviews

1 comments:

ParaJunkee said...

Snap. LOL. I really liked your review and agree that Beth was a total doormat.

Post a Comment

I love myself some comments so please take the time to leave me one, even if your just saying hi!

 
Blog Design by Use Your Imagination Designs all images from the The New Me and This Moment kits by Irene Alexeeva