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 I finally read Susan Ee's Angelfall and I absolutely LOVED it!! I initially bought the kindle book when it was on sale or something, didn't get to it right away, then awhile back I bought the paperback edition when it was on sale as well and still didn't get to it quite right away, but knew that I had it there in my physical TBR pile vs the kindle one!
Regardless of how long it took me to finally read this book, I have to say I agree with the other reviews that this was a sensational read! All angel books are different, sometimes they are good and sometimes not and sometimes they are Fallen and then we break that down into good and bad. This one kind of covers all that really. It's the end times, angels have wreaked havoc over earth and basically nowhere is safe. During the day, gangs rule the streets and at night it's the angels. Food is scarce, electricity is unreliable, and basically life just sucks. It's a dog eat dog world. And it's only been six weeks!
Penryn is kind of the head of the family, being that her mother and sister. Her mother is a bit crazy, she has her sane moments, but not many. Her younger sister, Paige, is wheelchair bound due to an accident that occurred with her mother some time when she was two. It isn't clear what really happened, but Penryn knows her mother had to have one of her crazy moments. Penryn and her family are just trying to survive, like all the other humans and one night when moving from their previous shelter to find a new one, they encounter a group of angels terrorizing another. They seem him dewinged, and for some reason Penryn takes it to herself to help him out because he looks so helpless.
While her rescue attempt proves successful, the angel is still alive anyway, her younger sister is kidnapped by the other angels. Penryn is left with nothing but her wheelchair as her mother had run off without her daughter. Nice, huh? Penryn decides that this angel is going to help her find her sister, because surely, he will know where the angels are taking her.
Penryn and Raffe have a rough start with one another with some arguments and whatnot, but when Penryn promises to help him get his wings re-attached, Raffe agrees. And thus begins their journey to find the arie where the angels basically hang out and live and where Penryn's sister is most likely being held.
Along the way, the two encounter obstacles from gang members to strange creatures that want to devour human flesh to the beginnings of a resistance group led by a man name Obi. Obi believes that by working together, he and these humans can take back their world by destroying the angels even if it's just one at a time. Being caught by them doesn't bode well for Raffe and Penryn, but they do what they must!
I have to say, I loved the romance between Penryn and Raffe. It wasn't the obvious kind of romance. Raffe is definitely one of those strong, silent types, but every now and then he'll do something, even something small, that totally makes Penryn's world a little brighter. Penryn has a love-hate thing going on for Raffe in the beginning since he is one of the enemies, but she can't help but feel sympathy towards him from the first moment she sees him. Even when trying to interrogate him, she still gets a little soft for him.
Which brings me to describe Penryn's character a little more! That girl is badass! She's strong--maybe not totally physically, but in the emotional sense. She's a fighter, both literally and figuratively. She will do anything and everything to get her sister back safely, even if she has to save the angel's ass three or four times! She's also an incredible fighter as her mother--during one of her crazy spells--wanted Penryn to train in all forms of self defense. And it's paid off very well!
Penryn's mother is definitely an oddity and is worth mentioning. She is crazy, like batshit insane. But she does have a few moments of lucidity and somehow manages to keep up with Penryn while her daughter travels with the angel to save her other daughter. There are times that she even arrives to the location before Penryn. It's amazing how she can still be somewhat sane or coherent enough to know what to do. She's an intriguing character, one that I think we will continue to see more of in the next book or so, I think in some ways she knows more of what's going on than anyone.
The ending to this one was astounding! Definitely one of those OMG...did-Ee-really-just-do-that?! kind of endings! Makes me glad that I waited to read it, since the next book, World After releases November 19th! So looking forward to that. There was some resolution but with it came a whole lot of other problems for Penryn and humanity at large. For the war is just beginning! (Cue dramatic music!)
Angelfall is an amazing angel read set in an apocalyptic world that will leave gasping for more!
Overall Rating 5/5 stars
