Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Book Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee


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

Genre: Angels/Apocalypse
Reading Grade: Young Adult
Publication Date: May 21, 2011
Source: Kindle purchase
Age Rating: 15+
 
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.

 
I'm experimenting with a different way of writing my reviews. Maybe breaking down the most important aspects of the story will keep my reviews more informative. Hopefully, this will be fun for me as well as more beneficial to my readers...

My Review

  • Plot: There actually is one (big plus for me), although it's nothing groundbreaking. Penryn needs to rescue her crippled little sister from the bad invading angels who have taken her away, and needs a wingless angel that she saves to help locate her. They have many fun (for the reader) distractions along the way. There's not much romance, but that works better for me, actually. Penryn and Raffe (the wingless angel) didn't bond as much as I felt they should have to justify his obvious attachment to her by the end. I needed more niceties between the two, but they do have chemistry.
  • Characters: Penryn is a great YA character and really knows her fighting skills. She's tough and she's proactive, thinking only ever of saving her little sister. Raffe is so sarcastic and yummy in the first half, but that all vanishes during the second half for someone unknown reason. Penryn's crazy mother is such a mystery, always showing up wherever Penryn is, like a feral cat stalking her. Why this is never gets explained, and it's kind of creepy, but good creepy.
  • Writing: The writing is definitely decent—professional-grade. No flowery words or purple prose, and that's just perfect for this type of story. The YA voice is convincing, too, as the story is told through Penryn's first-person present tense narration.
  • Storytelling: The story takes you on this wild and bizarre journey through a gutted apocalyptic San Francisco, full of incredibly well-detailed and intense fight scenes, amongst other things. Very impressive. One fight scene in particular made me feel like my throat had been whacked a bunch of times because of the vivid physicality of the fighting. Amazing.
  • Overall Quality: I believe this is a self-published title, but you'd never know it. It's so very professional and high quality!
  • Favorite Moment/Scene: The kiss scene... Oh. My. Lord. It is amazing, and I am rarely impressed by kiss scenes, but this one blew me away. It is totally out-of-nowhere and made me blink a lot. A lot. And, made me think about it as I drifted off to sleep the same night I read it.
  • My Score: 4.5/5 stars. (I really like this. Can't wait for book 2!)


14 comments:

  1. I love your new review format! I wish I had thought of it! I've heard that this is a fantastic book. Based on your review, I tend to believe it. I've been burned by Angel books, but I would be willing to give Angelfall a try.
    Great review, Cathy! (as usual!)

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    1. @Andrea: Thanks so much! I hope this is a better way for me to review books. Thanks for your feedback on it. You should give this book a try, for sure. It really is impressive.

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  2. I bought Angelfall a few weeks ago, and your review makes me want to read it RIGHT NOW. Just have too many books on the tbr pile to read right now! Hopefully soon...

    great review. I like your new review format. Especially the favorite moment/scene. I *heart* kiss scenes. Have you read Incarnate? The masquerade scene is my favorite. :D

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    1. @Ash: Do read this one as soon as you can! It's very exciting. And, thanks for your feedback on my new reviewing format.

      I've never read Incarnate, but I'm hoping to one of these days. Tall TBR pile is tall. Thanks for your comments!

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  3. I had to stop reading Angelfall for a while because it was just getting too good and I couldn't bring myself to write my own book because it couldn't compare. I agree that the romance was a little light from what I've read so far, but everything else has been so good that I don't care. Penryn is just my ideal heroine. She's tough, she's snarky, but most of all, she's flawed and I like that. this didn't read like a self published book at all and am so glad for it. Makes me think that there are more gems in the self published pile than I thought.

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    1. @Lan: Oh, Lan! It was a great read, but nothing you can't handle. Don't let it discourage you from writing. I agree Penryn is such an ideal heroine, but you could learn from her character how to create your own like her. I'll admit that I saw Kristin Kruek in my head playing her character, so your own character is not a far cry.

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  4. Wow, this sounds good! I am always looking for good self-published writers to support. This cover kicks some major butt, too. Thanks for the review, I'm going to put this on my Nook tonight!

    Oh, and I like your new review format! Cool idea.

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    1. @Camille: This is a self-published author to support for sure. I think you'll like this book. Thanks for the compliment on my new review format!

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  5. This actually sounds like something I would really want to read! I will have to check out this author and maybe go purchase the eBook! Awesome review.


    Magical Urban Fantasy Reads
    bookluvrmindy

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    Replies
    1. @Mindy: Thanks and I hope you like this one. It's great!

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  6. Excellent review, Cathy! Will add to my TBR. In fact, maybe I should just jump into this one and see if it shakes me out of my reading funk...what do you think?

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    1. @BJ: Yes, I think you should definitely read this one right away. It should help you get out of your reading funk just fine.

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  7. Who is the boy in the picture? He has pretty eyes lol. Great review! I just started this today and so far I'm loving it.

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    1. @Anon: The guy in the photo is actor Nicholas Hoult. Glad you liked the review and enjoy the book.

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