Angelfall – by Susan EE

Synopsis: It’s been six weeks since the angels of the apocalypse destroyed the world as we know it. Only pockets of humanity remain.

Savage street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night.

When angels fly away with a helpless girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back…

 

Title: Angelfall
Author: Susan EE
Publisher: Hodder
Pages: 336
ISBN: 9781444778519

Rating:

I went on a bit of a book quest yesterday, and ended up in the biggest Waterstone’s I’ve ever seen (5 storeys!). Fully intending to buy the sequel to Angelfall, I ended up buying 5 other books instead, but couldn’t be bothered to go back and find it. BIG MISTAKE. I have been kicking myself ever since I finished the first book last night and wondering why I didn’t walk back into that store!

Recently, I’ve been put off YA novels; I know these books are targeted at young adults and should be a little sugar-coated but come on! Post apocalyptic world, angels fly down and kill people… don’t use tragic, horror-filled plots if you’re not going to do them justice. Thankfully, Angelfall is one of the darkest post-apocalyptic YA’s I’ve read this year and managed to make it work.

Susan EE surpassed all my expectations with this book – it’s gripping from start to finish, so much so that I gave up on sleep to finish it (a rare occurrence, I assure you). The characters are interesting, realistic and diverse – you have everything from evil angels to crazy mothers. The plot is extremely fast-paced and, as the action is restricted to a small area, depictions of post-apocalyptic San Francisco are more convincing.

My only gripe with this book, with YA in general and, in fact, with most fiction these days; is that the female protagonist always manages to find, develop, and rely on the ‘love interest’ of the story too quickly (don’t worry, this isn’t a spoiler; nothing happens, or maybe it does?!).  Why can’t a woman – or in this case, a teenager – be hard-core, beat up everyone and save the world without falling for a guy? We don’t always need romance people!?

Despite this, Angelfall is quite easily one of the best YA novels I’ve read this year; it’s gritty, dark and unapologetically chilling.  If you liked The Hunger Games, you’ll love this!

P.s. I have to give a shout out to Prettybooks, who reviewed the sequel, World After, and made me buy this book.