Angelfall Book Review

                   Author: Susan EE

                  Paperback, 283 Pages

                  Series: Penryn and 
                   the End of Days #1

              Published August 28, 2012

                      Goodreads Link



Goodreads 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.

Cover: I really like this cover. The colors mesh really well together, and the wings bring-forth a great symbolization for the story inside. Just like the cover, the novel is really dark and spooky in many aspects, so therefore I really enjoy the cover. The gold and blue along with a hint of purple look really nice spread upon the wings. Great coverall overall. 

Plot: This story is about Angels, an extreme favorite of mine. So all I had to do was read the synopsis and then purchase the book, since I without a doubt love books with the premise of Angels. However, my high expectations for this book were unfortunately not met. Now, there isn't necessarily anything negative about the story, there was just a few concepts that really irked me. I'm not going to lie, the concept of the post-apocalyptic world that was caused by Angels sounds really awesome, and it is. It really is. However, the story itself was not, in my opinion, delivered clearly. I found myself really confused during some parts, and I even drifted off while I was reading. Now don't get me wrong, when the action scenes came into play, it was definitely captivating my attention. However, when the world of the Angels was discussed, I wasn't fully grasping the concept. So that was definitely a downer for me. The romance in the novel is a weird story. A really confusing one as well. I mean, at first I figured that there was no romance whatsoever due to the fact that the main characters were not getting a long to well. It seemed as there was no connection, and I was okay with that. Not every novel needs a love interest. However, the end of the book totally contradicts that the whole novel was going on about the two, and that shocked me, and ultimately didn't settle well with me. 

Now on to the positive aspects of this book. There was action, suspense, heart dropping surprises, and horrific events that really caught my attention and allowed me to enjoy parts of the book. I was definitely spooked during many parts of the story, and my heart was beating. The end was really gripping and had me stay up past one in the morning to finish the book to figure out what was going on. The ending only made me want to pick up the second book even more. Tbh, the ending made my initial rating go up a star. 

Characters:

Penryn: Our protagonist is a teenage girl who is trying to take care of her family one step at a time while attempting to deal with her crazy mother, her disabled sister, and the horrors of the world that is taking place due to the angels. Her personality is one of my favorites. She actually made the story much better! She is brave, strong, ruthless, strong-minded, sweet, caring, and just attempting to figure out a way to survive! I really liked her! She was well developed and was filled with many amazing aspects for a heroine!

Raffe: Now, Raffe is the Angel that Penryn stumbles upon and saves his life. I have a love-hate relationship with this guy. I mean, the love part comes with the hot and masculine guy that he is. Raffe is your typical bad-sexy-mysterious guy who just so happens to be an Angel. The hate comes from his attitude and confusion. I understand that he is going through a lot, but sometimes he just treats Penryn really meanly, even after all that she has done for him. At the same time, his feeling take a 180 turn during the end of the book. So, I'm not sure how to feel about that. I like it, but then I don't. Overall, I liked his character, but found that his personality was everywhere and not consistent. 

Writing: The writing of this novel was pretty good. Although sometimes I did get distracted due to the fact that there was just too much description taking place. However, there were many parts where the dialogue kicked in and it became interesting. Overall, it was okay. It flowed well, but in my opinion didn't instantly and easily attract my attention.  

Rating: Though there were some aspects of the story that I didn't love, the overall plot of the story was intriguing, and therefore I give this book a 3.5 out of 5 star rating! I would recommend it to those 14 and up due to the graphic content.