Angelfall by Susan Ee

Angelfall by Susan Ee
Penryn End of Days Book 1
 
Release Date: 23rd May 2013

Pages: 325

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance, Dystopia

Star Rating: 4.5

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.

A dark and captivating story set in a post apocalyptic world that has been devastated by Angels, cities lie in ruins, most of the population has been wiped out and only a handful of survivors are left doing what they must to get by in a world gone mad. Angels rule and you hope you never have to meet one.

17 year old Penryn lives and breathes this world everyday and with a Mother suffering with Schizophrenia and a sister who is wheelchair bound, she must fight harder than others to keep her family together. The story starts with Penryn and her sister having to flee the apartment they've been living in as its no longer safe. When a fight between a group of Angels breaks out and Penryn watches in horror as one Angel has his wings ripped from his body and her little sister is kidnapped by the same group. Knowing the only way to get her sister back is to work with the broken and battered Angel she must overcome her fears and help him.

Penryn is a strong and beautiful selfless heroine, who will do whatever she has to in order to look after her family. She is the personification of what a protagonist in this genre should be like, it doesn't matter the situation Penryn will use her wits to figure out a way out of it, she is fierce and loyal to a fault and has a strength that is hard to comprehend and yet she comes across as being a normal 17 year old girl, who is so easy to relate too. Susan Ee has done an amazing job at creating a character that is believable in a world that is so far from our own.

Now Raffe, apart from the name which had a few problems initially when trying to pronounce, I absolutely loved him. He was dark, mysterious and a typical bad guy with a twist. Initially he was arrogant and was clearly amused by Penryn's acts of bravado but as the story progresses we get to see a softer and funnier side to him. At first him and Penryn come to and uneasy truce in order to get his wings back and Penryn her sister but as their journey progresses so does their relationship. Whilst not overly romantic, they both start to learn that maybe the other isn't the 'enemy', their banter is witty and funny and was definitely one of my favourite parts about the book. Actually I completely loved everything about this book.

A book that is anything but ordinary, with a plot that never gives up and plenty of twists and turns. The character and wind building is fantastic, Susan Ee creates a vivid and captivating world that I could completely imagine existing with characters that manage to balance each out. A book about doing whatever its takes to look after those you love, about learning to overcome prejudices and a book about finding love in even the bleakest of circumstances.

This is one book that you just have to read to understand just how good it is.