Tuesday 7 January 2014

Angelfall by Susan Ee

Title: Angelfall
Author: Susan Ee
Publisher: Hodder
Released: May 21st 2011
Pages: 325 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US
Add on 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.

Travelling 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.

I get the hype. I so totally get the hype. As soon as Angelfall was published, it was all that the blogasphere could talk about - an indie novel that no one could believe was just in eBook form. Earlier this year it finally got released as a physical copy, so I've had this on my shelf for a while. I wish I'd picked it up sooner.

In a post-apocalyptic world where the Earth has been ravaged by ferocious angels, day-to-day life is uncertain for many humans, including Penryn. So when they witness an angel's wings being cut off and her little sister is dragged away from her, she strikes up an unlikely companionship in order to get her back.

In Angelfall, you really never know what direction the plot is going to take next. The world is so so different from our own, and the paranormal aspects within the novel go far beyond just angels; there are demons, Nephilim, and other creations that I won't mention because spoilers. Ee has created a flawless diegesis where every aspect of it is carefully thought out.

Penryn is a fantastic narrative to follow, as well as being a grounded, strong-willed heroine. Although she is going through unbelievable events, she is still a believable character, and I think the reader relates to her on a level where we can put ourselves in her shoes and react the same way to the same scenario.

I was kind of hoping to get more from Raffe. He's an angel (and, quick spoiler, an archangel no less) I never thought I'd relate a book to a television show, but I adore Supernatural, and each of the angels in it carry with them a certain presence. Comparing our Raffe to the Raphael in Supernatural, it's no contest as to who holds the title of Badass. Raffe was gorgeous, sure, but he didn't have an evangelical presence about him - none of the angels did. They were made to be sleazy, like some kind of gangster mafia rather than "above" humans. His characterisation just fell a bit short for me.

Overall, I really enjoyed Angelfall and did a complete double-take at the plot twist at the end. It's one of the best indie reads out there, and I'd definitely recommend it to any paranormal fan.
Rating: 4/5

1 comment:

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