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| Amazon Children's Publishing |
By Susan Ee
4 + Scribbles
Penryn and Raffie become unlikely companions when they are
both attacked in the street by the same group of deadly angels. There has been a war on Earth, and the angels,
presumably sent by God on the word of his messenger, have brought violence, destruction,
and hunger to humans. Paige, Penryn’s
beloved baby sister has been taken by the angel gang. Now, Penryn must find out
where the angels have taken her. For leverage, Penryn has captured the injured
angel Raffie in the hopes that he will lead the way—but the clock is ticking,
and it’s doubtful the two can move quickly enough to reach Paige in time.
While angels are not unique to the YA genre, this fast-moving
apocalyptic tale is fresh and exciting. Penryn is a protagonist readers will love.
She has an idealistic, old soul. Since
her father left the family a few years back, Penryn has been the caretaker; her
mother has paranoid schizophrenia, and her sister Paige is wheelchair bound. It’s
obvious her family relies on her, and while Penryn is a highly responsible person,
the loss of her sister brings out a recklessness in her born of desperation.
Paige is fragile, helpless and sweet. Their mother is odd, has hallucinations,
and behaves erratically—and Penryn will stop at nothing to protect them both. On the flipside, Raffie is aloof, sarcastic
and hostile (he is, after all, the enemy). He loathes humans and sees them as
creatures but not equals. Yet, he seems
to be alone in life. However, as the story progresses, there are cracks in Raffie’s
iron exterior. There is a reason other
angels have attacked Raffie, and later those reasons begin to peek through the
surface. An improbable affection begins
between this hostile pair, and the age-old theme of love between the forbidden
seems imminent, although it may take another installment in the series for this
relationship to develop. Perhaps the most
riveting part of the story is the setting and the strange mystery that appears
in each new chapter. The world is a mess. Sleeper cells of humans are arming
and awaiting the right time to attack the angel hoards; children like Paige are
being abducted on a daily basis, never to return; strange, razor-toothed,
flesh-eating mini-zombies are prowling the woods; and no one, it seems, knows where
God is in the mix. It is perhaps that absence
of God that lends this otherwise, typical YA sci-fi a bit more depth, and what
makes me really look forward to Susan Ee’s next novel, book two, due to be
released in the Fall of this year, 2013.
