Angelfall by Susan Ee

Angelfall by Susan Ee
Series: Penryn & the End of Days #1
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publication Date: April 11th 2013
Source: Bought

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.

I'd been eyeing this book for quite a few months before I actually decided to get myself a copy, and now I'm kicking myself for not buying it earlier! I think I was slightly apprehensive because of all the hype surrounding it, but this book deserves all the hype is getting because it was breathtaking.

From that very first chapter I was hooked. I wanted to know what happened that caused the angels to start destroying the world. I was also very interested to find out why Penryn seemed to be the one taking control of her family even though she was only 17.

Penryn was an incredible protagonist. Her main focus throughout this book was saving her sister. She was determined to do everything she could (even teaming up with an angel) to save her sister. I admired that quality in her. Nothing put her off of getting her sister back. She was also a very strong character - emotionally and physically. She has to keep herself together because she's the only one who can look after her family since her mother has mental problems and her sister is disabled. Penryn has had to grow up very quickly to be able to fend for herself and her family. She also had to learn to fight to protect herself from her mothers crazy moments. I just really adored Penryn.

Raffe was a brilliant character too. I didn't know whether to feel bad for him at the start after what happened to him, or be very cautious of him. But Raffe managed to prove himself very quickly and I started to really like him. He's very snarky and underneath the hard shell he puts on, he's actually very sweet. There were times I wanted to punch him because of something he said, but there weren't that many of those moments. 

The main focus of this book was getting Penryn's sister Paige back. Penryn and Raffe came across a lot on their journey to San Francisco. They came across a rebel group planning to fight the angels and they also discovered that there was a demon type thing on the loose that was eating humans. I was genuinely afraid for Penryn and Raffe when those things were on the loose. I was also desperate for Penryn to actually get to San Francisco and rescue her sister. 

Raffe and Penryn had some hilarious banter. They started to grow close throughout their journey, and Raffe always did his best to make sure they weren't - because it's forbidden for an angel to be with A Daughter of Man. Raffe always knew how to cheer Penryn up when she was in a bad mood, and he was always there to protect her.

The last few chapters of this book were jaw-dropping. There were so many surprises, shocks and disgusting twists that I didn't expect. The Paige thing had me almost in tears. I just couldn't believe it, and I didn't want to believe what it meant. The twist with Raffe was something I didn't expect either. I felt so bad for him after everything he'd been through. It'll be hard for him to adjust to that. And then there was what happened to Penryn! Well, I supposed it was slightly her fault because she smashed all those cases, but I never saw what happened to her coming! And then Raffe </3. My heart broke. 
The ending was happy and sad, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what's next for these characters.

Overall, this was such an amazing book. There's so much to discover and so many surprises that I just didn't want to put this book down. I definitely recommend reading it if you haven't done so already!