Review: ANGELFALL

TITLE: ANGELFALL (Penryn & The End of Days 1)
BY: SUSAN EE
SYNOPSIS:
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.

RATING: 5 OUT OF 5 STARS

REVIEW:
I think I just read magic.



Total bookgasm.

So.many.feelings...



My brain has been reduced to liquid disbelief due to extreme epicocity.

Okay, so I’ve read quite a few “angel” books in my day. ANGELFALL is by far the best of them. In fact, it is so superior to its brethren that it shouldn’t even be classified among them. This book exists in its own special galaxy. Not just the top of the “sub-subgenre” but, I daresay, one of the best in all of YA fantasy.

Susan Ee took the angel lore of old, and resurrected them with creative purpose…Her own Frakenstein’s monster: Angels as you’ve never seen them before (except kind-of-maybe in “Supernatural”).



I thought the bit about their swords was especially clever. All of it was just completely brilliant! I humbly bow before Ee’s innovative genius.

The plot, the writing, the characters—it all seemed so flawless. Penryn, the main character, was likeable from the start. She was just how I prefer my female MC’s, strong, resilient, brave. Penryn’s a survivor. Even her batshit crazy (and I mean that in the most endearing way) mother pulled at my heartstrings. More than that, she might even be one of my favorite characters. It’s hard to tell though, because I love them all. And that’s a sign of a great book. Ee put a lot of thought and heart into this book, and it’s palpable.

Gosh, and those last few chapters? It broke my heart in a thousand ways. I empathized with each and every character, in all the ways they suffered. It’s been a year since I last read ANGELFALL, and I’m still reeling. I both look forward to and dread reading WORLD AFTER. As for you, reader, if you haven’t read ANGELFALL yet, WHAT IS YOUR LIFE?? HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK FOR THE LAST 3 YEARS? You need to get on it! ;)