Title: Angelfall
Series: Penryn
and the End of Days, #1
Author: Susan Ee
Publisher: Feral
Dream
Publication Date: May
21, 2011
Genres: YA,
Post-Apocalyptic, Thriller
Reviewed by: Angie
Edwards
My rating: 5/5
SUMMARY
It's been six weeks since angels of the
apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day
while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a
helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to
get her back.
Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.
Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.
Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.
Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.
Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.
Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.
REVIEW
I can’t
believe I waited so long to read Angelfall!
I kept putting it off, until recently when I saw the umpteenth glowing review
for it on one of the many book blogs I follow. I decided there and then it was
going to be my next read, and guess what? I already have the second book, World After, which I’ll be reading very
soon.
Penryn
and Raffe’s story is all kinds of amazing. The first ten percent or so of the
book didn’t interest me much, but once Raffe, the exiled archangel, came into
the story the pace started picking up. My interest was cemented even more so
when I discovered that Penryn’s mother is batshit crazy (it’s either that or
she’s possessed by something really dark). But wait, let me not get ahead of
myself. She might be watching.
I loved
this book for two reasons. One, absolutely magnificent characters, and two, a
plot unlike any other angel apocalypse book I’ve ever read before. This is not
about good angels battling demons from hell, and humans caught in the
cross-fire. It’s about good angels sent down to earth for reasons unbeknownst
to them (but known to their leader); them losing their leader, and now going
rogue and turning against each other in a power struggle...with our world
caught in the middle. So basically the world was destroyed by beings we’ve
always believed to be good and peaceful, but in Penryn’s world they’re not.
Penryn
and Raffe are two characters who incidentally land in the same situation, but
for different reasons. She wants to find her seven-year-old sister who is
paralyzed from the waist down and who was kidnapped by angels, and Raffe was
kicked out of the angel community and is trying his darndest to get back in for
reasons of his own. No, don’t ask, it’s all about angel politics and who will
be their new leader – or so it seems. You actually have to have patience while
reading Angelfall, because only near
the end is it possible to piece a lot of it together about what is happening,
and even then you’re still left with a multitude of questions. But let me tell
you, there are things in this book you’ll never see coming until it hits you
smack dab in the face. And it will make your insides churn.
Penryn
is a terrific character and exactly the type of protagonist I’d love to see
more of in YA fiction. She is trained in
every kind of martial art imaginable, and she saves Raffe way more times than
he saves her. She’s hardly ever the damsel in distress, but when she is, she
takes care of the problem like a boss. I’ve read so many self-published angel
vs demons paranormal romance novels the past couple of years, I expected the
romance in this book to be instantaneous and stomach-cramp-inducing swoony.
But, thank goodness, I was wrong. So. Very. Wrong. The little bit of romance
there is (if you can even call it that), is more towards the end. It takes a
backseat to the plot and isn’t icky or cheesy at all. I think it might be more
a focus point in the next book or books thereafter (but let’s hope not).
Penryn
gets the daylights beaten out of her time and again, and so does Raffe. I
always appreciate it when an author doesn’t coddle her MCs. She shows the
reader what they’re truly made off. Did I mention that Penryn’s mom is scary
crazy? Seriously, she freaked me the hell out! And then there’s the discovery
Penryn makes in the underground lab underneath the basement of the angels’
“lair”. Let me just say: the angel scientists in this story are heartless and
evil. What they did to Penryn’s sister, countless children, and the
abominations they bred in glass cylinders is outright shocking. I honestly
didn’t see that coming. Not to mention what they did to Raffe. My heart broke
for him.
Angelfall isn’t without it faults, though. The
word-building in my opinion needs a lot more work and if it wasn’t for the
incredibly compelling plot that had me reading during every waking second, I
would’ve given this book a four-star rating. The dialogue between Penryn and
Raffe was absolutely hysterical, and made up for whatever the world-building
lacked. A narcissistic angel held hostage by a disgruntled teenage girl? You
can only imagine how that would go. However, I would’ve liked to know what
happened on the day the world ended. How did it happen? Where was Penryn when
it happened? I need more explanations! Maybe these issues will be addressed
somewhere in the rest of the series.
Angelfall is a completely original, addictive
read. I can see why it is generating thousands of positive reviews on book
review sites. Kudos to Ms Ee for creating characters and a storyline that
rocks!
ABOUT the AUTHOR
Susan Ee is the
bestselling author of the Penryn & the End of Days series which takes place
in the San Francisco bay area. The first book, ANGELFALL, is being translated
into 20 languages around the world. The second book, WORLD AFTER, was recently
released in Nov. 2013 to international acclaim. The film rights to the series
have been optioned by Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Good Universe. Susan used to
be a lawyer but loves being a writer because it allows her imagination to bust
out and go feral.
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