Good morning Mrs Jenny and fellow classmates! Today I willbe discussing about Angelfall written by a Korean-American author named SusanEe. This book is the first book in the Penryn & the End of Days trilogy. “Angelfall”is a young adult novel that revolves around a post-apocalypse in California. Thisis how the cover page of the book looks like. It has pretty little angel wings,but do not be deceived. This book is a dark apocalyptic tale filled with evilangels, cannibals, psychopaths and many other freaky stuff.
Do not read thisbook if you cannot handle a little bit of ripped out chunks of flesh. Althoughthis book seems dark, it is actually very compelling. The creepiness mixed withfantasy, comedy, romance and fantastic characters. I just love the way Susan Eewrites, the way she builds the world around us.
The visual is so strong, it islike watching a movie when I am reading. Overall, it is very well written, andI enjoyed it very much. Also, the book has been translated to more than 20languages and was one of the finalists for the Best Fantasy and Fiction Book in2011.The story is narrated by Penryn Young, a 17-year-old girlliving in the Northern California. It’s been 6 weeks since there was an angelapocalypse in Northern California and these angels, they are not cool. They arepretty evil. No one knows why the angels have come down taking over Earth and killmillions of humans. I think the idea of these fallen angels, these avengingangels… it’s not a new thing but Susan Ee finds a way to make it so new andunpredictable, which leaves you to be ripping through the 325 pages to find outwhy.
Penryn is the main character of the book. One night, she andher wheelchair-bound sister, Paige, was out on the street, to flee this chaoticplace (Silicon Valley) because of the apocalypse going on. But they came acrossa pack of angels from a distance. There were 5 angels cornering and fightingthis other angel called Raffe (another main character), and ended up slicing offhis wings and was bleeding out on the ground. Penryn and her sister Paige triedto sneak from the evil angels, but they were caught. So, to distract the angelsfrom attacking them, Penryn throws the lone angel (Raffe) his sword so that he canfight and chase the angels away. But before they left, the angels took off withPaige.
When they flew away with a helpless little girl, her sister Penryn will riskeverything to rescue her. So, Penryn took Raffe, the broken angel, from thestreet (along with his wings) to a safer place and began to mend him so thatshe can get information from him about where the other angels would have takenher sister to. Raffe is reluctant to help her out but realised that he wasrescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl. Traveling through the dark and twisted Northern California,they only have each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journeytoward the angels’ stronghold (called the aerie) in San Francisco, where Paigeis, and where raffe can reattach his wings. During the journey, Raffe andPenryn started having soft spot for each other. This is my favourite part asthe dialogue between them are so witchy and sarcastic, which made the bookextremely interesting and funny to read. They may be a little bit too cheesyand cliché at times.
But you know, it is all good cheese, it’s not mouldy. Penryn’s apocalypse is bloody and violent, a world wherehumans turn on each other, while the dangerous and not-exactly-living-up-to-their-angelic-stereotypeangels destroy the world. Susan’s world is terrifying, but luckily, we havePenryn for company.
Penryn Young is the narrator and principle protagonist. Sheis a resourceful, headstrong and beautiful seventeen-year-old girl who caresfor her younger sister. When Penryn’s father was gone the year before, she hasbeen raised to take care of herself, going through survivalist camps, karate,and self-defence classes. These skills she learns from were put into good usethroughout the novel when she is forced to defend herself and to come to theaid of Raffe.Raffe, also the main character, is the former owner of theArchangel Sword. Raffe has strands of mahogany and honey hidden among his blackhair. He has deep blue eyes that are almost black and has light, caramel skin.
Hehas a taut and muscular body. With his overwhelmingly well modified physical appearance,he has a very arrogant personality and is not very humble. Raphael used to bethe commander of a legion of elite angels, so this has caused him to beextremely firm, strict but fair. However, when he met Penryn, he developed asoft spot for her and does not act that way towards her.
Even if she might pisshim off sometimes. Angelfall was the hype in 2011 about angels and theapocalypse. I wasn’t entirely convinced, but I was unable to resist hype, so Ithought it was about time to finally start reading it. I caved and bought the bookin Amazon, which caused about $10. Apparently, this book was a surprise that didlived up to its hype.
I hung onto every word, following Penryn and Raffe’streacherous footsteps as they made their way into the hills to find Paige, deador alive. Also, the story was very descriptive including many adjectives, hencemaking me be able to visualise the story and, I needed to infer a lot which madethe story suspenseful.To end of my presentation, if you love a dangerousapocalypse, and a cling-on-to-your-seat kind of plot, then why haven’t you readAngelfall yet?
