Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days Book 1)

by Susan Ee

Kindle Edition, 255 pages

May 2011 by Feral Dream

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Details from Goodreads:

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:

What a magnificent read this was. I was drawn into the story with the opening pages. (I read this book while watching the Walking Dead series.) And boy! It scares the hell out of me! I can’t even sleep that first night.

Just imagine. What will you do if you open your eyes one day and everything change the way it used to be, what will you do to survive and keep you family safe?

Susan Ee creates a great post apocalyptic story. The opening pages give me chills. The whole thing is filled with a desperation and darkness that’s almost claustrophobic. You definitely want Penryn to rescue her sister, but you know even if she does, their world isn’t going to suddenly turn all shiny and rainbow-filled. And the angels? Gah, the angels. They’re not the cuddly little darlings girls swoon over. These are the angels that nightmares are made of. Speaking of nightmares—there’s blood. Lots and lots of blood. If a moderate amount of gore makes you squirm, this book probably isn’t for you.

As for the characters, despite her look Penryn is an awesome and incredibly tough heroine. She never loses sight of what is important. As well as for Raffe, He's all desperate on holding onto his convictions. Their relationship was not the all get swoony. I like how both of them know who they are and they muddle their undeniable feeling to each other to prioritize the things that is more important.

There are some really intense scenes which, while I loved them, I could see being disturbing for some readers. One thing I will say is that while I liked how the book started off with tension and action, I almost wish the author had backed up just a bit. I think it would have been nice had we gotten to know Paige a little more before the unthinkable happens. As it is, we have to rely on Penryn’s thoughts of her to tell us what kind of person Paige is, rather than being shown. Plus, had we seen Paige and Penryn’s relationship more to begin with, the devastation Penryn felt over Paige getting taken would be all the more compelling. I would have enjoyed a little more information about what happened when the angels first attacked too.

I would like to see Angelfall adopted into TV series, its going to be great for my opinion. :)