World After by Susan Ee
Synopsis:
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?
*SPOILERS*
My review:
Much like Angelfall I loved this book just as much, maybe even more. This book is a little slower paced in comparison to the first book, but that allows the readers to slow down and understand the details of their world.
The book starts right where Angelfall left off, with Pen, her psychotic mother and her monstrous sister in the back of the resistance army truck. Picturing that scene in my head had me laughing so hard, I could easily see Pen's mom murmuring chants under her breath to her "dead" daughter and Paige giving every person who dared to stare at them a deadly a look.
I honestly expected the resistance camp to be different, I was shocked when they locked up Pen and her family in the cop's car, and the way they treated Paige was heartbreaking, I thought that they would have a much bigger part in this book.
By the end of this book we find out a lot about Paige and what happened to her. I got teary eyed reading about Beliel and Pagie, in a strange way I liked Beliel and Paige's relationship, although I hated the way he treated her, but I was hoping that Paige's selflessness would change Beliel into a better person. That being said I can't say that I did not enjoy Paige attacking Beliel. The fighting scene at the end had me a bit confused, is Paige somehow connected to the scorpion angels? and when the doctor had said that Paige was "very important", it kind of makes me wonder if Paige could be used as a weapon in the war. Part of me hated Penryn for looking at Paige like she was a monster and it broke my heart to think that Penryn couldn't even look at her in the eye.
Even though Raffe does not show up until the second half of the book, I never felt the absence of the male lead. There was enough action and content to keep us occupied until he showed up. We get some of his thoughts through his sword, these scenes were probably my favorite scenes in the book.
"Tell me about Raffe."
Nothing.
"okay. Let's practice fighting," I said in an enthusiastic voice as if I'm talking to a little kid. "I could use more lessons."
Nothing.
"Right. Well, I guess I have nothing better to do now than to decorate the teddy bear with ribbons and bows. What do you think of dusky pink?"
The room wavers, then morphs.”
We also learn so much more about the importance of angel swords, that is definitely visible through the last fighting scene in the book, I was surprised that Raffe's sword had so much power. I thought it was hilarious that Penryn named the sword "Pooky bear" and Raffe's reaction was priceless!
“He glares at me as if he already hates it. “What is it?” I consider lying but what’s the point? I clear my throat. “Pooky Bear"
He’s silent for so long I’m beginning to think he didn’t hear me when he finally says, “Pooky. Bear.” “It was just a little joke. I didn’t know.”
“I’ve mentioned that names have power, right? Do you realize that when she fights battles, she’s going to have to announce herself to the opposing sword? She’ll be forced to say something ridiculous like, ‘I am Pooky Bear, from an ancient line of archangel swords.’ Or, ‘Bow down to me, Pooky Bear, who has only two other equals in all the worlds.’ ” He shakes his head. “How is she going to get any respect?”
Raffe and Penryn's relationship definitely progressed since the last book. They briefly talk about it while they're at the beach house, but I love how slow developing their relationship is, its not love at first sight like most books, I really like that aspect of the book. But I love Raffe and Pen together, I think their chemistry is amazing and they think similarly although they didn't get along at first.
So is it worth reading the sequel? 100% yes!
