Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Title: Angelfall
Author: Susan Ee
Published May 21st 2011 by Feral Dream
Goodreads
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You guys remember the feeling, back in the day, when we all read The Hunger Games? Remember how it blew our collective minds and left us with the feeling of “Oh this is great, this will transcend”? I felt that again today as I devoured the first installment of the Penryn & the End of Days series, Angelfall.

Fast-paced, to the point, and packed of action and emotion, this book took me back to the days when I was genuinely excited about a story. It’s been a long time since I got this mentally invested in a dystopian book and I’m glad it happened because I needed a story that reassured me that not all of them are a marketing idea and a colossal waste of my time.

Penryn, our young heroine, is as amazing as they come. I absolutely loved how she was always either saving her own butt or saving the hero’s butt and that, my friends, in my book counts as a truly independent woman. Despite her young years she was so mentally ahead of many seventeen-year-olds I know, but when she broke down crying after seeing the destruction of what was left of her city nearly brought me to tears.

Now Raffe is a whole ‘nother train of thought. I loved him as the hero, I loved his mysteriousness and his loner boy attitude. I loved that he was never overwhelming in his need to be the savior, and instead let Penryn handle things on her own. I loved his sense of humor and most of all, I loved how he showed his true feelings at the end, it was so romantic and unexpected because I have grown accustomed of his hiding them.

The book is an action story but it hold much more, the love between sisters, the struggles to love a mentally-ill mother, falling in love for the first time and falling in love with someone you can’t have. So many feelings going on and it never felt crowded, Susan Ee masterly manages to craft a beautiful, complex story that still felt light enough.

I have to say though, that some part of me still feels unsatisfied. I see the potential and think this series can become something pretty amazing and I'm counting on it. I seriously cannot wait to see what happens next because even though SO MUCH happened in this book, it left room for so much more to happen in the next ones.