Book Review: Angelfall, by Susan Ee

As usual, comments are welcome!

When I first read this book, it didn't make much of a strong impression either way, and at times I found myself wondering as to the purpose of many scenes. But I'm glad I gave Angelfall, by Susan Ee, a second chance. While it lacks the grandiose scope and dark wit of The Mortal Instruments (my favorite YA series), it tell a compact, efficient story that makes its energy go a long way--rather like the Prius of YA.

Did they really need to mix serif and sans-serif fonts on one cover?

Penryn Young just wants to survive the apocalypse with what's left of her family intact. Between her schizophreniac mother and her crippled younger sister, this is harder than it looks--especially when a band of roving angels abducts said sister. She's got to team up with Raffe, a mysterious angel who's just had his wings chopped off, on a journey to get the constantly bleeding double amputee (who is somehow still  considered very attractive) the medical attention he can only find in (quite coincidentally) the place the angels are keeping the abducted children. As they journey across war-torn California, they encounter a mysterious pack of demonic creatures who hunt human flesh and briefly join the human resistance to the angelic invasion.

It's a creative story, told in a strong, consistent voice. The pacing is excellent, and Ee does a good job of keeping the tension high throughout. Certain visual images are arresting, especially the descriptions of the human bodies mauled by demons, but some others lack fire. Despite being set on the West Coast, we don't really get much of any local culture. Breakers, by Edward W. Robertson, did a much better job of capturing post-apocalyptic California--his L.A. is full of life even as it's dying. 

I would have also preferred Penryn's character to have been a little deeper. From the first page, wherein she slips knives into the straps of her boots (despite this being an absolutely horrible place to put a weapon. Seriously, if you need it to defend yourself, you'll have to bend over to get it. Can't you just stick it in your belt?), we're meant to think of her as a badass. This is explained by her mother enrolling her in self-defense classes, just in case Penryn needed to be able to defend herself against her mother when her illness gets out of control.

But living with a mentally ill parent does more than make you a black-belt. It's a difficult, embarrassing way to live. And Penryn doesn't seem to have any of the scars of that life. Did kids make fun of her when she was young for having a crazy mom? Was she secretly ashamed of her mother all these years? It'd improve her character a lot if, when she kicks a gang member in the balls, to project the image of someone who picked on her in her childhood. And she thinks of her mother more like a badly trained pet than a parent who's failed to protect her from the bad things happening in the world.  There's no real resentment there, just stoic acceptance.

Penryn behaves more normally and heroically as any teenage girl could be expected to in the apocalypse. She never once thinks of abandoning her crippled sister or crazy mother. Of course, that's not the kind of thing a good person would do--but she never even once considers it. She quickly comes to trust Raffe and the human rebels, even though you'd expect a girl who's father abandoned her to have some issues with trust.  True, there's a few times she has skeptical emotions, but they don't ever truly influence her actions. Penryn may have a tragic backstory, but that's all it is: backstory. It doesn't really effect her actions in the present. 

Angelfall may not be a deep story, and it's certainly not the best YA I've ever read, but it's an entertaining yarn worth reading twice. My rating? For YA fantasy, five stars. For a novel, four.