Thursday, June 13, 2013

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

12 comments:

  1. Yay, you finally read it! Really glad to hear you loved this one! Can't wait for November now... :)

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    1. Did you notice the first line of my review? 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!

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  2. I just skimmed your review, because I have this book but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Sounds like that is something that I need to remedy the next time I'm in the mood for a creepier, dark read! Wonder review though, based off what I did read of it!

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    1. As you see, it took me 2 years to read it! I totally understand the need to remedy reading it asap! Then again, you do have until November when the next book comes out!

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  3. The first quote was my favorite from this story =) Glad you enjoyed it!

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    1. Agreed! The mother was really cray cray but probably the most likable secondary character in the book. Thanks Cat!

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  4. OOoh nice! I guess that means I need to get onto reading this one myself! Yeah, I'm behind like you were. Shame on me. Reading lots of great reviews on it too. I might try wiggling it in my schedule soon. I have 3 other books I need to read first and I plan on going on vacation next week, so reading will be sparse at best. But yeah, still going to work it in! I have two copies of it! One kindle and one paperback when it went on sale super cheap because I love my real books!

    Great review!

    And oh yay, you're close to your Blogoversary! I might be on my vacation by then, but yay! In case I am away I want to wish you an early Happy Blogoversary!

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    1. Thank you. Thank you for commenting. Thank you for the thoughts on my review. And, thank you for the early blogoversary wish!

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  5. I soo regret not getting this book when it was on sale at Amazon some time ago! Lots of people are raving about it, which now includes you. I'm touch and go with Dystopia and the like but I do want to read this.

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    1. Hey B! I can always loan it to you, or buy it for you. Just let me know. After all the one's you've loaned me, it's the least I can do for you!

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  6. I agree with you Shelley! Angelfall is made of awesome, and I was completely creeped out by the scorpio-children-eating thingy!!! And in some strange way, I actually ended up feeling something tender for Raffe - even if maybe he destroyed the world. That's pretty amazing as well.

    Great review :)

    Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

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  7. You finally read it!!! I am so happy that you loved it! And yet - the scorpion things did creep me out. I wanted to put my Kindle in the freezer when I read that line. I also felt a bit spooked by the people on the trees that were half-eaten. This book is DARK.

    "My enemies call me Please Have Mercy."

    ^^ Fangirling!

    You know who you are, so don't even bother trying to sneak away! Seriously, thank you!

    ^^ Hopefully my constant blathering about the book helped.

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