Angelfall by Susan Ee

Angelfall by Susan Ee

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

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.

When I first received this book, I was a little hesitant because it contained angels, and they’re not usually my thing. I kept putting it off  but Lili kept insisting on how great it was. This last week, she urged me to read as soon as possible, to the point where I folded and removed the dust the cover had accumulated. She even dared all of us to read it in December, but I didn’t listen to her then. However, I should have listened because ANGELFALL ended up being my first 5 star read of 2013. I absolutely adored it and from now on, when Lili tells me to read a certain book or series, I’ll have to listen to her.

That being said, I think I see angels in a totally different way now. I don’t picture them as little cherubs or valentine’s-day-looking cupids anymore. No. These angels can be mean, warrior-like strong and sometimes, even mental. They look down on human beings and that’s proven multiples times as they keep calling humans “monkeys.” For one reason or another, the angels have recently appeared on earth and are slowly killing off the human race. Or at least that’s what it looks like at first. Susan Ee can definitely keep her readers on edge because she reveals just enough information to keep us entertained, yet doesn’t reveal enough to have you guessing the ending.

Seventeen year old Penryn is the type of YA character I love to read about. A strong and self-sufficient teenage girl that admittedly, can sometimes make mistakes and find herself in dangerous situations. The sort of situation that has her kidnap a warrior angel who has just gotten is majestic white wings cut off, and uses the wings as a bargaining chip. This angel ends up being Raffe, a good looking angel that seems to be on the run. Obviously, Penryn makes a lot of assumption about the angels because very little is known about them, especially why they’ve suddenly appeared on Earth. As she slowly befriends Raffe, they join forces to help each other get to their final goal: Penryn wants to find her sister who has been kidnaped by angels, and Raffe wants his wings sewn back on. Their journey eventually leads them to the aerie in San Francisco, but not before encountering “low demons” and a human resistance. Their journey is not only a mission to get from one place to another, but it’s also one of self-discovery and physical challenges.

Please note that the story is quite dark for a young adult book. Some scene aren’t for the faint of heart, especially the one where the angel wing dismemberment is described. Some scenes include gore-y details of wounds and other have awful children-like demons eating their way through human survivors.

It’s safe to say that you can’t always trust your first instincts about books. For a book that I decided to put on standby, I adored every bit of it. Take my word for it (and Lili’s of course) that this is a book you must read. The mix of dystopian elements and vengeful angels definitely works and results in a captivating YA read.  The only thing I regret, is not having read it sooner. Susan Ee has been granted a spot on my auto-buy list.

Posted by Unknown at 05:00

 Amazon Children's Publishing, Angel, Demon, Review, Susan Ee, young adult  8 People left their mark