Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Synopsis:

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~

“We now play a permanent game of I-am-crazier-and-scarier-than-you. And in that game, my mother is our secret weapon.” Penryn

I would first like to start off by thanking those who pushed, pulled, and nagged me into reading Angelfall which has been sitting on my Kindle since I purchased it several years ago. You know who you are, so don't even bother trying to sneak away! Seriously, thank you!

Angelfall is wickedly amazing, awesomely cool, insanely intense, and dark novel that I couldn't take my eyes away from until the last page. I eagerly await the sequel called World After releasing, hopefully, in November 2013. I loved the intense opening sequence, the feeling of intense horror at losing a loved one, and the subsequent skirmishes between survivors who joined gangs in order to survive the brutal remains of society and Penryn and her own mother who was absolutely terrifying. My only regret is that I would have loved to learn more about the events that triggered the whole Angel Apocalypse. I would have liked to know about the fate of the so called Messenger of God who disappeared without a trace leaving a gap in Angel leadership.  

"I'm Penryn. I'm named after an exit of Interstate 80."

17-year old Penryn Young has been compared affectionately to Katniss from The Hunger Games trilogy in her bravery, and resourcefulness and I'll go along with that. I truly believe that she is now among my top 10 heroines of all time. I mean, holy crap can this girl kick ass and take names. She's extremely loyal and protective of her crippled little sister Paige to the point where she's devastated when something awful happens to her but doesn't wilt or wither or fall apart and cry. Instead, she pushes along at a break neck speed in order to get her back. She's so focused on her mission to find Paige that she would do nearly anything to get her back including working with an Angel who may have helped destroy her world.  

"My friends call me Wrath," said Raffe. "My enemies call me Please Have Mercy. What's your name, soldier boy?"

Raffe, yeah, I kind of figured out your "real" name while reading this book even before you were revealed by your former so called allies and enemies alike. It's kind of interesting that Ee created a character whose an Angel yet doesn't really believe in a God (Agnostic). It's also interesting about his sword and how Penryn was able to somehow manage to gain control over it. There are so many different things I want to know about Raffe, that I'm hoping the sequel will further explain his background and the reason so many want to see him fall.  Who are those loyal to him? And, what will happen next?

Did anyone NOT get totally creeped out by the scorpion baby thingamajigies in the basement of the hotel that were feeding on humans? No really I'm asking because it totally creeped me out and I really wanted to learn more about them and what purpose they were created for. I was happy that this is a series otherwise I'm not sure any character would have managed to make their way out.

Here are a few other reasons I loved this book:

Penryn and Raffe amazingly avoid the trappings that other Angel books fall into in that they don't immediately start boinking each other in the middle of an intense story line. Yes, in the end, there are feelings towards each other, but it's not the main focus of the story itself.

Positive: There's no 3 way love triangle! I can't tell you how utterly happy I am over that fact. I am absolutely worn out from recent reads that have left me babbling like a brook and whining like a child who just lost their favorite plaything.

Positive: Creepy sub-characters that you don't see until you realize something hinky is happening in the depths of a hotel in San Francisco and children have been kidnapped and disappearing at an alarming rate.

Positive: Penryn's mother is freaking cray cray but somehow always manages to find herself in the right place at the right time trying hard to protect her daughters even though Penryn really doesn't need the protection or help most of the time.

Angelfall is a book that should I highly recommend to all hardened Dystopian and Post Apocalyptic book readers of all ages regardless of your feelings about Angel books. I absolutely enjoyed the dialogue and banter between Penryn and Raffe. Each has their own quotable comments dug deep into the recesses of my memory (and on paper). Each character has his/her own baggage that they are carrying around and can't get away from no matter how hard they try. Each is insanely awesome at protecting themselves with either self defense training or a wicked Angel sword.  

I know it's been a long time coming, but, I really, really do hope that World After releases in November!

Published May 21st 2011 by Feral Dream

Author - Susan Ee
Title - Angelfall (Penryn & The End of Days #1)
Publisher - Feral Dream
Released May 21, 2011
Genre - Post-Apocalyptic, Horror
Purchased via Amazon.com