Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1)

Possible spoilers ahead.

Angelfall is most definitely a unique story with a dark twist on angels and the apocalypse itself. I always used to wonder when I would come across a book that would make it seem like the angels were the bad guys, and, well, I found it. The relationship between Penryn and Raffe happens to be one of my favorite types of relationships; snarky, sarcastic, but at the same time, you just feel some type of bond between the two.

I heard that to have a good story, there needs to be some form of romance to keep things interesting. That doesn't seem like the case for Angelfall, as the only "romance" done was just a kiss that, in the end, meant nothing (or so we think... dun dun dun). As someone who loves the dark side of writing, I found this book very enjoyable to read. I loved going with Penryn through the end of the world, showing how she survives, and what was becoming of the human civilization.

Knowing this was not the only book out there when I finished, I immediately picked up World After, which I will be reading.... Well, right now.

This book follows Penryn, a young girl living in a dystopian world where angels have conquered the world and have run humans into hiding. The angels are not kind and loving but are cruel and have slaughtered thousands. Penryn's wheelchair bound sister was kidnapped by an angel and Penryn must make a deal with an injured angel called Raffe to rescue her.

In the initial assault the angel's commander Michail of killed. None of them know what their mission was so now they must adapt. The angels have taken to human things such as old fashions, the luxury of living in hotels with human servants and having women accompany them like accessories. The angels have colourful plumage that spreads to their bodies. Many accentuate this by wearing matching colourful clothes, accessories and make their women wear the same.

There are other creatures which are hunting the humans in the night. No one has seen them, the mystery surrounding them grows and grows as people begin to speculate. As Raffe and Penryn journey to find her sister they run across them however this only enhances the mystery as not even Raffe knows what they are.

As Penryn and Raffe get to know one another while saving each other time and again they begin to develop feelings for one another. Initially, they hate each other but slowly they begin to trust each other. Soon they become friends and it only begins to develop further. The development of their friendship then love is something great to read about and I really love it.

Penryn's family is unusual and is something you don't really read about much. Her sister is in a wheelchair while her mother is mentally unstable which makes it even harder for them to survive. The mother is a paranoid schizophrenic who is now even more unstable as the world is filled with dangerous legends made flesh.

This is a good book. Lots of action and suspense and at times even scary with the mysterious monsters of the night.

This book was on sale in Amazon.com so I decided, why not buy it. My best friend enjoyed it, so I figured I had a chance of enjoying it. Boy did I enjoy it. Anything that deals with angels and the supernatural is great in my book. Add a hint of romance and it is excellent. This book was spellbinding and suspenseful; I couldn't put it down. I read the entire book in one sitting. Penryn is a truly strong and loyal character, something I could never be. Raffe... god I love that guy. He is sarcastic, sassy, intelligent, and hot, absolutely everything I look for an a male character. Also the fact that he is an agnostic angel just tops the whole cake. The conversations between them were great and I enjoyed their chemistry. Now the actual world is a little mysterious with the whole angel fall thing. No one is really sure why the angels are there and I can't wait to learn more about the situation. Onto Paige and the Mom. I guess because I'm not close to my family, I didn't really understand how Penryn could put everything on the line for them. After what happened to Paige, I definitely wouldn't have kept her around. The mom... the mom is an interesting character. I would like to learn more about her and the role she plays in everything because she seems like she is going to be very important. Now the angels... I really don't like the angels, except Raffe, especially after what they did to Raffe. I also really hate Boden. I can't believe how sexist and disgusting he is and the way the camp allows him to behave like that. It is truly revolting. Obi... I honestly don't know if I like him yet as a character, and the twins, well they are cunning and amusing bastards.
SPOILERS
The end scenes between Raffe and Penryn are my everything. The way he called her beautiful, and then they kissed, and when she was paralyzed the way he got angry and took care of her... ajdfjafi I'm sorry but I just need them to be together.
I also totally called Raffe being Rapheal. I knew he had to be an archangel. I guess I've watched too much "Supernatural" because I knew the angels and how they would act before they even appeared.
I hope the angels all die after taking Raffe's wings and giving him demonic ones. Hopefully he gets his original ones back.

Whoa. This is pretty much everything I love rolled into one book. I don't know why it took me so long to pick this up - I'm kicking myself!

Angelfall is a book worthy of a read. And I'm not the first to suggest this. Susan Ee, took the premise of an angel story and turned it into a masterpiece. You won't find any sweet-as-pie creatures in this book. No. You will only find dark, and gritty angels in this one. With the maybe, exception of Raffe, of course.

The characters are believable and perform their tasks as apocalyptic survivour's as you would expect. Penryn I love. I love her attitude, her gumption and her need to protect her family. Her mother, is also a well thought-out character too. And her story of mental illness ... well, is it really that?

Overall I throughly enjoyed the story, although I must add, it did take me four chapters to reach a point where I truly wanted to continue. But that's just my opinion.

Angelfall would have never really reached my reading radar if it wasn’t for Octavia of Read. Sleep. Repeat bringing it to my attention. Once I looked it up, I realized how many reviewers I trust have LOVED this book. That type of hype can be a bit intimidating, so I approached Angelfall with hesitancy, daring it to live up to my expectations. The question of course, is did it? Well, yes and no.

