Review: World After by Susan Ee (Penryn & the End of Days #2)

Title: World After by Susan Ee

Published: November 21^st, 2013 by Skyscape

Format: eBook

Source: Purchased for Kindle

Genre: Paranormal | Dystopian

Age group: Young adult

Grade rate: A-

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

Like the rest of the world I LOVED Angelfall.  It took forever to get book two, and unlike it usually happens to me with sequels, I couldn’t wait to read World After.  It was not as good as its predecessor, but good nonetheless.

Penryn is still our kick-ass hero.  Sorry, but there is no better way to describe her.  She is loyal, stubborn, strong, fearless, smart, caring; in short, she’s awesome.  After she comes back from the dead (almost literary), she is trying to reconcile her past with the crude reality of the world after the angel invasion and with Paige has become.  Nothing is getting easier for anyone, but we learned a lot about angel politics, crazy scientists, Paige, and future plans. 

Raffe (insert *sigh* here) is one hot angel.  He’s loyal to Penryn (the only one on his side) and trying to find out what the heck happen with the rest of the angels, while still wearing demon wings.  I think my disappointment with World After strives from the fact that Raffe and Penryn were NOT together for most of the book.  It seems like once they were (maybe after 2/3^rd?) the story became so much better.  

The chemistry between Penryn and Raffe is absolutely amazing!  Even if it is forbidden for an angel and a human to be together, and they are fully conscious of the fact, they can’t help what they feel.  I hope that the next books have more time of them together.

The characterization is great.  I love Dee and Dum, and their reliability to Penryn.  Penryn’s mom is still crazy (there’s no cure for her kind of crazy!), but she’s still smart and her survival skills are uncanny; also she tries to keep her daughters safe the only way she knows how. 

The plot and world building of this book is outstanding.  You don’t know what to expect or when, it’s in constant horrific motion.  This book is not for the faint of heart as the angels are even more ruthless and the mad science experiments are getting crazier by the minute. The writing is impeccable and easy to read (even when it’s not easy to digest what’s actually happening!).   

It seems like Penryn & the End of Days will be a five book series, and of course it will take years for us to know the ending, but I wish the best for Penryn, Raffe and the rest of the World After.  I can just hope that the next book won’t take two years to be published.

Some quotes for you:

“I look up to say something but he puts his finger to my lips and whispers, “Don’t talk. You’ll just spoil my fantasy of rescuing an innocent damsel in distress as soon as you open your mouth.”

“It is painful to see that people prefer a bad guy who looks like an angel to a good guy who looks like a

demon.”

“I kick him in the face point blank with my high heel.

He wasn't expecting that.

The Angel flies back off the stage.

"It really is you,"says Raffe.”

“My only thought is that I am not going to end up truly dead this time in Raffe’s arms. I am not going to be one more wound on his soul.”

“He glares at me. "I've had to watch you die once, isn't that enough?"

"All you have to do is make sure it doesn't happen again." I give him a sunny smile. "Simple."

"The only thing simple is you. Stubborn little..." His grumbles fades to a point where I can't hear them, but I suspect they're not compliments.”

About the cover: This one is not as pretty as Angelfall, but then again, these are Raffe’s new wings.  Nothing is pretty in the World After.