Review: Angelfall, Susan Ee

Angelfall, by Susan Ee

Kindle Edition: 255 pages

Published: May 21, 2011 by Feral Dream

Series: Penryn & the End of Days #1       

Genre: Paranormal/YA

Rating: 5/5 stars

Goodreads|Amazon

Summary: 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

So, if you are the type who doesn’t like reading long, babbling reviews, and are only here to find out whether or not this book is worth reading…don’t let me waste your time. In short, this is THE BEST dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel I have ever read. Period.  Better than the Hunger Games? Yes. Divergent? Yep. Wither? Uh huh. It was so good, that I feel l crying right now because I’m going to have to wait until next summer to read the next one. Get this book right now. It’s only 99 cents on Amazon, and it’s worth every penny.

Now, if you would like to stay and listen to me ramble on about the sheer amazingness of this book—you don’t even understand how happy you are making me right now.

With all the dystopian crap out there right now, getting your hands on a book about a war savaged/ virus filled/post-apocalyptic world with one girl who is destined to save it all is easy. Dystopian novels are super popular and easy to sell. Some are really bad attempts; others are very very good stories that grab your attention and make you keep thinking about them long after you finish. Anglefall is one of those.

The main character the story, Penryn, is not your average YA heroine. She’s not on a mission to save her dying world, or fall in love with the first beautiful guy she meets; she just wants her sister back. After saving an angel from being killed from a gang of other angels, Penryn’s sister, Paige, who is wheel chair bound and virtually helpless on her own, is stolen away right by these angelic beings right before her eyes.

Now, these aren’t the cute angels you wear on a necklace or see printed on really bad wallpaper. These angels are warriors; they are beautiful, majestic, and frightening. And are the reasons that Penryn’s world is being destroyed.

Raffe is one of them. After having his wings cut off, he’s left bleeding to death, lying in the street. After Penryn’s sister is taken, she takes rescues Raffe and hides him; nursing him back to health and holding him somewhat hostage not because she wants to save his life, but because she knows he might be her only hope for getting her sister back.

Susan Ee is a phenomenal writer. The entire story flows so smoothly from scene to scene, and there isn’t a lot of filler or “fluff” as I like to call it, beefing up the story. Every word written is important and necessary, and the plot is paced very well.

Though there were only just a handful of important characters, every one of them is complex and well thought out. My favorite, and definitely most interesting, was Penryn’s mother.

This book is leaps and bounds over typical YA paranormal, and the fact that it’s self-published is impressive. I am so looking forward to the next book and will definitely re-read this book again.