Angelfall is simply the BEST Dystopian book I've read so far!! It's written by the talented Susan Ee. This is her first book and it's a self-published book, which I have to say she's doing a FANTASTIC job. I really enjoyed reading this book. It's a page-turner, fast-paced, no-insta-love, kickass-heroine, it's everything good in one book. This book is just EPIC. I'd give it 6 stars out of 5 if I could (ok, this is me exaggerating. get used to it).
I finally got the physical book YAY. Thanks to Kinokuniya bookstore Singapore. See why I have to read ebooks the entire time? Yes, it's because, I have to go abroad to get a freaking book. Do you know just how much money I must spend to get a BOOK?! Of course, I went to Singapore not just to buy books. But it sure as hell my first priority when I stepped my foot on Changi airport. I went to Singapore to watch Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera theatre. I've always wanted to watch the show, and finally I watched it in 2013. I'll probably talk about it later. Anyway, this is crazy. I live in Indonesia by the way, in this particular city called Jakarta. We got a great Kinokuniya bookstore here, pretty huge for me, but unfortunately, sometimes the book you were looking for isn't the most famous book like The Twilight Saga or Harry Potter. So, when I set foot on the Kino bookstore at Ngee Ann City, I was like. WHOA. wow. eeksss. It was the most exciting feeling I've ever felt on entering a bookstore. it was FREAKING HUGE!!! I practically squealed. It's just a room full of books, and the smell of papers and books, just. *sigh* it is HEAVEN for me.
Isn't the cover beautiful?
I first read it in the form of ebook. and then when I got the physical book, I don't know exactly how many times I put it down, and pick it up, I just love to randomly opened a page and start reading that chapter. No matter what page I was in, I never get tired of reading it. It's THAT EPIC, guys. There's not a single page that I hate. I LOVE the entire book. every page was just THAT awesome.
I don't even know where to start. I guess I'll just give you some hints on what this book is about. So, It's a Dystopian Young Adult novel. It was set in the post-apocalyptic world after the Angels invasion. They have successfuly demolished the planet. Rubbles everywhere. The world is now filled with Angels, street gangs, and other dark creatures. The story focused on Penryn, the brave girl who is always looking out for her little family consist of three. Her mom and her little sister, Paige. So, The Mom is a little crazy. She's just weird. She said she can communicate with demons? and that she made a deal with one? and she carried these rotten eggs everywhere regardless the situation she was in. that's just weird. but interesting idea as well. I can not wait for the truth to unfold about the Mom in book 2 (YES, it's a Trilogy everybody).
The second character is her little sister Paige. She's wheelchair bound. Pity little thing. We still didn't know what exactly happen to her legs, all we know was that it was the Mom who accidentally Broke it. And maybe Paige is one of the most tragic character in this book. Oh it's heartbreaking, what happened to her.
One night, Penryn decided that it was the perfect time for her to flee their place. Not their home of course. They've been running ever since the invasion, and it's just another hiding place she chose to shelter her and her family.
That night, she stumbled upon 5 angels and 1 badly injured Angel. They seemed to be engaged in a 'dirty' fight. Five against one. Penryn didn't even dare to blink. She wanted to witness the whole scene perfectly. The badly injured Angel has a very magnificent pair of snowy wings. He was now crouched on the gravel, two Angels pinned him down, and the other one tried to cut off the poor angel's snowy wings. She still couldn't shut her eyes though the scene she's just witnessed was gory and unpleasant. The snowy winged Angel, now wingless, screamed in agony as the sword sliced through his wings. Blood splattered all over him and onto the asphalt.
Penryn felt the need to help the helpless Angel, so she grabbed the wingless Angel's sword that happens to be in front of her, it's surprisingly light weight, in spite of the shape, and threw it to the Angel's opened hand. Judging by the state he was in, there was no way in hell he could move. But he quickly jumps to his feet and slashed at his opponents, though he had a hard time catching his balance. This wingless Angel must have had a hell of a reputation before this whole mess.
The bad Angel turned sharply at her direction, his face full of hatred, and started to fly above her toward her little sister. Penryn froze and then ran toward her sister as fast as she can. The bad Angel scooped Paige up and started to fly away with her to the open sky, smug on his face. Penryn tried so hard to retrieve back her sister and fail to do so.
