fictionalkate's review against another edition
4.0
Angels have descended down to earth but they’re not the heavenly creatures people may have expected. Ruthless and lacking any trace of humanity, the Angels are ruling the world and treating humans no better than animals. When an angel takes her little sister Paige, Penryn plans to do the unthinkable. She wants to go into the Angels’ aerie – their home base – to save her. With an injured angel, Raffe, as her guide, Penryn tempts fate to save Paige and bring what’s left of her family back together.
I can understand why this book was an Internet phenomenon. Penryn is such a strong character. The angels have ruined the world. Millions are dead, modern civilisation all but demolished but there are still a few humans left struggling to exist in this new angel ruled world. In a post-apocalypse California, Penryn has been learning how to survive and taking over the parent role in her family. Her mother can not be relied upon for anything and has some strange ideas. But Paige keeps Penryn from getting too serious. Paige, although in a wheelchair after an incident when she was younger, would give up everything she had to help someone else. Penryn needs her little sister and when she’s taken, Penryn risks life and a fate worse than death to bring Paige back.
This is a book with a quest, deadly angels, magical weapons and characters I adored. Penryn is intelligent and focused – if not a little too single mindedly obsessed – with getting her sister back. The angels are ruthless and I loved how different they were from how I usually imagine angels. These angels are beautiful and breathtakingly formidable. They murder humans and think nothing of it. But they’re not invincible. They have politics of their own and a hierarchy that may not be as stable as the humans may believe. I liked Raffe the angel. He’s every bit as intimidating as his fellow angels but due to circumstances beyond his control he finds himself having to rely on a human. The dynamic of Penryn and Raffe was great to read and I enjoyed the lack of an overt romantic relationship between the two.
I really enjoyed this book and for me it lived up to the hype. The gorgeous cover, brilliant take on angels and a heroine who I wanted to read more about. The second book in the series, World After, was released a few weeks ago and I can’t wait to immerse myself once more in Penryn’s world.
I can understand why this book was an Internet phenomenon. Penryn is such a strong character. The angels have ruined the world. Millions are dead, modern civilisation all but demolished but there are still a few humans left struggling to exist in this new angel ruled world. In a post-apocalypse California, Penryn has been learning how to survive and taking over the parent role in her family. Her mother can not be relied upon for anything and has some strange ideas. But Paige keeps Penryn from getting too serious. Paige, although in a wheelchair after an incident when she was younger, would give up everything she had to help someone else. Penryn needs her little sister and when she’s taken, Penryn risks life and a fate worse than death to bring Paige back.
This is a book with a quest, deadly angels, magical weapons and characters I adored. Penryn is intelligent and focused – if not a little too single mindedly obsessed – with getting her sister back. The angels are ruthless and I loved how different they were from how I usually imagine angels. These angels are beautiful and breathtakingly formidable. They murder humans and think nothing of it. But they’re not invincible. They have politics of their own and a hierarchy that may not be as stable as the humans may believe. I liked Raffe the angel. He’s every bit as intimidating as his fellow angels but due to circumstances beyond his control he finds himself having to rely on a human. The dynamic of Penryn and Raffe was great to read and I enjoyed the lack of an overt romantic relationship between the two.
I really enjoyed this book and for me it lived up to the hype. The gorgeous cover, brilliant take on angels and a heroine who I wanted to read more about. The second book in the series, World After, was released a few weeks ago and I can’t wait to immerse myself once more in Penryn’s world.
britachii's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
erinsbooknook's review against another edition
4.0
Very action packed and interesting. I can’t wait to read the rest of the trilogy.
melissawalcott's review against another edition
5.0
It’s been six weeks since the angels of the apocalypse destroyed the world as we know it. Only pockets of humanity remain.
Savage street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night.
When angels fly away with a helpless girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back…
So at the beginning of this book, I was a bit skeptical. In fact, I read the first couple of pages, put it down, and started a different book. It took a while for me to get back to it but once I did, I could not put it down.
It starts out with Penryn, her mom, and her sister Paige who is bound to a wheel chair after a tragic incident and the trio are on a search to find a safe place to stay and find food. Not long after that, the book picks up pretty quickly and you are thrown full blast into the plot line.
