Review: End of Days

Info: 
Title: End of Days
Author: Susan Ee
Series: Penryn and the End of Days #3
Publisher: Skyscape
Publication Date: May 12, 2015
Source: Purchased
Synopsis:
End of Days is the explosive conclusion to Susan Ee’s bestselling Penryn & the End of Days trilogy.

After a daring escape from the angels, Penryn and Raffe are on the run. They’re both desperate to find a doctor who can reverse the twisted changes inflicted by the angels on Raffe and Penryn’s sister. As they set off in search of answers, a startling revelation about Raffe’s past unleashes dark forces that threaten them all.

When the angels release an apocalyptic nightmare onto humans, both sides are set on a path toward war. As unlikely alliances form and strategies shift, who will emerge victorious? Forced to pick sides in the fight for control of the earthly realm, Raffe and Penryn must choose: Their own kind, or each other?

Review:
The endings of triologies ae always bittersweet for me. On one hand, I'm happy because I have another book and get to find out more of what happens to my favourite characters. On the other hand, I'm heartbroken because it's over.

This book was exactly that. I love Penryn and her messed up family and Raffe and his guilt and indecision and all that. I am so sad to see this series end! I don't know what Susan Ee is up to next, but I hope it's more books, because she really is an engaging writer.

I want this review to be spoiler free for the series, so there's lots I can't really say, but I will say that Penryn continues to be both bad ass and mental tough. She breaks down a few times and acts like a normal teenager, but in general, her strategy of repressing her feelings really seems to work for her.

I really like the way Susan Ee writes action. It's so exciting and engaging. The big event at the end of this book was crazy and I could barely pull myself away when my lunch break ended and I had to go back to work!

As I'm sure I've said in all my reviews of this series, I love these ass kicking, death-dealing breed of angels. They truly are terrifying. I always see similarities between Susan Ee's angels and the angels in season 4 of Supernatural. And it seems like Uriel is always portrayed as a huge dick!

Anyways, before this review devolves into too much of a fangirling mess, I'll end by saying End of Days is a great ending to an awesome series. And just don't think to much about the age difference between Raffe and Penryn or you'll start to feel a touch Twilight-y

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Review: World After

Info:
Title: World After
Author: Susan Ee
Series: Penryn and the End of Days #2
Publisher: Skyscape
Publication Date: November 19, 2013
Source: Purchased.

Synopsis:
In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world.

When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

Review:
I absolutely loved Angelfall, so I was very excited to read the sequel, World After. Unfortunately, this installment lack some of the magic of the first book, but was still an enjoyable read. Also, please note there might be spoilers for book one if you haven't read it yet (get on it!).

I think my main issue was that Raffe was absent for a large portion of the book. Raffe was my favourite character in Angelfall, so to not have him around wasn't great. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of Penryn without Raffe. She had a lot of time to dwell and repress her feelings towards Raffe, which kind of got on my nerves for some reason.

However, beyond that, I enjoyed the book. Penryn continued to be pretty badass. Penryn's mom continued to be that bizarre combination of totally badass and completely insane. And Paige! Poor Paige. I just wanted to give her a big hug, but I can totally understand why Penryn acted the way she did and I probably would too.

There's lot of excitement. Also, the locusts are super creepy, especially later on when you learn more about them. Also daring escapes and the like.

Overall, World After was a fun, enjoyable read that didn't quite live up to my love of the first book, but was definitely enjoyable enough to make me anxious for the next book.

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Review: Angelfall

Info:

Title: Angelfall
Author: Susan Ee
Series: Penryn and the End of Days
Publisher:Feral Dream
Publication Date: February 11, 2012

Blurb:

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.

My Thoughts:

Wow, what an awesome surprise this book was! I honestly wasn't sure what to expect when I started this book, but I was hooked within the first chapter. Angel books are a bit of dangerous territory for me. I've tried a few different types to varying degrees of success. Fallen angels: too creepy and stalker-y. Holy angels: okay, but a bit too religious. Human-type part-angels: excellent. But Angelfire is another category altogether. Wrath of God angels: oh yeah!

Let's start with our heroine, Penryn. Basically, I fell in love with her. She is so flawed, yet so strong. She really embodies what I believe would happen to someone facing an apocalypse. I appreciated that she was willing to do what needed to be done at the same time as she realizes how she has changed since the beginning of the apocalypse. She sees herself becoming cruel in order to provide for her family and keep them safe, but is strong enough to continue on anyway.

I loved seeing how family remained so important to Penryn. In this regard, Angelfall actually reminded me of The Hunger Games, with the strong old sister going to any lengths to protect the younger one, as well as an absent father and a less-than-ideal mother. We actually don't see much of Penryn's little sister Paige, but from what Penryn tells us, she seems like such a little sweetheart! Penryn's mother is a different story. She is a paranoid schizophrenic and the apocalypse means she no longer has access to the medicine she needs, turning her into a bit of a loose cannon throughout the story.

And the angels! I love these "wrath of God" type angel so much more than whiney, fallen-to-earth angels. In this regard, I saw a lot of parallels with the angels in the tv show Supernatural, which is one of my faves.  Dean's description of angels as "dicks with wings" totally fits here too. And I love the use of angel lore, since I would do a little happy dance inside whenever I spied an angel name I recognized (Michael, Gabriel, Uriel etc.). Angels always walk a bit of a fine line for me before they fall into the realm of overly-religious and preachy, but this was definitely not an issue with Angelfall (hooray)!

The angel we get to know the best throughout the story is Raffe, who I thought was very well done. While I may not have a real thing for bad boys, I do have a thing for the anti-hero and Raffe definitely fell into that category for me. I enjoyed watching him and Penryn together as they both came to see a different side of the enemy they'd been fighting. I always enjoy when a story becomes less about good vs evil and more about us vs them (the world is grey after all, not black and white).

Overall, I really enjoyed Angelfall; it's a great combination of angel-lore and apocalyptic mayhem! I seriously recommend this one to anyone who enjoyed post-apocalyptic or apocalyptic fiction and/or would like to see some not-so-cuddly angels kicking our lazy human butts!

On the Cover:

I'm a fan. I like the wings and the striated effect.There's another version floating around where Angelfall is on the bottom and has a reflection effect going on, which I don't like. But my version is very pretty!

Rating: 5 Hearts

Source: Bought from Book Depository

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