Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1) in Penryn and the End of Days Re-Read

Sep 16, 2013 Liezl Ruiz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: angels-and-demons

Holy f*ucking cow! Why haven't I read this ASAP the moment my friend suggested this to me?!? 9 months! I have neglected this in my shelf for effing 9 months!!! I just missed 9 f*cking months of my life!

The moment I read the first word of this book, I haven't left it until the sun rose for the morning, not even when my stomach's been empty for half a day! (Well, I'm used to it) This book is very entertaining, you'll be huddled in wherever you are. There are times when I can't restrain myself to l ...more

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Jan 20, 2014 Amie's Book Reviews rated it it was amazing

ANGEL FALL by Susan Ee

Penryn Young may be a teenager, but she is definitely not ordinary.

Growing up with a mentally disturbed mother and a younger sister, Paige, who is confined to a wheelchair after a mysterious "accident" when she had been left alone with their mother. Penryn's father is no longer around and Penryn has spent the last few years taking every kind of defensive and fighting skills class available. Penryn knows how to survive.

This is a good thing because the Angels of the Apocaly ...more

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Jul 16, 2013 Guia G. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: emphasis-on-favorites, 2014-reads, young-adult

I read this the first time back in October 2014. I remember seeing this book being recommended by Sasha (aka abookutopia), I remember thinking it was interesting but never actually intending to read it, I remember lazily clicking random books here and then I found this, and I remember every feeling upon FINALLY picking the book up thinking why the hell have I avoided it in the first place. Reading Angelfall had been a very, very thrilling and heart-breaking ride of my life. It was certainly boo

I read this the first time back in October 2014. I remember seeing this book being recommended by Sasha (aka abookutopia), I remember thinking it was interesting but never actually intending to read it, I remember lazily clicking random books here and then I found this, and I remember every feeling upon FINALLY picking the book up thinking why the hell have I avoided it in the first place. Reading Angelfall had been a very, very thrilling and heart-breaking ride of my life. It was certainly book I have overlooked and I am very upset that I did. Certainly, this took me by surprise. At the time the only books about angels I was ever interested in was the TMI series by Cassie Clare, anything else was nothing to me. Needless to say, after having read this one, that thought changed. There was this long span of endless months when I craved nothing but books merely about paranormal creatures, specifically angels. That was how much this book affected me.

So this is a story of a teenager (duh) in an apocalyptic setting. There were angels that apparently invaded our world and this said event caused a phenomenal world wreckage. By that I meant tsunamis, earthquakes and other natural catastrophic wreck one could think of. Penryn, our protagonist, is stuck in this trying to fend for her sister who was wheelchair bound and her crazy mother. Upon journeying to survive, she finds herself in a situation that involves partnering up with a wingless archangel. I can't tell more since it will be considered as spoilers. There are certainly dark themes unveiled in the book and a lot of blood but a person could stomach such. Susan wrote them in a way that's subtly horrific but not disturbing. The world in this book is a scary world to live in. Only those who are strong enough physically and emotionally could survive. At least that's what I think. This leads me to Penryn. There are times when I just fall deeply in love with a character; deep to the bones admiration-- this was one of them. I don't really want to compare her to the others since the majority of YAs compose of teenage girls (Penryn is 17), knows enough skills about fighting (she knows martial arts), beautiful (it has been clearly implied that Penryn has that 'LOOK' the angels are interested in. Obv, it means gorgeous), and is fearless. In these aspects, Penryn is not considered special. Mostly the YA ladies are like that. I myself could attest to that. Why I liked her? Simple. She's just simple likable. Yeah, right, it justifies everything and wow yeah I'm doing a very good job at describing her. -_- Sorry, but the truth speaks for itself. Penryn is not such a hard girl to like. She has goals and she intends on sticking with them. She's brave and intelligent. She has an insane mother who is very active in demonic communications! She's the one keeping her family stable in a world where everybody is ready to take everybody down! In any world, Penryn is the prefect description of badass.

I would like to lead this review to the romance in the book but if I do, this might become a gush fest. Instead, I'll narrow all my thoughts about RAFFRYN in one sentence: HOLY FREAKING WRATH OF GOD, THIS IS TOO MUCH. Okay this didn't make sense but seriously, this is an exact reaction by how adorable and angsty and amazing these two are. Individually, I really, really like them. Mostly Penryn. But together.. damn. I'll end it with that.

The book is more than the romance in it.

So much of the world unravels as it nears the end. Why the angels were in the earth; why there were abominations roaming and cannibalizing; why has the world turned this way. The way the small truth comes out slowly had me going crazy!

Besides my evident love for Penryn and Raffe, there are some characters which I think was a good addition to the story. DeeDum, the twins who remind me of Fred and George. They added a bit of humor to the whole dark theme. I was glad that they were there, else this book would have to cling into the cute banters of the two. Which, I have to say, is still not enough to lighten up the gloomy aspect of the story. Another personal favorite of mine is Penryn's mother. She's crazy (really) and I'm all about that. Underneath all that talk about the-things-that-chase-us, she cares for her daughters. That is what drives her into doing the things she does, her love for them.

I just really, really loved this book. I wanted it to be longer... and I totally hated the cliffhanger at the end. By now, I've read this book thrice but I still can't control this swirls of emotions in me whenever I get to that part.

