Anyway, I come to you today bringing a series that I read in January which I thought was incredible. Honestly, I only picked it up because I saw it on a booktuber's channel (can't remember who at the moment) and they've always recommended good books, so I thought... Why not?
The series I'm talking about is Angelfall by Susan Ee, also known as the 'Penryn and the End of Days' series. I'll stick to Angelfall since I have no idea how to pronounce that name.
The Plot
Basically, Angelfall sees the angels bringing down the apocalypse on the world. They appeared one day and started destroying everything, causing fires, tsunamis, killing people, etc.
The story starts a few months after this event through the point of view of Penryn, a 17 year old survivor who, alongside her paralyzed little sister and schizophrenic mother, scavenges for food and a safe place to stay. They're in Northern California and since humanity always bands together in times of disaster (note sarcasm), they must also avoid other scavengers and the gangs who've taken over the streets.
However, before they can really leave they're caught in the middle of a fight between angels. Penryn's little sister Paige gets kidnapped by one of the angels for unknown reasons and Penryn has to ally herself with her worst enemy to get her back, an angel called Raffe who has just lost his wings.
Reasons I Loved It
It sounds all over the place and maybe even like it would be a bad story, but it's not. Oh, it is not! I was so surprised with a lot of things in these books. First of all, the main protagonist: Penryn Young. I generally have a tough time with protagonists. For some reason, I just don't like them. Specially the female protagonists. I don't know if it's that the authors are trying too hard to make them more dependent or if they're too emotional or what, but I just don't like them. I loved Penryn.
My big problem with characters are their personalities: if they have zero common sense, if they spend half the book crying, if their priorities are wrong, if they make bad decision, etc. I can't stand these kind of characters. Of course they're this way because they are meant to be flawed, but I think there is a limit and I have not seen it.
Penryn is a kickass female protagonist. She is on top of things, knows what needs to be done and freaking does it. She takes her time to make a decision and doesn't let emotions get in her way. I mean, the main reason she takes action is because of her love for her family and especially her little sister, but she doesn't do it blindly. She analyses, plots, and executes. I loved everything about her. She's sarcastic but knows when to shut up. She's brave but not stupid and backs down when bravery would be suicide. She trusts her instincts but still tries to consider every venue. The few moments she has acted spontaneously she had reasons. And the best thing of all... she has some freaking common sense! Oh look, people running? Perfect, I'm just going to get far away from them, and not go up to them trying to figure out why they're running.
“When you're small enough to have to look up at everyone around you, there's no such thing as a dirty fight. That's a new motto for me. I think I'll keep it.”
Another character I loved was her mom, who as I mentioned before is schizophrenic. I won't go into much detail but she took me by surprise. She's both hilarious and pitiful. You can feel Penryn's frustration with her but at the same time recognize their bond. This quote sums her up perfectly:
“We now play a permanent game of I-am-crazier-and-scarier-than-you. And in that game, my mother is our secret weapon.”
There are two other characters that were just incredible but I can't talk about them without spoiling anything. Just watch out for Dee-Dum.
Did I mentioned the sass level in this book? Take a look:
“I'm not moping," I whisper back. "Of course you're not. A girl like you, spending time with a warrior demigod like me. What's to mope about? Leaving a wheelchair behind couldn't possibly show up on the radar compared to that.""You've got to be kidding me.""I never kid about my warrior demigod status.”"Oh. My. God." I lower my voice, having forgotten to whisper. "You are nothing but a bird with an attitude. Okay, so you have a few muscles, I’ll grant you that. But you know, a bird is nothing but a barely evolved lizard. That’s what you are.”
Aside from that, I thought that the angels and their hierarchy and even a bit of their culture were very well explained. There was depth there that I wasn't expecting. We learn about the archangels, hell, several other biblical creatures and even a bit of politics thrown in the mix.
We also get to see how humanity is coping. I really enjoyed that level of psychology and the different ways people react to catastrophe. Wether it be to try and fight the enemy, throw your lot in with numbers regardless of the moral compass, go solo and try to survive by any means necessary.
Things I didn't like (SPOILERY - YOU WHERE WARNED!)
There are only a few things to mention here. There were certain characters that were mentioned where I would have liked a bit more presence in the book. One in particular drop heavy hints about his past, and I thought I would have been interesting to dig deeper into that particular background.
Also, I didn't like how fast the romance between the two characters happened. They're supposed to be enemies and yet... I would have liked a nice slow build. Not against romance at all, but come on. That level of hatred does not disappear over night because they guy is hot (might help but not that quickly!).
And the last thing I didn't like was the ending. It wasn't terrible but I felt like it didn't live up to the rest of the books. Though that is for each of you to see.
Things to Look Out For
The book is gory as hell. I like to describe it as a casually gory book because it seriously catches you by surprise. One second you have this sarcastic conversation you can't stop laughing at, and then you come across a couple of people dismembered and blood everywhere. Yeah. Just thought you should know that going in.
Let me know if you read it and what your thoughts are on it =)
