Friday, August 28, 2015

Angellfall by Susan Ee








Title: Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1)
Author: Susan Ee
Publication Date: January 1st 2011
Publisher: Skyscrape

Rating: 5 out of 5 






Goodreads Blurb:

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.
The apocalypse has arrived in the form of the angels and nothing in Penryn's world is ever the same. She lives in constant fear- not only for herself but also for her little sister, Paige, and schizophrenic mother. One day while she scavenges the alleys for food she finds herself in the middle of an angel showdown. Trying to protect her wheel-chair bound little sister, she tries to flee but captures the attention of one of the lackeys. Soon, she's left with a broken angel, a lost mother, and a kidnapped sister. The rest of the novel is about her journey to the angel's nest to recover her sister. During this journey she "befriends" the hurt angel. His name is Raffe. But his friend call him Wrath. Hehe. (it was a lame joke but those who have already read this book will hopefully laugh along... :D).

I read this book a year or two ago and loved it soo much that I forced my best blogger friend Emma to sit still while I read it to her. Not one of my best moments, but I was desperate to discuss this wonderful book with someone I knew. And lo and behold, the read aloud ended about 2 chapters in with Emma promising to finish reading this book. And she also posted proof on her blog that she did actually read it :D here's her review.

I loved this book. It had THE PERFECT blend of real characters, an imaginative plot, wrenching emotions, and an originally humorous voice. In the cluttered, often dismal world of YA post-apocalyptic fiction, Susan Ee's Angelfall is a blindingly white angel feather. (Yet another one of my arguably witty allusions to the book.)

Penryn. She is the modern YA heroine- strong, intelligent, and a bit snarky. She is one of my favorite heroines of all time because of her unwavering loyalty and down-to-earth humor. She handles every situation responsibly, very unlike a seventeen year old (one of the side effects of being forced to grow up because of an angel apocalypse). Penryn (this book will make you love the name Penryn- when I first read the official blurb, I was like Penryn? Ugh. But this book has the power to make you change your mind, trust me) was willing to face evil angels and cannibalistic Nephilim creatures (that turned out to be something else entirely 0.o) just to save Paige. My favorite scene was when the bad guys broke into her building and started fighting Raffe. I will not give away why it was my fave, but I will tell you that I absolutely loooved Raffe's reaction. Now go read the book to find out what I'm talking about.

Raffe. Even though he is supposedly an all-knowing divine being, Raffe definitely does not act the part. Apparently he even watches tv shows in his heavenly adobe. LOL. One thing I loved about Raffe was his humor, which defused many tense conversations, as well as his nobleness: he was trying to do what was right when the rest of his brethren were ignoring the fact that they were divine beings who were supposed to uphold the law. And although he comes off as indiscernible at the beginning, he quickly becomes a charming hero.

This book was filled with several comical scenes, a few which included the revolutionaries Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, as well as emotional ones, such as at the very end where something-really-really-big-I-can't-spoil-for-you happens.

Filled with unique character- the mother, Obi, Uriel, and Laylah- this book is so wonderfully refreshing. It is the BEST angel book I have ever read (and I've read a bunch of them: Shadows by Paula Weston, Outcast by Adrienne Kress, The Collector by Victoria Scott, Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins, Sanctum by Sarah Fine, Inescapable by Amy A. Bartol) aside from Cassandra Clare's TMI and TID series' which completely redefined angels.

This white feather of a book will raise your standards of literary creativity and thoroughly cure any book slumps you may be feeling this dry summer. I recommend it to those who enjoy the post-apocalyptic, fantasy, action, or general awesomeness genres.