Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1) (Susan Ee)

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.

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Why oh why didn’t I read this before? I have no idea! I can only thank Josie for basically shoving the book in my face and ordering me to read it – I will never doubt you again Josie.

I knew nothing about this book… I had seen the cover and I had added it to my TBR without a second thought, because let’s face it, that cover is just gorgeous. But then the book receded to the back of my mind, until Josie mentioned how much she had loved it, at that time, kindle had a huge amazing deal and the book cost something like 1.99$, so I bought it. Added it to my month’s TBR and again, it went to the back of my mind. But then I confessed this to Josie and she (once again) “forced” me to read it… 😀 😀 😀 (have I thanked you yet?).

So, by now you’ve figured that I loved this book, right? I loved it a lot! The writing was fantastic, it was an easy read without being a simplistic writing style… the perfect combo.

I loved the World Building, it gave us enough details while at the same time not giving us enough information, leaving us as clueless as every character in this book. I’ve been to San Francisco, and I went through the highway that connects Silicon Valley to the city, and I could picture everything that Susan Ee was describing perfectly in my mind, and it broke my heart. Yes, I love San Francisco, it’s my 4th city to live in.

Now the characters. I love Penryn, she was a breath of fresh air. In a way she might feel just like a lot of other heroines, but not really… she kicks ass! She knows how to fight, she has her priorities in order, she’s not afraid to get physical, she’s sassy – and don’t even get me started to where her thoughts wander when she’s not very aware.

Now Raffe… wow… Raffe… I liked Raffe from the moment he was almost dying but still had enough in him to make fun of Penryn. That was it! Raffe was great from that moment on, and the banter that he and Penryn have going on is one of the best I’ve ever read.

I don’t really know what to think about Penryn’s family. Her mom is a complete mystery to me, and I think there’re a lot more to her than meets the eye. I really like the inclusion of mental illness and physical disabilities in this book, it’s not something you usually associate with a post-apocalyptic scenario, so I was all the more amazed by it. Paige… well… Paige… I can’t really say anything about her, you have to read it, but I’ll say that I’m super curious to see how this will turn out in the sequel.

This book is super fast paced, full of action sequences and not a dull moment. The plot is pretty straight forward from one point on: Penryn and Raffe team up to find her sister and to get him help, but the way they get there and what they have to get through to get those things was incredible and slightly unpredictable. I have to admit that those final chapters kind of broke my heart… poor Raffe (that’s all I’m going to say!).

So, to sum it up, this was a fantastic read. I want more. It made me pull out my amazon account and spend a lot more than I think I should on kindle books for the sequels. And I want these babies in my hands soon, because I’ll need the physical copies too.

Have you read Angelfall? If not, what are you waiting for?

Rating: 4.6 Stars