Pages: 288
Genre: Young adult – fantasy
Synopsis
Penryn is trying to keep her little sister and paranoid scizofrenic mother safe. It’s been six weeks since the angels took over the world and the humans around her are either in hiding or joined gangs to protect their backs. No one dares walk out at night, but Penryn has to take the chance. To hide from the angels doesn’t help if they get killed by the gangs. So she pushes her little sister’s wheelchair and try to keep an eye on her mother while walking into trouble far bigger than expected.
My thoughts
It looked like a book for me from the beginning.
I would go to the end of the world for my little brother, the same way Penryn would for her seven year old handicapped sister. Overall Penryn is a likeable character, she has flawed thinking which I’ve written more about further down, but when it boils down to it she would do anything for those she’s close to. She doesn’t especially care for the wars going on around her, nothing matters until her sister’s safe. She’s asian-american, living in the San Francisco area, a force to be reckoned with and aware of it.
The romance is much better than expected, I would even call it great. Raffe the angel is old and powerful and Penryn has conflicting emotions over him. That he has his wings cut off makes him less intimidating and dangerous, or so she believes. Raffe has a great sense of humour, he’s playing along when he wants to, but it feels like he’s lying in the middle of all the chaos having an existential crisis while Penryn is wondering what the hell she has done. I mean;
“I kick the couch for good measure. To my utter amazement, his eyes open blearily. They’re deep blue and glaring at me. ‘Can you keep it down? I’m trying to sleep.’ His voice is raw and full of pain, but somehow, he still manages to inject a certain level of condescension.”
Three things that bothered me;
- What do you think when I say scizofrenic person? Yes, that’s the mother here; the stereotype. While reading this book, especially younger readers, it’s essential that you know not every scizofrenic person is a danger to other people, but in this book she is. The mom is capable when it comes to certain things, like her paranoid side is written to sometimes been an advantage in this dystopian world. She’s portrayed through the eyes of her daughter, who has to carry the burden, is exhausted and doesn’t seem to know all that much of scizofrenia.
- The women at the camp of survivors/resistance are doing laundry and keeping their heads down in fear of what the big military dudes might do to them. They claim to be treated nice and no one’s ordering them around, but honestly what kind of women lives in san fransisco/silcon valley? I’m not american, but wouldn’t there be one woman capable of fighting/handling weapons/engineering before penryn comes around with her martial arts skills and short temper? The lack of other women useful to the army is the most unrealistic thing in this whole book and we’re talking about angels descending from the sky like aliens.
- The writing varies from “oh, this is good” to “I want to sigh and/or laugh”.
It might seem so based on this review, but the “bad” things didn’t outwin the good ones in this book. I just think they’re important to point out. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I don’t know if I’m going to read the rest of the trilogy soon.
aquapages 