Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, Book 1) 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.
About the Author: Susan Ee has eaten meze in the old city of Jerusalem, surfed the warm waters of Costa Rica, and played her short film at a major festival. She has a life-long love of science fiction, fantasy and horror, especially if there’s a touch of romance. She used to be a lawyer but now loves being a writer because it allows her souped-up imagination to bust out and go feral.
Genre: young adult, fantasy, paranormal, science-fiction, dystopian
More Info: paperback, 283 pages, published by Skyscape on August 28, 2012
I read Angelfall for Aentee’s (Read at Midnight and @readatmidnight) #ReadThemAllThon. Here is my TBR pile for this reading challenge. I was reading this to achieve the Viridian City: Earth Badge – read a book with post-apocalyptic settings. This book totally fits the bill with an angels from Heaven takeover. Here is my current trainer’s card, updated to the point that this review is published (9/3/16 at 10:00):
{Trainer’s Card graphic: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Pokemon-Trainer-Card-Templates-54644955
Pixel Charizard graphic: http://piq.codeus.net/picture/45661/charizard}
Partial Spoilers
Penryn Young is not your average girl. She has the responsibility of helping her family survive. Because the world is six weeks into the angel apocalypse. When Penryn antagonizes an angel, he makes off with her wheelchair bound, seven year old, little sister.
Her only option: save the dying angel lying at her feet and get him to help her.
Persistent as she is, Penryn sticks along with the angel, demanding her bring her to the angel’s lair. She refuses to believe her sister is dead. Along the way they encounter demon-like children, hide from angles, get captured by a human resistance party, and find the angel hive.
The book takes a turn at chapter 36. I had no idea that this was where the plot was going. Susan Ee adds in so much more to the typical angel/demon scene. She takes it to the ground, in a post-apocalyptic setting. She humanizes the otherworldly creatures. She takes their ideas and presence and makes them more realistic, less fantastical with the scientific and chemical machinations.
The writing is irregular, almost choppy, making for a fast-paced read. Her sentences tend to be short, and they don’t always flow. The writing evolves over the course of the novel. Her writing becomes more fluid, that may be because of variation or due to the fact that you get used to her style over time. Susan Ee has a way of making once sentence, no matter it’s length or orientation, hold a lot of meaning. She knows how to pack a punch.
The book doesn’t explain certain things as much as I would like. I wish I had more background of the apocalypse and the angels. I almost wish there was some bad cartoon character that explained their whole evil plan before getting defeated by the good guys. Alas, this is not a Disney television show or movie. So, there were things that left me guessing, unfulfilled.
This is the second time I have read this book. The last time I finished it, the second book in the series had not yet been released. So I put the book down and never looked back, until now. I’m glad I did, and now I want to see where the rest of the trilogy will take me…starting with World After and finishing with End of Days.
Buy it here:
Pore Over the Pages 
Nice review. I agree with a lot of what you said, which made me not really enjoy the book as much as I’d have liked to. Choppy sentences, things not explained well. Honestly, I wish there was more action in the book. I didn’t see a rating… What did you rate the book?
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Thanks. Yeah, there were some things that put me off in this book. However, I did like the pacing and premise of ideas – it is so unique, in a human and twisted way. My rating was 4/5. It was the picture of the 5 books going from red to green. If you click the picture you will be taken to my rating system.
Jessica @ Pore Over the Pages
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Ah, I see the books. Sorry. Lol.
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