Readers Choice Winner: Review of Angelfall by Susan Ee

How is it that I took so long to read this book? You guys got it right again.

Goodreads Book Description: 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.

Locus Magazine, March 2012 Finalist for Cybils Bloggers Award for Best YA Fantasy & Sci-fi Book of the Year 2011.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

My Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee focuses on a teenaged girl, Penryn, who fights to protect her small and dysfunctional family in a post-apocalyptic Silicon Valley where angels have destroyed much of the technology and population. She has a psychologically unhinged mother who is no longer on medication, a sister who is disabled and uses a wheelchair, and no safe haven or regular food or water source. She meets Raffe, an angel, who gets his wings cut off in a fight, loses her mother, and her sister gets taken away. This all just happens in the first few pages. The rest of the book is her journey to finding her sister, his journey to repairing his wings, and their journey to understanding each other and their place in this new, terrible world.

I was completely blown away by this book. I was caught in its web a few pages in, and it never let me go. The pacing is terrific, the world building fantastic, and the plot never slows down. Who ever thought of an angel paranormal apocalypse? Not to mention Penryn is one of the best protagonists I've seen in a while-- and she also has a great and unusual backstory as to why she is so kickbutt. The prose is straight, honest, and raw, just like its protagonist and all of it falls together just right.

Overall, a smashing first book to this series, and I have just joined the mounds of eager followers that need the next book pronto! Ee is definitely an author I'll keep my eye on.

What did you think about this book?