Angelfall by Susan Ee

★★★★★
Amazing!

This book was amazing.
A must-read for any dystopian fan.
A must-read for any young adult fan, actually.
Do not be discouraged by the angels - this is by far the best book involving angels that I have read.  I wouldn't even call it an angel book.  And there's definitely no cheesy romance.
I remember when I first picked this book up, I thought it would be a nice, sweet little read, but don't be fooled like I was.  Angelfall is about a girl named Penryn trying to survive in her post-apocalyptic world.  It's set six weeks after angels destroyed most of the earth, and Penryn just wants to keep her family - her paranoid schizophrenic mum and wheelchair-bound sister - safe.  With gangs roaming the streets during the day and angels haunting the night, it's getting harder and harder.  The story follows Penryn's journey to save her sister after she is taken by one of the angels (it happens within the first 16 pages, so I don't think it's a spoiler) and what she discovers along the way.
This book is realistic (as much as possible, when talking about a world taken over by angels), thrilling, unbelievably creepy and surprisingly funny.
I loved Penryn. She is a legitimately strong female lead and tries her best to care for her family, even when it'd be easier to give up.  She never loses sight of her goal to rescue her sister.  I also loved Raffe, the other main character, which I will give no more details about so you can find them out yourself when you read this book.  Because you should read this book.
There was so much happening in Angelfall, and nothing turned out quite as I was expecting it to.

For more information on Angelfall, you can click here to visit the Goodreads page, or check out Susan Ee's website by clicking here.

Next, I'm going to go into more detail about more thoughts, which will include spoilers - so go read the book and then come back!

I just loved this book so much.  How kick-ass was Penryn?!  She definitely handled herself very well in the situations she found herself in and never strayed from her goal.  I think I first decided I loved her on page 53 when this happened:

"That's a pretty intimate demand in the angel world.  It usually takes dinner, some wine, and sparkling conversation for me to give up my feet."
That calls for a witty comeback.
"Whatever," I say.

I was also totally convinced that the "low demons" were Nephilim the whole time.  I should have listened when Raffe said there's always a third option.
Speaking of Raffe...
I am looking forward to finding out more about him, because he has an interesting backstory that was hinted about in Angelfall.  I'm very upset that he fell in love with Penryn considering the punishment, but I do think that they are a perfect match.  It was so heartbreaking near the end when Raffe thought that she had died.  I think I actually cried the first time I read this.
The main thing I wasn't expecting about this book was how terrifying it was!  Alarm bells were going off in my head when reading about the cannibalism, but man, everything after page 234 was a nightmare.  I guess I wasn't prepared for so much to be revealed so close to the end of the book.
Overall, Angelfall was fantastic.