I certainly liked this book for a variety of reasons. One, and perhaps the main one, is HOORAY for utter apocalypse. This is not one of those books where it’s the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it but the main characters never suffer. Nope, the way the world went down in this book I could buy as an angelic apocalypse. And for an angel book, it did a good deal more referencing the bible, God, etc. than most angel books, even if just to mention in passing that even in the bible, angels are not fluffy sweet flying things. And Angelfall sort of takes the whole God-and-angel thing along the lines of Supernatural in that only a handful of angels talk to God, so the chaos in the world makes sense book-wise.

Penryn was a fantastic character. Unlike so many Dystopian and post-apocalyptic main characters who start off as normal teenagers and then morph into hardened humans, Penryn is tough from the beginning. We get to see some of Penryn’s family situation that made her that way. Penryn’s mom struggles with hallucinations and visions while her sister is confined to a wheelchair. The whole situation makes Penryn’s survival understandable. Raffe was also a wonderful character to read on the page–the broken soldier who has conflicting loyalties, and since he’s one of the angels, we never get to quite see what’s going on is mind, which makes the mystery of his character even more appealing.

The last thing that I really LOVED was just the atmosphere of the book. We get to see quite a few places in Penryn’s world, and there are quite a few cases of mood whiplash. My favorite thing though is just how CREEPY, gritty, and DARK the world feels. New-found horrors for a new world. I LOVED those details.

However, there were some things I have trouble with. The main one is by the end, I still have NO answers. Now, during a series, I expect there to be more questions than answers in each book until the end, which I don’t have a problem with. But it’s another thing all together to really not know ANYTHING by the end of book one. Don’t know much about the angels, their purpose, etc. Some of it’s definitely spoiler-y at the end of the book I can’t talk about, but basically I’m left more confused about the world than when I started.

And the thing that really made me have trouble getting into this book was some of the writing, specifically, the metaphors Ee tends to use. I think Ee did a fantastic job of setting scenes and showing us great characters, but some of the metaphors and/or similes were just so awkwardly worded that I had trouble pushing through. Metaphors in general can be tricky to put in the middle of a scene and have them feel like they “fit”, and there were SO many in this book that just made me have to double-back and make sure I read it right. Especially in the first half of this book, I had trouble getting into the story because of that, and it took away quite a bit of my enjoyment.

The post-apocalyptic world that Ee has created is horrifying, brutal, and very compelling. The cities have crumbled, street gangs run rampant, and humans have resorted to any means necessary to survive. Angels roam the skies, but they’re nothing like the cherubic image that probably popped into your head when you saw the word “angel” — they’re tough, menacing, and strongly resemble God’s warriors from Biblical times. You can certainly tell that Ee did her research: the mythology surrounding these angels is accurate and realistic without becoming too preachy.

Penryn is easily my favourite YA protagonist. Smart, funny, and a martial arts pro, Penryn is the ideal heroine in every way. Accompanied by a paranoid, schizophrenic mother and a wheelchair-bound sister, Penryn shoulders a lot more responsibility than your average seventeen year old girl, yet she rarely complains about it. Instead, she desperately wants to protect her family, and is willing to put herself straight into the path of danger to keep them safe.

One of my favourite things about Angelfall is the fact that there’s no instalove and no love triangle; instead, the relationship develops slowly and naturally, and takes a backseat to the action. There’s a suggestion of romance but both parties involved certainly have their priorities straight: after all, rescuing your sister and safely navigating a post-apocalyptic world are a bit more important than declaring your love for a perfect stranger.

Angelfall is certainly deserving of all of the hype. This quick-paced, action-packed story filled with unforgettable characters, witty banter, dark touches, and well-researched angelic lore made for an excellent read that will certainly be picked up again and again.

THIS BOOK. This is the book that revolutionized angels for me.

The only complaint I have is that I have to wait until God knows when for the next one.

Those last couple of chapters nearly gave me a heart attack.
Awesome.

I read this back in September of 2012. Right before something drastic happened in my life and I felt useless.

But for some reason, my mind kept coming back to this book. The near perfection of Angelfall.

Even though you lose something, there is always another thing there. There will always be someone to pick you up. That's what I got out of this book, anyways.

Oh, and Raffe is sexy as all sin.

“There’s a strong fear of the supernatural now. Both mortal predators and prey seem to agree on listening to their primal fears and hiding until dawn.”

It’s 6 weeks after the apocalypse struck Northern California, and 17 year old Penryn is struggling to take care of her wheelchair bound younger sister and schizophrenic mother. While trying to move them some place safe, she runs into a battle between a group of angels. It’s 5 against 1, and even though they’re the cause of the ruin, Penryn finds it in herself to help the lone angel. Unfortunately, one of the others uses this opportunity to fly off with her sister, and now Penryn must work together with the hated creature she’s saved in order to get her back.

This is one of the best, if not the best, self-published novel I’ve read. It’s also the best angel novel I’ve come across. Angelfall is dark, gritty, action packed, and unlike anything I’ve read before. This is a superb take on angels. They are not your typical, glowy, beautiful beings who protect you from danger and help you choose good over evil. These angels are dark, violent creatures who you need protection from! Except Raffe; he’s pretty sweet and hilarious.

I can’t believe that ending! I need more, now! I must know what the angels are up to! Why are they trying to destroy the humans? What are they doing to those kids? What are those things in the giant tubes?! This book is full of so much awesome: street gangs, cannibals, resistance camps, action, adventure, survival, angels of the apocalypse, science projects gone wrong. Parts were pretty darn disturbing and I couldn’t help but cringe, but wow, this book is good!

“Besides, she didn’t eat him, she just…gnawed on him a little.”

I recommend this to…everyone!