Book Review: Angelfall

'Angelfall' by Susan Ee

Book provided courtesy of Goodreads First Reads Giveaways.

Rating: 3 stars

I really enjoyed reading this book. An action-packed dystopian novel with a strong female lead where romance is not the focus of the story? Sign me up.

Except it did not feel as though I was reading anything new. In all honesty, Angelfall was, for the most part, a relatively generic dystopia. I'd seen all the tropes before. I don't blame this on the book, in fact, a few years ago I probably would have adored it.

Yet I cannot get over the gaps in information. I understand it is part of a trilogy, one which I am partially tempted to continue, but despite there never being a dull moment, I feel like that was exactly what Angelfall needed - just a moment to explain a few points in the plot that seemed to be missing. 

Penryn's motives are clear from the start. Rescue her sister. For her, Paige is all that matters. Raffe's intentions were also relatively clear once trust was established between the protagonists. However, the reason behind the angel-inflicted apocalypse? Not the slightest clue. This would not be as much of a problem if the characters seemed to simply not care. I believe that Penryn asked Raffe once why his race had decided to attack, to which he responds with a simple "I don't really know" (or something along those lines) and it was left there. Had the protagonists even started to dig a little deeper and still come up with a mysterious lack of an answer to be clarified later on, I would have been more satisfied.

Earlier I mentioned that Angelfall was generic "for the most part". I say this because of the last fifty pages, and heavens know that plenty occurred within a short period of time to create an incredibly unexpected plot twist which was both shocking and borderline terrifying. But still, Penryn's lack of questioning had me confused. So much happened, and although she does not accept it as such, she does not question the motives of her enemy either.

Despite its flaws, the story itself was gripping and I could not put it down. We shall see if I decide to read the remainder of the series or not.

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--Helia