Book Review: Angelfall 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

This was a re-read for me; I read it when it came out, before I was blogging, and I didn’t remember a lot of it. I wanted a refresher before the third one came out.

I’m trying really hard to be a little more frugal with my 5 star ratings. But Angelfall definitely deserves it. It’s got non-stop action, an insane twist near the end, enough of a romance to get readers begging Susan Ee for more, plus, swoonworthy angels.

First of all, you have an amazing heroine. Penryn has had to keep her family together throughout the insane angel apocalypse, and when things don’t go according to plan, she works tirelessly and fearlessly to get them back together. Not only can she take care of herself in a nightmarish wasteland, but she makes an ally out of an angel, her sworn enemies. Of course, said angel isn’t at the top of the rest of the angel’s friend list, but he’s still an angel nonetheless.

Raffe is an angel with a long list of enemies. But when those enemies cut his wings off, he has no choice but to go along with Penryn as she looks for her sister (who was kidnapped by the angels who relieved him of his feathers). He doesn’t like the idea of traveling with a human any more than Penryn likes the idea of traveling with him, but they make it work. Sparks only sort of fly, making their ‘relationship’ one of the most frustrating. There’s obviously chemistry there, but also years of hatred and prejudice.

No matter what horrors or obstacles they face, Penryn and Raffe keep going. And let me tell you, it gets super horrific by the end. Nightmarishly so. This is definitely a post-apocalyptic house of terror with some angels mixed in. But does that stop Penryn?

This is the best angel book out there. I said it. The action literally never stops, and Susan Ee is not afraid to let her quite terrifying imagination loose. If you haven’t read this book, I only have two words for you: why not?