Review: Angelfall

Title: Angelfall

Author: Susan Ee

Published: August 28th 2012

Pages: 283 (Paperback)

Series: Penryn and the End of Days #1

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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.

Review:

Wow.

I mean, I knew a lot of people liked this novel, but just…wow. This book was pretty freaking awesome.

My previous experience with angels have, to say the least, not been that great. They have often ended up feeling…well, mushy and/or silly. Not Angelfall, though. No, no, no. This is a book full of blood and brutality, with no cheesy or romanticized angels in sight (praise!), and let’s not forget about the kick-ass female protagonist, the cannibalistic creatures living in the forest, and The Wrath of God, who makes corny jokes.

You’re not convinced yet?

Oh, fine. I guess I’ll just HAVE to tell you more about it then.

ehehe…:)

First of all, let’s talk about Penryn, the brave heroine of this series. She is clever, ready-witted, and resourceful, but also protective, loyal, and determined. Her thoughts are snarky and, quite frankly, hilarious at times, and all this made her one of my new favourite female protagonists. I loved how well-developed she was, and her stories about her childhood and mother were just as horrifying as the murderous angels, if not more so.

And when it comes to Raffe, the angel-part of the equation…well, he was great as well. I loved all his jokes, and the dialogue between him and Penryn was seriously gold. Ah, their banter was simply amazing…:)(I started laughing out of nowhere during lunch one day, thinking about one particular scene, and my friends thought I was weird). Two people trying to out-sass each other is the best thing ever…

“Try not to move around too much so you don’t bleed again. The bandages aren’t that thick and blood will soak through pretty quickly.”

“No problem,” he says. “Shouldn’t be too hard not to move around as we run for our lives.”

Oh, and the world-building! I don’t think I have anything to complain about in this department, either. The post-apocalyptic world that Susan Ee created for this story is dark, twisted, horrifying, gorgeous, and so well done. All the descriptions are really graphic, and I had no problem at all picturing it all in my head as I was reading. Making the angels the bad guys that have taken over the world was genius, and I applaud Susan Ee for coming up with it. :)

The writing overall was amazing and compelling, and I couldn’t put the book down. Angelfall is a relatively short story, but so much happens that you don’t notice it. She kept in all the good and interesting stuff, and left out everything that would have felt unnecessary. Plus, I think Ee left just enough things secret to make me eager to learn more, but not so much that I felt confused or lost. And that, my friends, is a balance that not all authors can handle, but she did really well. :)

I must admit, though, that there were some minor things that kind of bothered me. One scene in particularly felt weird, but I can’t talk about it without spoiling you, and there were also some other smaller details that made me stop for a second. Wow, this is really unhelpful, so sorry about that, but I just wanted to kind of let you know, I guess.

But yeah, to say the least, I adored this story. I loved its original twist on angels, its interesting and funny characters, and its rich plot. The pace is fast, and there’s a lot of action and excitement, without a single moment of boredom. It is creepy, bloody, and pretty grotesque, and if you like any of these things, you should definitely give this book a shot. Don’t decide to skip it just because you think it’s like any other angel-book. Believe me, it’s not.

Ps. I managed to convince my friend to read it and she loved it, and my other two reader-buddies are planning to pick it up as well. You should, too. ;)

4.5/5 Stars

Quotes:

“Asleep, he looks like a bleeding Prince Charming chained in the dungeon. When I was little, I always thought I’d be Cinderella, but I guess this makes me the wicked witch.
But then again, Cinderella didn’t live in a post-apocalyptic world invaded by avenging angels.”