Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

The Story (From 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.

My Thoughts:

 I'll be the first to admit that I'm a sucker for a bargain. I buy ebooks because if they're hit and miss, I've only spent about .99c. So it says a lot that I am going to buy myself a paper copy of Angelfall. 

THE PLOT:
 - I loved how fast paced Angelfall was. From start to finish it was just Go! Go! Go! and some of the things that happened really did shock me, which hardly ever happens.
- The explanation for the angel invasion is such a unique and clever idea and though some of the plot is a bit implausible, I was still able to suspend disbelief.  
- I really enjoyed the fact that Ee has def done her homework when it comes to aspects of angel lore. 


THE WRITING:
- Angelfall has restored my faith in first person/present tense writing.  It's intimate but without a smidgen of that self indulgent whining that tends to happen a lot when you're stuck inside someone's head.
- This is a book where metaphors are done right and they make sense. sigh. 
- I really enjoyed the banter and witty dialogue and I'm not at all jealous at how effortlessly it's been done *COUGH*

THE CHARACTERS:
- I adore Penryn. She's one of the few heroines whose stream of consciousness thoughts don't make me want to hurl myself out of a window. She's strong and resourceful, but she also has a softer side. Some of her one liners had me grinning from ear to ear and I really admired her devotion to her sister. I loved that Penryn and Raffe don't just meet and then her whole world becomes solely about him. Their relationship is organic and without insta-love or even insta-like. Phew.
- Though he wasn't by any means the most swoon-worthy love interest IMO, I really liked Raffe as well. He too had some great one liners and his conversations with Penryn were amongst the best bits of the story. I liked that he wasn't overprotective of Penryn from the beginning which tends to happen a lot in YA books.
- Penryn's mum is a brilliant character. Easily my favourite.  Scary yet lovable is all I can say.

THE OTHER STUFF (may contain spoilers):
 - Just some random continuity stuff: There's a scene where Penryn has to put on a dress and be sexy in order to get into the angel aerie. Now, I don't know about you guys but if it's been six weeks since I did any feminine pampering stuff, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't look gorgeous. I'm just saying...hair and stuff everywhere.
 - Speaking of the six week thing, I would really like to believe that if humans are good at one thing only it's staving of an invasion. So six weeks seems a bit of a short time for everything to fall apart. Seriously, there are so many rednecks with guns it's not even funny anymore. 

Overall though, I couldn't put Angelfall down until I made myself put it down because it was putting me off my own writing. Despite some of the minor inconsistencies, I really felt compelled by this book and that's saying a lot considering how insanely critical I've been lately.

The Rating:

10/10