World After by Susan Ee
This review is based on an advanced reader’s copy, nurse acquired through Susan Ee’s publicity, in exchange for an honest review. This in no way, shape or form had any effect on my review.
This book is set to release on November 19th, and November 21st in some countries.
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GoodReads Summary:
In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what’s left of the modern world.
When a group of people capture Penryn’s sister Paige, thinking she’s a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.
Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels’ secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.
Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can’t rejoin the angels, can’t take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?
My Review:
Please keep in mind that while this review will be completely spoiler free for World After, keep in mind that there WILL be spoilers for Angelfall. To read my review of Angelfall, please click here, or click here for Kat’s review!
Angelfall leaves us off with a lot of unanswered questions, so getting my hands on an early copy of World After, to hopefully get some answers to those questions, was SO exciting. Thank you so much to Susan Ee and her publicity team for extending me the courtesy of an early copy. It is the actual print, not an ARC so I was very excited to dive in.
Susan Ee creates such a complex world, inside a world that seems familiar to us. It takes place in the Northern California area, in San Francisco, where I have been before. When Penryn talks about the area, I’ll recognize places. But the world is turned upside, and there are vengeful, violent angels everywhere.
It is such a unique and new idea to the YA genre. We see such a different twist to the idea of fallen angels. While we do have a close encounter with a particular angel, Raffe, and we do find ourselves reluctantly attracted to him, much the same as Penryn, most other angels we meet, we meet them with fear and apprehension. From the beginning, they are a vicious race, that came down to earth for reasons unknown and wreaked havoc on the world. I applaud Susan immensely for this. It’s hard to present new ideas in the ever growing spectrum of YA lit, and she has definitely done this. And just when you think she cannot possibly introduce anything more, she does.
We leave the end of Angelfall in so many different ways: Penryn is paralyzed, stuck in her body while everyone around her thinks she’s dead. Her sister, Paige, has been experimented on, modified into something unrecognizable. Raffe is still missing his own angel wings, and has bat-like, terrifying demon wings instead. The human resistance is faltering against the powerful angels.
The story that continues in this novel continues the drama, and the utter mystery that is the angels. Penryn gets herself into this situations in order to find out answers and to protect her mother and sister, and as soon as she feels like she gets answers to one question, it opens up the door to about five more. Susan builds a great story that way. She has a way of giving the readers a little of what they want but dangling so much more.
One thing that I had an issue with it was that there seemed to be a lot of build up, to a ton of action and then the end, leaving us waiting for the third book, which presumably will be full of a ton of action. I kept waiting for something to HAPPEN. I think that was the point though, to build up the tension and the questions that we need to keep us interested in reading that third book.
I really love the continuation of Penryn as a character though. She’s strong and stubborn and determined to get where she needs to go, to find her sister or her mother or to find safety and all of that. But she also has weaknesses, she has reluctances and worries and fears, which makes her so real and familiar. Even while she’s fighting, you can feel her fear or panic and it makes her feel so much closer to you. A character like that, who can portray both strengths and weaknesses, are my favorite. They have all the best of us, and they can have the bad things of us as well, and that’s what makes them a hero. We see them struggle before they win, and that’s exactly what Penryn is.
For fans of the first book, you will definitely NOT be disappointed by this book. Susan takes us deeper into the world she has created, answering burning questions while unfolding even more at the same time. She creates beautiful moments, moments full of action and the chemistry between Penryn and Raffe is just too hard to deny. There is so much coming in these books and I know I can’t wait to see it how it unfolds!
Rating:
4 out of 5 stars
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