Angelfall
Author: Susan Ee
Series: Penryn & the End of Days #1
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Dystopian
Release Date: August 28, 2012
Publisher: Skyscape
Summary:
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 Penryn will risk everything to rescue her sister, and Raffe will put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.
First Sentence: Ironically, since the attacks, the sunsets have been glorious.
My Review:
Before I started blogging and (not so) casually silently lurking around the blogosphere, I’ve watched as people talked about this one book called Angelfall. I’ve always been meaning to read Angelfall, but I just didn’t have to time to read it, especially after blogging and discovering a lot more books. Add the fact that I met Susan Ee and loved her and I was just highly anticipating reading Susan’s books. I went into Angelfall with fairly low expectations though as I didn’t know exactly what to expect.
A part of me hates the new Penryn that I’ve become. Hates the girl who slaps a dying being. But I shove that part deep into a dark corner where it can nag me some other time when Paige is out of danger. (19)
With Angelfall, I had a lot of ups and down movements for my enjoyment level. The beginning of Angelfall didn’t capture my attention at all and made me think that hey, maybe this book isn’t for me. However, once the two main characters meet pretty early on, Angelfall just gripped me and kept on gripping me until I came upon a dystopian cliche – does a resistance army sound familiar anyone? From then on, I felt my enjoyment level steadily falling until I reached the twist near the ending. My enjoyment level skyrocketed from that point on.
A bit into two-thirds of Angelfall, something came up that I had a problem with. When I thought I figured out the direction Angelfall was heading towards, my first thought was oh no, not this again and wow, did you really have to go there? Thank goodness Angelfall didn’t completely head towards the direction I thought it would as it’ll be more like all the other dystopians out there, but took another turn that completely surprised me.
“What did you just say to me?” The girl who used to be civilized and polite just had to give him a second chance.
“I said-”
I slam the heel of my hand into his nose. (110)
I’ve seen so many people flailing and squealing and loving the romance in Angelfall, specifically the romance between Penryn and Raffe. I, however, sadly wasn’t sold on their relationship at all. I like the few nice moments they have, but it didn’t scream YOU MUST SHIP THIS or LOOK HOW SWEET THIS IS to me. It just felt like companionship. Maybe things will change in the sequel.
Overall, I did enjoy reading Angelfall, but not as much as other people judging from all the five star ratings I saw on goodreads. Hopefully World After will make me fall in love with the series like everyone else did!
I just recently read this one as well! I actually really enjoyed the beginning, though, and it kind of felt like a movie to me. THE ENDING, THOUGH. WOW. All that stuff with her sister shocked me so much. I agree that Raffe and Penryn didn’t have me flailing or anything. It’s nice that the book was focused on more than romance, but I think that it was just such a short book that I didn’t really have time to get into them.
Zoey @ Uncreatively Zoey recently posted…ARC Review: Rook
I really want to try this! I don’t think I’ve ever fully loved a book about angels and want to find the one that’s for me!
Kayla recently posted…Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
*SQUEE* I actually love this series…and I am still glad you still managed to enjoy most part of the book. Good luck on reading the sequel, hoping that it will be better for you.
I’ve seen this book around and its reviews piqued my interest. I’m glad you enjoyed it overall, I hope I enjoy it as well. Great review! :)
HAHAhahaha…..okay so I was one of those people shipping this ship right off the bat. I don’t know why, but something between Penryn and Raffe just gave me the feels. I liked how they bickered a lot in the beginning and how they slowly started trusting each other in the middle. By the end I was a mess. I was even more of a mess when I read the sequel…I wish I could tell you why but you’ll probably figure out why when you start reading World After. It just kind of made me mad. And it didn’t happen until like the last third of the book. Like, WHAT IS THAT???!!! WHY?????!!!! I hope you like the sequel better than book 1! ^_^
Great review! I loved the book for its curveballs (that ending, tho) and the superk snark going on between the two. I was okay with the romance, though I can’t really recall much about Raffe now that it’s been awhile since I read the story.
Anne @ Lovely Literature recently posted…TTT: Top ten characters whose skills we envy
I am in the same boat…. I have seen people through the years fall in love with this series. I am not sure why I haven’t read it, especially since it is on my Kindle. I think I might feel more like you than the ones that raved!
Jaime Lester recently posted…We Are Watching
That cover! It is a shame you did not like it very much, I kind of have an urge to read it just because of it’s cover! I am the sucker for covers obviously :D
HannahCassie recently posted…REVIEW: BLOODLINES by Richelle Mead
Great review Kelly. <3 But aw, I'm sorry this book wasn't perfect :( That is OH SO SAD. As I have heard great things about these books too :( Sniffs. Now I'm worried about trying it as well, lol. But I shall. After I get book three sometime. Probably :) And aw. You didn't like the romance? :( HOW MEAN. Ugh. I'm sorry this book wasn't that good. Sigh. But glad you still managed to like some of it :) Thank you for sharing sweetie. <3
Carina Olsen recently posted…Review: The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas
I’m sorry to see that you didn’t enjoy this one as much as everyone else. I’ve been wanting to check it out for a while which is why I recently purchased a copy. Sometimes hype ruins a book for me, so I hope that it doesn’t with this book! Great review.
Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian
Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian recently posted…Interview with KayCee K. of Double Decker Books!
Great review! I can’t wait to read it!