Check out the contest here!: http://www.susanee.com/blog/2012/08/giveawaysigned-kindle-fire-with-angelfall.html
Angelfall
by Susan Ee
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.
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.
Recommended for: Anyone losing faith in angel/demon books, Anyone that doubts self-pub novels, EVERYONE
Read Count: 1
Rating: 
Update 1: Oh my goodness, amazing. More reviews to come, it's currently 4am and I have to be up at 7am, but I don't care because this book was WORTH IT.
Update 2: I am now up for the day, and I'm so frustrated that I don't have the next book to tear in to so that I can jump back into the world of Penrynn and Raffe. I just may need to re-read already!
Final Review:
I didn't realize that when I picked up Angelfall, it was a self-pub novel. I also didn't realize when I finished Angelfall that it was a self-pub novel. It was that good. Susan Ee obviously put a lot of effort and love into the creation of this novel, and it clearly shows throughout the entire story. I literaly couldn't put this book down, I was engrossed from start to finish. Kind of like this:
Angelfall opens up by introducing you to Penryn, her sister and her mother. In a few short paragraphs, you're given the information that the Apocalypse has come to Earth, and was brought about by none other than the Angels themselves. These angels aren't the fluffy, sweet beings that lore has tended to allure to, but instead they are vicious creatures of justice and violence, brutally murdering hundreds of thousands and decimating cities and towns alike. In the wake of the apocalypse, it becomes clear just how terrifying an Angel is when Penryn expresses complete horror when a single down angel feather floats down from the sky in front of her.
After coming to understand just how feared and hated the Angels are, we then see through Penryn's eyes as an Angel literally falls from the sky in front of her and is tortured by another group of Angels. Rather than calling attention to herself, Penryn sends her mother and sister running to safety while she stays behind to make sure the group of angels don't see and follow them. When she accidentally calls attention to herself, she does the first thing she can think of and scoops up the tortured Angel's fallen sword and tosses it to him. In retaliation, the group of Angels fly's off with Penryn's sister, setting her on a course she hadn't expected and leading her right into the den of the enemy.
The pacing in this book is phenomenal. I was never bored, my attention never strayed at all. My eyes and heart were glued to the pages and words in front of me from start to finish, and then despaired as I realized the second book does not even have a publication date set yet. I need more, right now! My life is a dark cloud of misery without these characters as a part of it!
One of my favorite things about this book is the type of heroine that Penryn is. She is not weak minded, weak bodied or annoying. She is a strong female role model who, rather than saying "fuck my life, the world is ending", instead fights daily to make it to the next sunrise and take care of her family, despite how dysfunctional it is. There is no "twu wuv", "insta love", nothing. The two main characters feelings grow at a steady pace, so that when you start to hear hints of emotion felt towards the other, it seems a normal turn of events. Though the true matter is, romance is barely touched upon in this book at all. I believe it will play a heavier role in book two, but as for book one, it's definitely on the back burner.
Something else that caught my attention were the religious views in this book. I'm agnostic myself, so I usually tend to stay away from books that rely heavily on religion as their plot. Angelfall manages to talk of Angels and God without shoving anything down your throat, inflicting opinions on you, and best of all, I was shocked nearly out of my boots by a revelation that Raffe made towards the end of the book. It. Was. PERFECT.
My only complaints about this book are the fact that I would love to hear more about the apocalypse and WHY it happened. I was also a tad irritated with how Raffe spoke (one would think for how old he is, he wouldn't tend to use generalized teen lingo). However, his sarcastic and witty humor make up for any irritation with his choice of words. I will also warn that this book doesn't necessarily read as YA. There are some pretty gruesome events and scenes in the novel, (and how couldn't there be after the apocalypse) and they are written with hauntingly beautiful imagery. I'll leave a quote with one scene below.
And with that, I hope I leave you wanting to devour this wonderful piece of fiction. If I didn't, maybe some of these quotes will sway you over!
He snorts. “Aside from being beaned with a rock, I’ll live.”
“Sorry.” I feel pretty god-awful about that, but there’s no point in groveling over it.
“The next time you have a quarrel with me, I’d appreciate it if you could just talk to me first before resorting to pelting me with rocks.”
It’s not long before we see the little girls.
They hang from a tree. Not by their necks, but by ropes tied under their arms and around their chests.
One girl looks to be about Paige’s age and the other a couple of years older. That would make them seven and nine. The older girl’s hand still grips the younger girl’s dress like she had tried to hold the little girl up out of harm’s way.
They wear what look like matching striped dresses. It’s hard to tell now that the print is stained in blood. Most of the material has been ripped and shredded. Whatever gnawed on their legs and torso got full before it reached their chests. Or it was too low to the ground to reach them.
The worst by far are their tortured expressions. They were alive when they were eaten.
“You're like a little girl demanding answers to questions during a covert operation. Why is the sky blue, daddy? Can I ask that man with the machine gun where the bathroom is? If you don't stay quiet, I'm going to have to dump you.”
“Why were the other angels attacking you?"
"It's impolite to ask the victim of violence what they did to be attacked.”
“Angels are violent creatures.”
“So I noticed. I used to think they were all sweet and kind.”
“Why would you think that? Even in your Bible, we’re harbingers of doom, willing and able to destroy entire cities. Just because we sometimes warned one or two of you beforehand doesn’t make us altruistic.”
