Angelfall by Susan Ee Published by Selfpublished on 1 January 2011
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 284
Format: Kindle
Source: Kindle Purchase
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.
Angelfall is a dystopian story in which angels aren’t necessarily the good guys, and where Penryn has to use all her wit and cunning to survive.
My Angelfall review:
This whole story was dark and disturbing – but still delicious if that makes any sense at all. Penryn is a very strong young woman; she has had to be for years before the attack. With her mom conversing with demons and her little sister Paige in a wheel chair, Penryn had to be the responsible party of her family after her dad took off.
The angels in this story are so scary and mean it seems like they all hail from hell rather than from heaven – all except Raffe, that is. He and Penryn form an unlikely alliance after his enemies cut off hi swings, and disappear with Paige. Somehow, Penryn is able to grab the cut-offs, his sword, and him, and use Paige’s wheel chair to bring him to safety.
From there, things only get darker, scarier and more dingy. Flesh-eating monsters, resistance, and her crazy mother make up most of it – as do little moments of peace with Raffe. Penryn is just a normal girl who knows her martial art, and she is willing to fight to the death for what she believes in – and it is so easy to believe in her ! She is able to put her doubts into a little box in her mind, then continue to walk forward to save Paige, and maybe even humanity as well.
The whole book is like a mad rollercoaster, you want to get off, but at the same time, it is so exhilarating you can’t help but enjoying it while you scream your head off. It’s fast, with hard twists and turns, and endless falls, and it never stops! Not even in the end… I swear, my heart is still beating its’ way out of my chest, and I wish I already had the 2nd book in this series. I need to know what will happen next!
Written in first person point of view from Penryn’s perspective, and in present tense, Angelfall is one of the very few novels where angels are prominently featured that I loved. There is no sweet love or romance going on here, the world is bleak, but so well done.
Some of my favorite Angelfall quotes:
I look at the angel’s blank eyes, his bleeding mouth. His head trembles, tapping against the floor. I slam the blade into his heart. I’ve never killed anyone before. What frightens me isn’t that I’m killing someone. What frightens me is how easy it is.
Even though her love often manifests itself in ways that a mentally healthy person couldn’t understand – might even declare abusive – that doesn’t diminish the fact that she does care.
I never thought about it before, but I’m proud to be human. We’re ever so flawed, we’re frail, confused, violent, and we struggle with so many issues. But all in all, I’m proud to be a Daughter of Man.
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
Oh wow girl! This sounds so intriguing! I like the sound of these bad angels and how Raffe forms an alliance with Penryn. I want to know more about Paige… pffft… I think I need to read it!
Naomi @ Naomi’s Reading Palace
You should, Naomi! It’s one of the very few Angel books I loved 🙂 It’s very dark and a little creepy 🙂
I wasn’t a fan of this book because… angels *shudders* but I wanna try the other 2 books because the story did intrigue me.
You don’t enjoy angels at all? I think these and JR Ward’s ‘angels’, plus of course Singh’s angels are the only ones I love. All other angel books just don’t work for me.
Thanks for stopping by, Stephanie 🙂
OMG!! I don’t use that acronym often, you know, but how funny is it that we were reading the same book around the same time?!?!?! I just finished this last week! And I loved it every bit as much as you! (shocking, I know 😉 ) I thought it was very thought-provoking. My review will post sometime in the next few weeks. Happy Friday, my friend! **BIG HUGS**
I know, very shocking we ended up loving the same book, Brandee. That never happens, does it? 😉
Have a great weekend, my dear. *BIG HUGS*
Dark and disturbing are both good words for this book. This reminds me that I need to finish the series!!
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
I have read the 2nd installment, but I have to continue with the third, too.
Twitter: talksupeblog
I will definitely grab a copy when it goes on an Amazon deal. Sounds like it’ll be worth my pennies
P.S. I think your entire review is hyperlinked to booklikes?
Thanks for letting me know, Braine! I had to get rid of the buttons for Goodreads, Booklikes and Leafmarks for the hyperlink to disappear. Not sure what happened there.
You should grab a copy of Angelfall, it’s really well done 🙂
Why haven’t I read this yet? No idea. Think I may purchase it with my birthday money because I’ve never heard anything bad about this series
Oh, you should, Lauren! It’s so well done! I hope you’ll love it as much as I did.
Interesting twist for an angel story. And a good one for this time of year with the dark and creepiness.
Not a genre for me overall, but a gorgeous cover and I love the quote about being human. Thanks for sharing.
I (still!) have yet to read this book, despite all of the amazing praise I’ve read about it! Your lovely review here was a reminder that I need to fix that VERY soon. I’ll have to be sure that I’m in the mood for something very dark and atmospheric though but I can see really loving this story by the sound of your review^^
I’ve got it – and, of course, I haven’t read it yet, where would be the fun otherwise lol ! I should be reading it before spring comes, fortunately, even if your review made me itch to move it up my list ^^
I’ve had this one on audio for a while now. I grabbed it during a sale. I’ll get to it one day. LOL
I only wish the next books were just as great….