Penryn finally made up her mind to search for her sister and she needs every help she can get, including making a deal with the enemy himself, the wingless Angel. They need each other to survive, the Angel needs to recover from all the blood loss and can't do a thing without his wings on his back anyway. and Penryn didn't know which way to go to reach the Aerie, the place where the Angels settled without the Angel's help. Things get interesting.
This book gripped me right from the very first page. I absolutely love the first scene. The way they met each other for the first time was a work of a genius! The visual was just depicted so beautifully, skillfully and so real, it makes you want to flip another and another pages until you've reached the back cover. I litteraly can't put the book down.
The Angels weren't the pretty things we have always imagined before or the way books like Hush Hush was trying to portray. It's more like the violent creature that won't hesitate to torture and kill you to get what they wanted. And here's the more interesting fact: They didn't even have a purpose on coming to earth. The world building was just so convincing and real! It really pulls me through and left me wanting for more. It's like I don't wanna go back to reality.
I'm going to talk about Penryn and Raffe characters along with their relationship. They were simply. amazing. The character building was perfect. The whole romance thing was beautifully written. THERE IS NO INSTA-LOVE! It's nothing like you've ever read before. The whole thing was just make sense. It is not forced, it is not lust, it is not cheesy. It is pure love. You know it is. The way Susan wrote the whole thing was just right and so realistic! I completely understand why Penryn and Raffe acted the way they acted. I can relate to them pretty easily. The both of them really tried to not feel a thing toward each other. Raffe was just that charismatic and mature enough in that situation, while Penryn was just being realistic that it's a crazy world she's live in right now. How can she flirts with anyone? Not to mention the anyone here is in fact, the enemy itself.
The typical YA male lead character were all like, "I want to be with you but I can't because I'm not from around here but We can kiss a 'little' if you want" while Raffe at first he was just like, I'm an Archangel and a warrior, I must be the one who will be a good example to my followers and not breaking any Angel rules. But as the time grows, so does their relationship. There was adoration, yes the Archangel adores Penryn, not by her looks, she's not even the typical girl that needs saving all the time (yes, Raffe did save her life several times, but it was really necessary. she's not that helpless and she's not trying to act all tough luke typical YA heroines either! she's just. right) and she's not even that attractive, maybe she is in a normal world, I mean. I just love the details Susan gave the impression of Penryn. all greasy hair, skinny, chapped lips, sun-burned skin. She's tough and let me tell you she's freaking kickass because she literally took fighting classes before the apocalypse. This Daughter of Man really manage to steal Raffe's attention. He was impressed by her. The relationship building was just right to me. It's not that obvious at first. I didn't even think for a second that they would kiss in this book! It's right until the end of the book! Of course there were some hints that may lead to the whole romance thing but the amount of it is not plenty. I usually love YA books because of the balance between the romance and the actions and the world building of course. not too much kissings burns with passion and lust involved, you know. We didn't really get what was going on in Raffe's head until the very end when he finally broke down and reveal himself, because he really did put on a solid mask the entire time. There wasn't even the famous 3 words and 8 letters spoken in this book. And that's a good thing!
Oh and their witty conversation! GOD I LOVE the two of them! They were made for each other. I'll randomly open some pages and I'll quote it for you in my next post, because otherwise this review might become too long! Hell it's too long already!!! These are some of the best words Closest to what I felt during reading it. Because there were just too many FEELS, i can't quite put it in a subtle way, so, I apologize for my lack of writing skill.
I just hoped that the sequel, World After, will keeps on getting better, though I doubt it since its predecessor was perfect in my opinion. But I believe in you, Susan Ee. I will respect all of the thoughts you put through this book, all of the decisions you've made, even if you decided it will ended in a bad way. I believe it would lift up to my expectation. And I believe I will enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed Angelfall. I'll always be your supporter!
Thank you for this amazing book, you have written a very engaging tale that I want to delve into and I will give my full support to this series. But please just don't take too long on writing and publishing the next two books because I'm seriously dying to know what's going to happen next :D
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