Overall the book was incredibly detailed, dark, and witty and an overall fantastic read! 4/5 stars
THIS IS THE END OF THE SPOILER FREE SECTION
So was anyone else internally screaming when the angel took Paige?! I didn’t even care that Raffe was on the ground bleeding. I was just thinking about how much I really didn’t like that stupid angel.
But back to Raffe because you know…he’s Raffe ;) at first, I really liked him but he took me on a roller coaster because he did have his mean moments and I really didn’t like how he went from being incredibly kind to Penryn to saying oh, “I don’t even like you”. Like what the poo! But then at the end when he delivered her to her mom. I was like yep! That’s our angel!
Oh! And her mom! That lady… I don’t think I’ve ever seen a character who was as dark as Penryn’s mom was. Seeing demons and whatnot…*shivers*
But she did make me laugh one time and good gosh it was nice. The whole ‘Penryn who are talking to? Oh, nothing mom just my own personal demons!’ And then she’s like oh…okay! Like WHAT?! I was literally lol-ing at that point. Whew! Good times…
Those weird tanky things with the demons monster prototypes…when she first described them, I was thinking oh! This is some weird forbidden love thing! But no… She said ‘lover’s embrace’ so I was thinking making out but no…soul sucking. Okay? I can uh, deal with that.
And finally, Paige. THE FREAKIN’ FRANKENCHILD! No! I was crying! I did not want sweet innocent Paige to be some monster baby! I knew something was up with the whole angel taking her thing but still…I had hope. And it was crushed. Job well done.
So as you could tell, I really enjoyed this book and am waiting for my books to come in so I pick up in the second book! Let me know what you thought of the book and maybe recommend some more.
Savage street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night.
When angels fly away with a helpless girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back…
So at the beginning of this book, I was a bit skeptical. In fact, I read the first couple of pages, put it down, and started a different book. It took a while for me to get back to it but once I did, I could not put it down.
It starts out with Penryn, her mom, and her sister Paige who is bound to a wheel chair after a tragic incident and the trio are on a search to find a safe place to stay and find food. Not long after that, the book picks up pretty quickly and you are thrown full blast into the plot line.
Overall the book was incredibly detailed, dark, and witty and an overall fantastic read! 4/5 stars
THIS IS THE END OF THE SPOILER FREE SECTION
So was anyone else internally screaming when the angel took Paige?! I didn’t even care that Raffe was on the ground bleeding. I was just thinking about how much I really didn’t like that stupid angel.
But back to Raffe because you know…he’s Raffe ;) at first, I really liked him but he took me on a roller coaster because he did have his mean moments and I really didn’t like how he went from being incredibly kind to Penryn to saying oh, “I don’t even like you”. Like what the poo! But then at the end when he delivered her to her mom. I was like yep! That’s our angel!
Oh! And her mom! That lady… I don’t think I’ve ever seen a character who was as dark as Penryn’s mom was. Seeing demons and whatnot…*shivers*
But she did make me laugh one time and good gosh it was nice. The whole ‘Penryn who are talking to? Oh, nothing mom just my own personal demons!’ And then she’s like oh…okay! Like WHAT?! I was literally lol-ing at that point. Whew! Good times…
Those weird tanky things with the demons monster prototypes…when she first described them, I was thinking oh! This is some weird forbidden love thing! But no… She said ‘lover’s embrace’ so I was thinking making out but no…soul sucking. Okay? I can uh, deal with that.
And finally, Paige. THE FREAKIN’ FRANKENCHILD! No! I was crying! I did not want sweet innocent Paige to be some monster baby! I knew something was up with the whole angel taking her thing but still…I had hope. And it was crushed. Job well done.
So as you could tell, I really enjoyed this book and am waiting for my books to come in so I pick up in the second book! Let me know what you thought of the book and maybe recommend some more.
amongstchaosshereads's review against another edition
WOW!! This book got dark .. a lot darker than I was expecting. I actually struggled with some of the scenes ... they came out of nowhere and were not what I would typically expect from a YA read at all.