A must read. A perfect 5 stars for this book. If you like steamy, cute romance between two bad-ass characters in a world where angels go about and create havoc, well, this is the book for you. It's not all about that cliched YA stuff though, I guarantee that. It will keep you on the edge of your seats and certainly begging for the sequel by the time you finished. ^^

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Feb 13, 2014 Emily rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites

This book was everything I expected it to be.
Lately I've been in a bit of a reading slump. I took a break from traditional novels and read some manga to change things up a bit, and dear did I buy enough new books, but I just wasn't in the mood to read anything in particular. Then I was walking around in a bookstore in Toronto with a friend last weekend and saw this book and, remembering hearing some people talk about it, decided to pick it up. I do not regret this decision.
Angelfall tells the st This book was everything I expected it to be.
Lately I've been in a bit of a reading slump. I took a break from traditional novels and read some manga to change things up a bit, and dear did I buy enough new books, but I just wasn't in the mood to read anything in particular. Then I was walking around in a bookstore in Toronto with a friend last weekend and saw this book and, remembering hearing some people talk about it, decided to pick it up. I do not regret this decision.
Angelfall tells the story of Penryn Young, a 17 year old girl who interferes in a fight between angels after the world has fallen apart. This leads to her younger sister being kidnapped, leaving her with an injured, wingless angel named Raffe. Together, they make their way back to the angels' stronghold in search of Penryn's sister and a way to reattach Raffe's wings.
Oh, I have searched far and wide for a good angel story, and this is it. This book was everything I wanted it to be, and it successfully pulled me out of my reading slump. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I went out and bought the sequel, World After, before I was even halfway done this one because I liked it so much. Now, it wasn't a perfect book, which is why I only gave it four stars, but it was damn good.
Just warning people now, I won't intentionally include spoilers in this review without the proper way of hiding it, but there might be a few places here where I will reveal information that I don't feel is a spoiler, but might be to others.
Character-wise, we are slightly limited. We have Penryn and Raffe, of course, and occasionally Paige, her mother, and the Resistance members. I enjoyed Penryn's character so much! She was strong, intelligent, and independent - what more could I ask for in a female protagonist? She reminded me a lot of Katniss from The Hunger Games in some ways. Seriously, we need more female MCs like Penryn and Katniss. I liked that she was seriously badass despite being surrounded by supernatural beings. She wasn't perfect, but we got a good combination of strength and intelligence from her - she wasn't unbelievably strong for a petite girl but she could hold her own, and neither was she extremely, unrealistically intelligent. I just enjoyed her so much. (view spoiler)
However, I feel like she lost a bit of this awesomeness as the story went on. During the first half of the novel, I was extremely impressed, but during the second half, I was feeling a bit more of that typical-dystopian-female-protagonist vibe from her, if that makes sense. Of course, it was understandable considering she was (view spoiler).
As for Raffe, well, he was awesome. At times his strength was a bit unrealistic considering the extent of his injuries, but (view spoiler) He was sassy, intelligent, and independent as well. I think that's why I liked his and Penryn's relationship so much. There was no insta-love, which scores even more points for the author, although the romance was there. It was sweet and believable.
Another thing I enjoyed a lot about this book was that despite developing their relationship, the author always kept the characters as two unique individuals with separate goals. Raffe is, of course, still loyal to the angels, and Penryn still feels loyalty to the humans. The distinct line between their species wasn't erased simply because they were making googly eyes at each other. This was one of the main things that made them so believable and relatable. That bit of mystery and deception to their relationship made it so interesting and unique.
The secondary characters were A+ as well, which I always like. Penryn's relationship with her mother was an interesting one, and I'd like to see this explored further. I'd also love to see more of the Resistance members in the second book.
Okay, I think I've gushed about the characters enough. I think I've also covered most of my thoughts about the plot, which I enjoyed. The one thing I have to say about the plot, and which is a contributing factor to the 4 stars instead of 5, is that I felt it moved a little too fast at times. I'll take a fast-paced book over a slow one any day, but more than once I felt myself wishing that the author would take a bit more time between scenes. Some scenes could have been expanded on, and everything happened very, very quickly. This wasn't a big thing, though, and I still enjoyed it immensely. (view spoiler) Some things were left unexplained, I will admit, but since it's a trilogy, I'm sure all questions will eventually be answered.
Now, on to the writing. At first, I was a bit hesitant, and I wasn't sure if I liked Ee's writing style or not. At times, it felt like she was telling me things were happening rather than letting me experience them myself, if that makes sense? However, once I got used to the flow of the writing, I found this didn't bother me as much. Not the most amazing writing I've ever read, but it was very good, yet another reason why it warrants 4 stars rather than 5.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. If you're looking for a good angel story, definitely check this out because it's probably the best I've read. Or if you're just interested in reading a well written, strong female protagonist, this might be the book for you. I would definitely recommend it. ...more

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Mar 13, 2014 Masha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, 2014

Just finished it, it was awesome! Penryn was such a kick ass character and I found myself laughing out loud quite a few times :) I do have some questions about why everything is as it is. Why are the angels attacking earth? Hope that's going to be answered in World After, can't wait to start reading! And oooh Penryn and Raffe aaw. More of that in the next one? ...more

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Feb 27, 2014 Kathleen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

Rating: 4.98/5
I have a spoiler-free review on my blog http://wolfsecho.blogspot.com/2014/03...

Re-read: March 2015
Rating: 5/5

I have a spoiler-filled review on my blog http://wolfsecho.blogspot.com/2015/03... ...more

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