The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
sjess94's review against another edition
4.0
November has been a great reading month for me!
4.5 Stars
World After: A beautifully executed, spine-chilling, action-packed sequel to Susan Ee's Angelfall!
Synopsis:
The story picks up right from where we last left off Penryn, paralyzed on a bus to the human resistance with her schizophrenic mother and Frankenstein little sister, Paige. Raffe, who is sporting his new set of surgically placed demon wings, has left Penryn's side, believing she died in the old aerie attack. He did, however, leave his beloved sword in her possession, which teaches us a great deal of Raffe's past, something I was eagerly awaiting for in this series. Meanwhile, Penryn is living among the new resistance, fighting off scorpion hybrids, dealing with her mom and Paige's new craving for human flesh, going undercover, finding out what these crazy angels are up to, and, to put it lightly, kicking butt.
So here is this book's recipe for awesome-sauce:
1. A strong, kickass heroine who needs no snarky archangel to keep her alive during the biblical apocalypse.
I love Penryn! Her character is so intelligent and strong-willed. She's always thinking, always on her toes, and she never goes down without a fight. She has so much on her shoulders but carries it all in a very responsible and collected attitude, even when she doesn't know how to make things better. And don't get me started on the karate-kid moves! The only issue I could possibly have with Penryn is her ability to act more like a trained solider than a teenage girl, handling life on the warfront a little too normally for my taste. This, however, is not always a bad thing. She never breaks down in a puddle of tears for her missing Prince/past life like so many other YA heroines tend to do.
2. The Creep Factor
So I never really considered the Angelfall books a series with a "creep factor." This one definitely proved me wrong. The scene at the Alcatraz death-camp was so graphic and incredibly scary to read. It reminded me of some supernatural version of the holocaust. There were the people locked in cages like animals, lying in their own filth, and the spine-tingling uncertainty of what these monsters were going to do to Penryn and these people. The fact that most of the camp was run by humans made it so much worse. Bravo for keeping me up until 3am scared for my life!
3. The Action-packed Plot
I feel like the plot in this book was much more paced than the previous book. Instead of an alright premise and a jam-packed ending we got a consistent amount of action and suspense throughout the entire story. LOVED! This author does tend to string the plotline along with random coincidences though, which sometimes make the story feel unbelievable.
4. The Snarky Angel/Hilarious, Star-crossed Lovers
So, like I said before, we get a deeper insight about who Raffe was before he lost his wings and why he has such a grudge against the human race. We get a few scenes in Raffe's POV from Angelfall, which made me tear up with feels. I really appreciated this because Raffe was such an aloof character in Angelfall and this sort-of compensates for his 200-page absence in this book (Emphasis on the "sort-of"). But what really makes Raffe and this shipping for me is the humor. Next to Penryn's kick-assery their adorable bantering has to be my favorite part of this series in general. They are both witty and sarcastic and Raffe is hilariously arrogant. These two make me laugh so hard. Because Penryn and Raffe can't really be intimate on a romantic level, the comedy is a great, if not better, substitute. Fangirl victory screech!
5. The Ending
The ending itself was fantastic but not as phenomenal as the previous one. However, Ee still left the story on a very promising note and I am very excited for the next book, whenever that comes out.
4.5 Stars
World After: A beautifully executed, spine-chilling, action-packed sequel to Susan Ee's Angelfall!
Synopsis:
The story picks up right from where we last left off Penryn, paralyzed on a bus to the human resistance with her schizophrenic mother and Frankenstein little sister, Paige. Raffe, who is sporting his new set of surgically placed demon wings, has left Penryn's side, believing she died in the old aerie attack. He did, however, leave his beloved sword in her possession, which teaches us a great deal of Raffe's past, something I was eagerly awaiting for in this series. Meanwhile, Penryn is living among the new resistance, fighting off scorpion hybrids, dealing with her mom and Paige's new craving for human flesh, going undercover, finding out what these crazy angels are up to, and, to put it lightly, kicking butt.
So here is this book's recipe for awesome-sauce:
1. A strong, kickass heroine who needs no snarky archangel to keep her alive during the biblical apocalypse.
I love Penryn! Her character is so intelligent and strong-willed. She's always thinking, always on her toes, and she never goes down without a fight. She has so much on her shoulders but carries it all in a very responsible and collected attitude, even when she doesn't know how to make things better. And don't get me started on the karate-kid moves! The only issue I could possibly have with Penryn is her ability to act more like a trained solider than a teenage girl, handling life on the warfront a little too normally for my taste. This, however, is not always a bad thing. She never breaks down in a puddle of tears for her missing Prince/past life like so many other YA heroines tend to do.
2. The Creep Factor
So I never really considered the Angelfall books a series with a "creep factor." This one definitely proved me wrong. The scene at the Alcatraz death-camp was so graphic and incredibly scary to read. It reminded me of some supernatural version of the holocaust. There were the people locked in cages like animals, lying in their own filth, and the spine-tingling uncertainty of what these monsters were going to do to Penryn and these people. The fact that most of the camp was run by humans made it so much worse. Bravo for keeping me up until 3am scared for my life!