However that said - I still absolutely loved this book.
I hadn't heard of this series before but when Fairyloot advertised their upcoming special editions of the series (which are gorgeous) I wanted to check them out. So glad I did .. This is a series I didn't know I need to read until now and yes I will for sure be buying the set.
Angelfall is an easy, quick and addictive read! Only about 300 pages but yet so much happens.
A post apocalyptic world with avenging angels and some great characters - what more could you want!
My only reason for the 4 not 5 stars - the dark and disturbing parts of the book ... I just wasn't prepared!!
However that said - I still absolutely loved this book.
I hadn't heard of this series before but when Fairyloot advertised their upcoming special editions of the series (which are gorgeous) I wanted to check them out. So glad I did .. This is a series I didn't know I need to read until now and yes I will for sure be buying the set.
Angelfall is an easy, quick and addictive read! Only about 300 pages but yet so much happens.
A post apocalyptic world with avenging angels and some great characters - what more could you want!
My only reason for the 4 not 5 stars - the dark and disturbing parts of the book ... I just wasn't prepared!!
opheliabedilia's review against another edition
3.0
At first, this book seemed to be pretty standard dystopian / post-apocalyptic / girl meets super-natural god-like creature fare. But it turned out to have a surprising amount of what would best be termed horror. Some just of the bloody gross horror variety, some "OK that's really freaking weird" variety.
Susan Ee does better with suspense, horror, and keeping an engaging plot line going than she does with romance. I happen to come to books like this for the romance, so that weakness left me a little cold. When it comes to incorporating biblical and traditional angel stories into modern fiction, she succeeds to varying degrees. With incorporating humor into a story about dark times, she does well.
This book follows in the current trend of heroines who are teenage girls who can kick your ass. Penryn is very much like Katniss Everdeen, complete with a sweet, innocent, helpless little sister for whom she is doing everything she's doing. What Katniss has over Penryn is that Penryn is still, ultimately, relying on the super human strength of her own personal god-like guardian.
Having said all that, I was so engaged that I didn't want to put this down, and finished it at 4am. So that's certainly saying something for the author's ability to hold my attention. I woke up still thinking of nothing else, and I'll definitely be following the series when more come out. So for that reason, I can't decide between three stars or four.
Susan Ee does better with suspense, horror, and keeping an engaging plot line going than she does with romance. I happen to come to books like this for the romance, so that weakness left me a little cold. When it comes to incorporating biblical and traditional angel stories into modern fiction, she succeeds to varying degrees. With incorporating humor into a story about dark times, she does well.
This book follows in the current trend of heroines who are teenage girls who can kick your ass. Penryn is very much like Katniss Everdeen, complete with a sweet, innocent, helpless little sister for whom she is doing everything she's doing. What Katniss has over Penryn is that Penryn is still, ultimately, relying on the super human strength of her own personal god-like guardian.
Having said all that, I was so engaged that I didn't want to put this down, and finished it at 4am. So that's certainly saying something for the author's ability to hold my attention. I woke up still thinking of nothing else, and I'll definitely be following the series when more come out. So for that reason, I can't decide between three stars or four.
donitaluz's review against another edition
5.0
YAAAS!!!! The feeeellllllsssssss! Full. Review. To. Come.
blobblehead's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
vishreads's review against another edition
5.0
Aaaahhhhhhh this was amazing im so glad i picked it up cuz it got me out of my reading slump <3 fast paced from the get-go and did not have any dull moments !! captivating and suspenseful from start till finish - this book was everything i had hoped it would be. i was really looking for some post-apocalyptic, dystopian vibes and this book delivered all that plus more.
penryn is one of my fav characters now cuz she’s headstrong, determined and bold; basically everything you’d expect from a YA lead. her story was interesting and easy to follow. i was rooting for her throughout!!
raffe is mysterious, sexy and dark; just what i love about fictional male characters
penryn is one of my fav characters now cuz she’s headstrong, determined and bold; basically everything you’d expect from a YA lead. her story was interesting and easy to follow. i was rooting for her throughout!!
raffe is mysterious, sexy and dark; just what i love about fictional male characters