Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1)

Susan Ee

First published May 21st, 2011

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.

I read an angel book once that I won't bother naming and it was terrible, and as it was my first, I was a bit uncertain as to whether or not Angelfall would be another failure, but nope, it is Full. Of. Awesome!!

In a post-apocalyptic world where Angels have taken over, Penryn is only  trying to survive with her schizophrenic mother and crippled sister. These aren't angels to swoon over these ones, these are mean ass, I-will-kill-your-unborn-child, angels. I'm not sure if this is a debut novel, but if so props x1000 to the author. She swept me away into a world where no one is safe, no one can be trusted, and everyone is fighting for their lives, for the world they're losing. She balances death and destruction with a bit of comic relief, and the romance is slowly putting out roots instead of giving us a doe-eyed, naive love-struck character disregarding this apocalypse to fall in love with the enemy. The pacing was perfect; just the right amount of action to keep you wanting to turn the page, but not so much you want to pull your hair out. The plot surprises you with a few unpredictable events and often makes you want to cringe at the enormity of the situation. I was completely enthralled by the characters as well. Especially Penryn who is a great protagonist - kindhearted, strong, competent, courageous - everything that builds an easily likeable, badass character.

I did find the explanations about why the angels invaded earth, (and a few other details -- what's with the children? And the scorpions?) were somewhat missing; I thought that strange. I presume it will be explained in the following books, but I still expected to get at least an idea or a glimpse into the big picture. Regardless, I was blown away.

The ending, it was insufficient - I want more NOW!

Get this book…

Get it!!

5/5 hot espressos