3. The Action-packed Plot
I feel like the plot in this book was much more paced than the previous book. Instead of an alright premise and a jam-packed ending we got a consistent amount of action and suspense throughout the entire story. LOVED! This author does tend to string the plotline along with random coincidences though, which sometimes make the story feel unbelievable.
4. The Snarky Angel/Hilarious, Star-crossed Lovers
So, like I said before, we get a deeper insight about who Raffe was before he lost his wings and why he has such a grudge against the human race. We get a few scenes in Raffe's POV from Angelfall, which made me tear up with feels. I really appreciated this because Raffe was such an aloof character in Angelfall and this sort-of compensates for his 200-page absence in this book (Emphasis on the "sort-of"). But what really makes Raffe and this shipping for me is the humor. Next to Penryn's kick-assery their adorable bantering has to be my favorite part of this series in general. They are both witty and sarcastic and Raffe is hilariously arrogant. These two make me laugh so hard. Because Penryn and Raffe can't really be intimate on a romantic level, the comedy is a great, if not better, substitute. Fangirl victory screech!
5. The Ending
The ending itself was fantastic but not as phenomenal as the previous one. However, Ee still left the story on a very promising note and I am very excited for the next book, whenever that comes out.
kassn's review against another edition
3.0
In this novel, Ee's storytelling greatly deteriorates.
I find that this novel was bland and uninteresting, especially in comparison to the enthralling previous novel. The writing didn't have as much character as I had hoped for, and I hardly felt any true regard for the book's characters. I don't know if its because I waited for such a long time after Angelfall to read this installment, but I was simply unimpressed.
I find that this novel was bland and uninteresting, especially in comparison to the enthralling previous novel. The writing didn't have as much character as I had hoped for, and I hardly felt any true regard for the book's characters. I don't know if its because I waited for such a long time after Angelfall to read this installment, but I was simply unimpressed.
nvdrsype's review against another edition
5.0
After reading Angelfall, my expectations were high. This book made them all come true: I can't wait for the finale!
shnnnfly's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars - It was still super good, but not as good as Angelfall. This book (unfortunately) has a case of
the-second-book-was-not-as-good-as-the-first-in-a-trilogy syndrome. This book was missing something that Angelfall definitely had. Can't wait to read the finale!!!!
the-second-book-was-not-as-good-as-the-first-in-a-trilogy syndrome.
Spoiler
It's probably because Penryn and Raffe didn't reunite until more than half way through the book (AND BECAUSE THEY'RE STILL NOT TOGETHER OOOOMG).lazylys's review against another edition
2.0
I really like Penryn.
I really like Raffe.
I also like the other characters.
Why such a low rating, then? 'cause I felt this book was way too slow, the plot kinda all over the place, and the style unpolished. A pity. 'cause I really like both the main characters. And Pooky Bear
I really like Raffe.
I also like the other characters.
Why such a low rating, then? 'cause I felt this book was way too slow, the plot kinda all over the place, and the style unpolished. A pity. 'cause I really like both the main characters. And Pooky Bear
zaynaby's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
multicoloredbookreviews's review against another edition
4.0
Between the anxiety, the frustration and the helplessness, I didn't think I was gonna be able to finish this book.
No, really. During practically the first half of the book, everything that could possibly go wrong, did. And then came Alcatraz and stupid Uriel, and his damn filled-with-lies-speech. I was so angry during that part that I couldn't even concentrate on what I was reading! He's orchestrating this huge smearing campaign against Raffe, with the "locusts", the "nephilim" and the bat-wing surgery and everything, and I just want him to finally get what's coming to him!
Plus, the whole time I couldn't help wondering where the hell Raffe was. He was the main reason I pushed through all those terribly frustrating chapters (the sword dreams chapters helped a lot too, especially the one about Penryn and Raffe meeting for the first time).
And then, after sooo many pages and sooo many chapters, he finally showed up! And he was damn near floored to see that Penryn hadn't died after all! Surprise!
And everything was once again right with the world.
As badass and awesome as Penryn already was, she grew even more badass and more awesome this book. She's such a great and inspiring character. I loved that during her separation from Raffe and after all the sword dreams, she didn't turn into a love sick fool.
She did indulge her 17-year-old-girl side at times, and I greatly enjoyed those scenes, like when she asked the sword to show her the kiss. But then she went back to being an assertive, fearless, boss-ass b*itch. And I also loved every single one of those moments, too (show those damn angels who's boss, girl! Yaas!)
That fight over the ocean, when she threw herself into the water and then kicked that angel's ass with only a knife? So good. And then her sword fight with Burnt? SHE FREAKING BROKE HIS SWORD!
And all the other swords bowed down to Pooky Bear! And Penryn's only human! And I'm just so damn proud of her! I love her! She's a queen!
I can't wait till Raffe reaches his breaking point, throws caution to the wind, and they smooch the breath out of eachother. The tension and slowburn is getting to me!
Ugh, I'm all over the place!