Angelfall Review: Penryn

Book: Angelfall
Author: Susan Ee
Series: Penryn & the End of Days
Standing: Book 1
POV: 1st person by Penryn, present tense
Genre: YA post-apocalspye, paranormal thriller

Source: Physical copy
Pages: 288
Release: February 14th, 2012
Publisher: Feral Dream

Favourite line: "The only thing up for discussion is how I'll rescue her, not whether I'll try."

"I never thought about it before, but I'm proud to be human. We're ever so flawed. We're frail, confused, violent, and we struggle with so many issues. But all in all, I'm proud to be a Daughter of Man."

Rating: 5 STARS

Blurb: (Goodreads)
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.

                        ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭

HOLY ANGELS AND HEAVEN AND EVERYTHING ELSE AND BACK AGAIN. Yet another series I should have started a whole lot earlier. God, what is wrong with me? This is starting to become a bad habit. I'm such an idiot. I need the next book, NOW.

I don't even know where to start with this book. I just...all my feelings are going up in smoke and I'm still reeling from the events. My heart is still hammering in my chest.

Meet the six-week old angel apocalypse. In which humans are still trying to adjust to the sudden doomsday, where houses can still be raided and gangs are newly forming. People are still confused, still hoping it's all a bad dream. Enter our fantastic heroine, Penryn (that name itself is badass). Just trying to get her family somewhere safe. Not asking to join sides, not asking for any trouble (unless trouble finds her). And not asking for the very demons who have destroyed her world, angels, to kidnap her seven-year old sister, Paige. Enter Raffe. His wings have been brutally stripped, and he lies bleeding on the streets. The same street Paige is taken, the same street that Penryn's on. An unlikely truce forms between the two, and they travel together, one in search of Paige and the other in search of a way to get his wings attached back.

It was easy to like Penryn. She was pure badass, trained in various martial arts, fierce,  and extremely loyal. Loyalty is Penryn's defining trait; it's what keeps her going, no matter what is thrown at her. She's resourceful (duct tape for the win!), and brilliant. She was able to adapt to any situation, playing drunk, playing spiteful, everything. I truly liked her fighting spirit, her drive to continue on to find and rescue her sister. And not once did she ever take no as an answer. She doesn't wait for things to happen; she makes things happen. I wish I could high five this girl.

And then, of course, we have Raffe. Kind, willing to get himself caught for Penryn's sake, with an adorable (and cocky) sense of humor. Yet another guy to add to my ever-growing list of boyfriends. Raffe is one of the very beings that descended and lay wreckage on Earth, yet we find him at odds with other angels at the beginning of the book. His wings are cut off, and he's left in the streets, no different than a human in form without his wings. His search to be made whole again, to join his race, is really an understandable one. But the one question I kept asking: what exactly had he done to have been targeted and attacked by his fellow angels? This question isn't exactly resolved, so hopefully it will be answered in the next book.

The ending was downright terrifying, yet I couldn't put it down. It was gripping, and I'm glad I was reading beside an open pane of sunlight. Never in my life did I expect what Penryn found. Nor would I had reacted as calmly as she did. I probably would have run, screaming for my life.

Okay, now I'm going to go on a spoiler tangent here. You've been warned. It will be a lot of me flustering around with all my feels.

SPOILERS!!!

*****

*****

*****

OH MY GOD THAT ENDING. Angel-scorpions? I don't like scorpions. I like them even less if they're big, and super strong. And I'm downright terrified if they're some kind of angel-scorpion hybrid. But I can't help but love them. They were perfect for the atmosphere, enabling Penryn to suck up her terror and continue on. It shows how strong she is, and how she is morally good by freeing the people the monsters were...well, eating. But I honestly can't wait to see what becomes of them, and how Penryn will battle them...

Laylha betrayed Raffe! And Beliel got his wings! Raffe got bat wings! WHAT? I was suspicious of Layhla, yes, but I did NOT see that coming. I can only feel the anguish Raffe is feeling, how if he wasn't different before, he's even more different now. He looks like a demon, and no one will see him as friendly...

PAIGE. Oh my god. What are the angels doing, experimenting on human children? Razors for teeth, stitches up and down her body. I felt Penryn's pain, felt the horror when Paige attacked the lab angel. The only plus is that now she's not entirely defenceless, and that she can walk again. But still. PLOT TWISTS. Actually, the entire ending was one freaking plot twist after another.

My heart is also being torn in two with the fact that Raffe thinks Penryn is dead. The anguish he felt? I died. We finally get to see the caring side of him that we all knew existed underneath. The author really knows how to play with our heartstrings. Heck, I felt my heart being sheered. And I don't think they'll be recovering anytime soon...

I've caved and trying desperately to get my hands on the next book. Forget the rest of my August books. I need the sequel. I need the sequel!!!

I also quickly want to thank Cody from Literary-ly Obsessed. You probably don't know that it was your review on End of Days that made me decide to read this series. It's true, and I thank you for it! It would have been a shame to miss out on this series!