Wednesday, 16 October 2024

ANGELFALL by Susan Ee


“It has 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 they fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back. Including making a deal with the enemy.”

What is the book about?

Six weeks ago, with no warning and no idea as to why, angels came down and destroyed the world. Now, only pockets of humanity remain as people struggle to survive. Nothing we were used to rely on works anymore, anything electrical and phones has stopped working, leaving most people helpless with no idea how to survive. Money holds no value and most people have had to turn to inhumane methods in order to protect their families. During the day people live in fear from the street gangs that rule the streets and keep control of everything, robbing the regular people of anything to eat or to help them survive. Once the sun sets a different fear rules – a fear of the supernatural, of the angels of the apocalypse. Penryn is the one in charge of protecting her little family: her mentally unstable mother and her disabled sister. All she wants is to keep them safe, but when she finally decides it’s time for them to leave their apartment and find somewhere safer, everything goes wrong. They encounter some angels who take her helpless little sister and now Penryn will do anything to get her back, including making a deal with the enemy, who may be the only one with the knowledge she needs to find her sister. 

What were your initial thoughts on the book?

I first bought Angelfall and the other books in this trilogy a few years ago and didn’t even know anything about the books at the time. If I’m completely honest I only purchased the books because I needed to get a giant book purchase up to £40 for free delivery and the books were on the ‘similar to books in your basket’ section. I didn’t even read the blurb and just decided it would be interesting to read and then proceeded to completely forget about their existence, as I do with most of my books (I have an extreme addiction!). However, a few months ago my friend was telling me about a few books she was keen to read and she mentioned Angelfall and something clicked in my brain and I remembered owning the series. Then I made the decision to pick up the book and have a look at the blurb and at a few reviews and I became very intrigued and excited to read the books, so I moved them to the top of my to-read list. It seemed like my kind of book as it had a few of the elements I always love. I was so interested to start reading and so confident, especially after my friend said she wanted to try them too. However, at the beginning when I started to read I was a bit disappointed. For some reason I found the book a bit hard to get into at the start, but soon it started to lighten up and my initial thoughts about it were soon confirmed. 

Who was your favourite character and why? 

I think my favourite character was probably Penryn because she was such a realistic human. When she lost her sister and needed to get help from her enemy, she initially was prepared to use rather inhumane methods to get it. She didn’t try to hide what her desperation was turning her into and she made it clear that her sister was her priority and she didn’t care how she got to her. It was so realistic because I know, even though we would want to say that this wouldn’t happen to us, if it had happened to anyone of us we would have been prepared to sacrifice all our morals to get back someone we loved. It was also so clear that most of the time Penryn had no idea what she was doing and was just hoping that things would work out. And obviously she didn’t know what she was doing because she was just a teenager who 6 weeks ago had been going shopping with friends and relied on her phone for everything. Penryn was a very flawed main character, however that’s what made her a great main character and her loyalty to people made her a main character that I definitely admired. 

What was your favourite part of the book and why?

My favourite part was definitely at the end of the book when it was clear that wat Raffe had said to Penryn earlier wasn’t the slightest bit true. Even though I already was pretty confident that what he had said wasn’t true before it even got to this part, the reassurance was definitely nice and made me much more excited to continue with the story. It was such an emotional and very annoying part because of what Raffe believed in that moment and how I was the only one who knew that it wasn’t true. I just wanted to scream at him but just had to sit there watching as the two characters got separated and watch as Raffe believed they would never see each other again. But I also loved this part because it made it clear that the romance I so wanted to happen was definitely going to happen, even though both characters clearly wanted to deny any feelings they had for each other.

What was your overall impression of the book?

Overall I really enjoyed Angelfall and now I can’t wait to read the second book in the trilogy and continue with the adventure. One thing that I really enjoyed about the story was how it was so different and yet so similar to some of the books that I have read and enjoyed. It had the same vibes as the dystopian fiction/fantasy books I have read, where the world is ending and it seems like it is up to a teenager to figure out how to fix everything. However it was also different as Penryn only wanted to save her sister and get back to her family and had no intention of saving the world, even though I’m pretty confident that is how the series is going to end. Another thing I loved about the book was the romance. Although there wasn’t really any romance, it was so clear where it was going between the characters as it was so predictable and I loved it. The enemies to lovers that I know is coming is one of the biggest reasons I am continuing the series and I have high hopes for it so it better meet my expectations. Although I did really enjoy the book, there were a few things that I didn’t love. One thing was that the book was written in the first person. After reading so many books in the third person I think now I’m just so used to it that anything else feels weird. Also I definitely prefer it when the book is written in the third person as I get to watch over all the characters and see more than I would if it were in the first person. However, after a while I got used to it and didn’t hate it any more. The second thing was that it took me a little while to get into the book and I found it hard to read in the beginning. I think that this may have been because of the first person writing but it might have also been because I found it a bit confusing in the beginning as I didn’t really know what was happening or why. Gradually I got into it and I started to get answers to my questions, however in the beginning I found the book a bit disappointing. 

Would you recommend this book?  

I would recommend this book and I think it is a great book for lovers of fantasy, romance and adventure. I think it’s best for readers over 15, but I know anyone will enjoy it (if they have the patience to keep with it at the start).

Summarise the book in one sentence. (Verdict)  

An action-packed story set in a post-apocalyptic world, with the perfect sprinkling of romance and fantasy.

Reviewed by Jimena Gutierrez Reviriego

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