Angelfall

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…

-https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15863832-angelfall?ac=1

Before I start, I’ll say that I read World After, the second book of this series, right after reading Angelfall so I might mix the two books up. I’ll write a book review for World After later.

Now going forward to the actual review.

Going into this book, I expected a wild chaos of the typical apocalypse setting and a complex story line that I frequently encounter, but not necessarily dislike.

The plot was simple enough and easy to understand. It wasn’t boring in anyway and guess what? Wow, real simple goals that a normal teenager would make???  Also, the pacing was surprisingly good. There were times when the characters would just be hanging about or traveling around but those moments aren’t wasted and good development was going on between our main characters.

I want to stress how well written and realistic the characters were. Penryn, our main girl, is Asian, (I don’t remember her actually being described as this but it seems like she is?) kick-ass and a strong protagonist who doesn’t need to be rescued. Her mother is schizophrenic and her younger sister is bound to a wheelchair. (Hey look! Diverse characters)

Then there’s our other main character, Raffe and yup, he’s our angel. Readers may think they practically have the solid knowledge that Raffe and Penryn are going to get together. This, actually doesn’t happen. Sure, they have their moments but it isn’t hogging the focus of the book.

This book is not about romance, it’s about getting Penryn’s family together and surviving. Penryn takes care of herself and others as well. She doesn’t have time to think about Raffe and she rarely does besides considering if he could be trusted or not.

This book is very realistic with how a normal 17 year old girl would act. Yes, not every 17 year old girl can slam archangels into walls but Susan Ee actually explains how she got this training. The reason she gives is legit enough.

Who goes after angels because they are oh, so in love with this particular one? Not Penryn. She is intent in saving her sister and is not thrown off the road by sappy romance. I’m so happy this isn’t the case because it happens many times in YA books. Main characters have goals but then WOW BOY APPEARS SHE IS IN LOVE. Oh wait I got distracted and forgot to save my little sister.

Susan Ee knows how to get a good plot going and how to write developed characters readers can relate to. It’s not a big book either and I went through it pretty quickly.

5/5 stars