Sunday, 1 September 2013

Angelfall by Susan Ee

Now, I'm sure everybody has already heard of Angelfall- the internet phenomenon that has taken the book world by storm- but just in case you haven't or have but don't know what the hell it's about, here is a quick run down: Picture this, you're living in a world where everything is in ruins. You don't know what's going on but you do know that the Angels are more vicious than even Supernatural made them out to be. Next thing you know, they've snatched your sister away from you and you're left to help a wounded but sassy angel named Raffe whilst trying to hunt down your baby sister.

As you now have the general jist of the story line I shall proceed to review it and hopefully persuade you to read this book.

I normally avoid stories about Angels at all cost as I find them tedious and quite frankly cheesy, however Angelfall was not that kind of story. The angels are not made out to be fluffy, loving yet slightly avenging types. Oh no. These Angels will rip your throat out without a second thought, they are not nice and they actually follow the bible's lore on them. Susan Ee very clearly did her research and for that I give her all of the awards. Raffe is sassy, he is handsome but he is also quite badass and has a more humane side than the other Angels which is pretty cool as well. I know I just contradicted myself there but he still follows the general Angelic lore of being vicious when need be.

Penryn Young. She is our protagonist and she is a little bit similar to Katniss Everdeen. You know- protective over her little sister, untrusting and when she has her sights set on something she will stop at nothing to get that something. It's quite inspiring. Penryn is also different to Katniss in that she hasn't grown up in this desolate, dystopian world so she has had to be able to adapt to a lifestyle that is completely different from a first world style life. She is one of the female protagonists that I find myself actually liking as she is intelligent and is quick to adapt and survive her surroundings.

Susan Ee also built up the world pretty well. Sometimes that is where dystopian novels falter as they don't spend enough time building up the setting, but Susan has apparently found the perfect ratio between character development and location development which thus allows the reader to connect more to the story.

If you're one to normally avoid Angel novels at all costs, try to push that aside and read this book as the story is fantastically structured. The narrative gives us just enough time to get used to one part of Penryn's journey before we are yanked away by our hair and thrown into a completely new part of the journey and it works so well. What continued to be one of my favourite moments in this book was Penryn's mother turning up all over the place, she is slightly insane and it's absolutely great.

I, like thousands of others, rate this book 5 stars out of 5 just because it is so amazingly, fantastically awesome and you should check it out for the sheer amount of stupid adjectives that I have used to describe this novel. Seriously, check it out: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Angelfall-Penryn-End-Days-Susan/dp/144477851X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378072910&sr=8-1&keywords=Angelfall

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