The first book in the Penryn and the End of Days series, starts with a bang and never slows down. The premise is about Penryn, our main character, and her fight to get back her disabled sister, Paige, once an evil angel kidnaps her six weeks after an angel apocalypse occurs. Penryn strives to reunite with her dysfunctional family, which also consists of her schizophrenic mother. Our main character teams up with the enemy of her enemy, Raffe. The twist is, Raffe is also an angel, a being Penryn has learned to hate. I haven't read a ton of angel books, but this one has beat them by far. The angels aren't good at all in these, and the story itself has a deliciously dark tone that made the story so much better.
This story itself was so unique! I loved it to bits and I devoured the book! Penryn was such a strong character and it was refreshing to read from a point of view like hers. She was kick ass and fought for herself and her family. Raffe, the angel that Penryn allies with, was amazing. Him and Penryn have some great scenes together. They're both so sassy and quick witted, and there was never a slow moment between them. I really appreciated that they're romance was slow building. At first, they despised each other, and it was great to see a camaraderie develop between them. They only shared one kiss, yet they had such great chemistry. I'm looking forward to seeing how they're relationship will build in the next two books.
As for the other characters, I loved them to bits. Penryn's mom is so twisted and the things she did were insane! Paige, even though she wasn't featured much in the book, was a great character. Though what happened to her was horrifying, I'm excited to see how it's incorporated into World After, the sequel. The other angels that were introduced were really cool, too. The whole entire political plot line was really intriguing to me.
Susan Ee's writing was perfection. Her world building was great; I could imagine everything that was happening when it was. The realtionships between didfferent characters are complex and intricate. I'm excited to learn more about Raffe's backstory and about the angel world in general. Hopefully we'll learn more about the politics within the angel world as the series progresses. I don't really have any faults at all with this novel. The story did lag just a little bit for a chapter or two about halfway through for me, but picked up right soon after.
All in all, Angelfall is a great opening novel to the Penryn & the End of Days trilogy and I'm highly anticipating the next novel in the series, World After. If you're hesitant to pick this book up because it has to do with angels, know its not you stereotypical paranormal apocalyptic novel. Angelfall is dark, gritty, and powerful. This is a definite must read!
With that, I give this book
4.9 out of 5 Stars!
I like your description "This story itself was so unique! I loved it to bits and I devoured the book!"
ReplyDeleteYes her family is truly dysfunctional. I didn't think the mother and sister would play much of a role in the series so I'm astonished they turned out to be very well-rounded characters. I'd love to read a 0.5 book strictly from the mother's perspective. Is there an explanation to her craziness??