Book Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee
BookCrushin is excited to bring you a review for Angelfall by Susan Ee. Both Shannon and Kelly have been raving about the Penryn & the End of Days series, and with all the hype over the final book, End of Days releasing we were given the opportunity to read and review the first 2 books in the series, so since I hadn’t read them yet, I decided to jump in and see what the buzz was about! Be on the lookout for reviews for the next 2 books in the series coming soon!
Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1) by Susan Ee
Category: Young Adult, Post-Apocalyptic
Publication: August 28th, 2012
Purchase: Amazon
It’s been six weeks since the angels of the apocalypse destroyed the world as we know it. Only pockets of humanity remain.
Savage street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night.
When angels fly away with a helpless girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back…
Review:
[book rating=5.0/5.0]
Who will guard against the guardians?
I devoured Angelfall, Book One in the Penryn & The End of Days trilogy, in one sitting. I fell into the story, eating up the description, losing myself in the post-angel apocalypse world of Penryn, her younger sister Paige, and their very…umm, interesting…mother. Susan Ee created a vivid landscape of shambles and desperation, and in Penryn she crafted a kickass heroine who is fiercely protective of her sister and determined to ensure the survival of her small, broken family.
The book begins with Penryn shepherding her sister and mother out of their torched and abandoned apartment building, in an attempt to head to a more populated – and hopefully safer – area of San Francisco. As they embark on their journey, they have the misfortune of stumbling upon a group of angels attacking one of their own, for reasons that aren’t clear. Penryn and her sister watch the fight silently, hidden from sight and holding their breath. When they are discovered, one of the angels steals Paige, and Penryn vows to find her; to do this, she must save the life of the attacked angel and make him lead her to her sister.
The angel in question, Raffe, is – well, he’s wonderful and I loved him. He and Penryn have wonderful chemistry, a push-pull of the “we’re supposed to be enemies but we like each other” dynamic. They are funny and sarcastic with one another, reluctant allies in the truest sense.
The plot is immediately interesting but the details take a little while to emerge. We know whatever happened to the world was caused by angels, but we don’t necessarily know why they invaded the planet. I’m not well-versed in angel mythology, so I actually Googled a little bit to provide a frame of reference. Be patient with the story and give everything time to unfurl; it’s well worth the wait.
Angelfall: 5/5 Stars: I loved the angel-centered dystopia that Susan Ee flawlessly fashioned. Her characters were multidimensional, funny, crazy (Penryn’s mother was probably my favorite character of the entire trilogy), and realistic. The writing was snappy and vivid.
Quotes:
“But the thing that really convinces me that the apocalypse is here is the crunching of smartphones under my feet. Nothing short of the end of the world would get our eco-conscious techies to toss their latest gadgets onto the street.”
“There’s no denying that this is the real deal, though. Men with wings. Angels of the Apocalypse. Supernatural beings who’ve pulverized the modern world and killed millions, maybe even billions, of people.”
“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.”
“’Actually, my plan all along was to become a rock star, travel the world collecting fan girls, and then get really fat and spend the rest of my life playing video games…’ He shrugs as if to say, Who knew the world would turn out so different?”