by Susan Ee
Synopsis
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 Raffe, an injured enemy angel. Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco, where Penryn will risk everything to rescue her sister and Raffe will put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.
Review
Okay - so why hasn't anyone told me this book existed?? Seriously - I picked it up and thought, "hm, sounds interesting" and now I'm sad because I am too poor to buy the other two books in the series at the moment!
Usually, I detest dystopian stories (I got burnt out on them), but this book is so good. I think that this is so because of the angel mythology in the book - but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Our protagonist, Penryn, her sister, Paige, and their mother are in hiding-as is the rest of the world-from the newest threat, angels. These aren't the cherubs we're used to seeing in church but rather strong, avenging archangels. They seemed to have made earth their battleground. Penryn just wants to get through the next minute, a plan that is thwarted when they stumble upon angels beating and slicing the wings off another angel, Raffe. Not knowing exactly why, Penryn intervenes. She saves the angel from dying, but loses her sister to the angels who drag her away. Penryn takes the angel into safety, hoping that once he wakes up he will help her find Paige. Together, they form an understanding in a world that is beyond the thought of good and evil.
I LOVED this book. I was able to get through the dystopia part of the story because of the angels. I think angel mythology or whatever you want to call it is so interesting. I also really came to care for Penryn who is a smart, caring, loyal, and daring protagonist. Raffe is just the right amount of brooding angel. I love stories where two people can't seem to stand each other, only to find out that they actually really care about each other *sigh*
This is a great book. It does have some horrible stuff involving children (think horror movie/science fiction stuff), so be aware of that if you can't stomach that in a fictional way (there's lots of things I can read about that I can't stand seeing in real life...). There is some subtle romance that just makes me want to *sigh* I can't wait until I can afford the next two books in the trilogy (I think it's only three books total?) so I can see what happens next.