And the best part? The book is only 2.99 at Barne and Noble! You can't beat that!
Okay, I'm done gushing now, I swear! Go! Go read this book! You have no excuse not to!
Update 2: I am now up for the day, and I'm so frustrated that I don't have the next book to tear in to so that I can jump back into the world of Penrynn and Raffe. I just may need to re-read already!
Final Review:
I didn't realize that when I picked up Angelfall, it was a self-pub novel. I also didn't realize when I finished Angelfall that it was a self-pub novel. It was that good. Susan Ee obviously put a lot of effort and love into the creation of this novel, and it clearly shows throughout the entire story. I literaly couldn't put this book down, I was engrossed from start to finish. Kind of like this:
Angelfall opens up by introducing you to Penryn, her sister and her mother. In a few short paragraphs, you're given the information that the Apocalypse has come to Earth, and was brought about by none other than the Angels themselves. These angels aren't the fluffy, sweet beings that lore has tended to allure to, but instead they are vicious creatures of justice and violence, brutally murdering hundreds of thousands and decimating cities and towns alike. In the wake of the apocalypse, it becomes clear just how terrifying an Angel is when Penryn expresses complete horror when a single down angel feather floats down from the sky in front of her.
After coming to understand just how feared and hated the Angels are, we then see through Penryn's eyes as an Angel literally falls from the sky in front of her and is tortured by another group of Angels. Rather than calling attention to herself, Penryn sends her mother and sister running to safety while she stays behind to make sure the group of angels don't see and follow them. When she accidentally calls attention to herself, she does the first thing she can think of and scoops up the tortured Angel's fallen sword and tosses it to him. In retaliation, the group of Angels fly's off with Penryn's sister, setting her on a course she hadn't expected and leading her right into the den of the enemy.
The pacing in this book is phenomenal. I was never bored, my attention never strayed at all. My eyes and heart were glued to the pages and words in front of me from start to finish, and then despaired as I realized the second book does not even have a publication date set yet. I need more, right now! My life is a dark cloud of misery without these characters as a part of it!
One of my favorite things about this book is the type of heroine that Penryn is. She is not weak minded, weak bodied or annoying. She is a strong female role model who, rather than saying "fuck my life, the world is ending", instead fights daily to make it to the next sunrise and take care of her family, despite how dysfunctional it is. There is no "twu wuv", "insta love", nothing. The two main characters feelings grow at a steady pace, so that when you start to hear hints of emotion felt towards the other, it seems a normal turn of events. Though the true matter is, romance is barely touched upon in this book at all. I believe it will play a heavier role in book two, but as for book one, it's definitely on the back burner.
Something else that caught my attention were the religious views in this book. I'm agnostic myself, so I usually tend to stay away from books that rely heavily on religion as their plot. Angelfall manages to talk of Angels and God without shoving anything down your throat, inflicting opinions on you, and best of all, I was shocked nearly out of my boots by a revelation that Raffe made towards the end of the book. It. Was. PERFECT.
My only complaints about this book are the fact that I would love to hear more about the apocalypse and WHY it happened. I was also a tad irritated with how Raffe spoke (one would think for how old he is, he wouldn't tend to use generalized teen lingo). However, his sarcastic and witty humor make up for any irritation with his choice of words. I will also warn that this book doesn't necessarily read as YA. There are some pretty gruesome events and scenes in the novel, (and how couldn't there be after the apocalypse) and they are written with hauntingly beautiful imagery. I'll leave a quote with one scene below.
And with that, I hope I leave you wanting to devour this wonderful piece of fiction. If I didn't, maybe some of these quotes will sway you over!
He snorts. “Aside from being beaned with a rock, I’ll live.”
“Sorry.” I feel pretty god-awful about that, but there’s no point in groveling over it.
“The next time you have a quarrel with me, I’d appreciate it if you could just talk to me first before resorting to pelting me with rocks.”
It’s not long before we see the little girls.
They hang from a tree. Not by their necks, but by ropes tied under their arms and around their chests.
One girl looks to be about Paige’s age and the other a couple of years older. That would make them seven and nine. The older girl’s hand still grips the younger girl’s dress like she had tried to hold the little girl up out of harm’s way.
They wear what look like matching striped dresses. It’s hard to tell now that the print is stained in blood. Most of the material has been ripped and shredded. Whatever gnawed on their legs and torso got full before it reached their chests. Or it was too low to the ground to reach them.
The worst by far are their tortured expressions. They were alive when they were eaten.
“You're like a little girl demanding answers to questions during a covert operation. Why is the sky blue, daddy? Can I ask that man with the machine gun where the bathroom is? If you don't stay quiet, I'm going to have to dump you.”
“Why were the other angels attacking you?"
"It's impolite to ask the victim of violence what they did to be attacked.”
“Angels are violent creatures.”
“So I noticed. I used to think they were all sweet and kind.”
“Why would you think that? Even in your Bible, we’re harbingers of doom, willing and able to destroy entire cities. Just because we sometimes warned one or two of you beforehand doesn’t make us altruistic.”
And the best part? The book is only 2.99 at Barne and Noble! You can't beat that!
Okay, I'm done gushing now, I swear! Go! Go read this book! You have no excuse not to!
