I’m Still Falling

Everyday I am asked the same question… mostly by authors (who obviously have the most at stake) but by my readers as well:

“Why are you so hard on books?”

So here, once and for all… I’m going to throw all of my cards on the table and tell you why.

The world is FULL of books.  Books about love, loss, hell… even decapitation… if you can think it up, most likely there is someone out there that has already put it down.  The beauty of books comes in their distinction.

Indulge me just for a second and think of two books you have read that have similar plots and/or characters.  Now…which one did you like better? There IS a clear winner correct? There has to be a clear winner or no one would ever be able to decide what to read next.

My equation is simple.  If the book is good, if I didn’t really find anything wrong with it, (aka enjoyed it,) it gets a 4.  If it’s good and there were a few issues a 3 (which is what you see the most from me) BUT…if it moves me, makes me cry, cringe or even shudder from fear that is when a book gets a 5.

After so many books, thousands upon thousand of words… if I don’t want to let the book go at the end of the day, that’s when I know it’s “distinction” was better than everyone else’s.

“Angelfall” is my reason for 5’s.

 

It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco where she’ll risk everything to rescue her sister and he’ll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

 

Now, before you write this book off thinking it “just another Angel book gone evil,” let me be very clear when I say it is not.  Yes, “Angelfall” has Angels, but they are only the shell of the story.  Redemption, Resurrection and Trust are what “Angelfall” is actually about. That said…post-apocalyptic reads are very quickly becoming one of my favorite genres to read.

Why?

Because they define human nature.  For example:

“The intersections are gridlocked with abandoned cars.  I’d never seen a gridlock in the valley before six weeks ago.  The drivers here were always as polite as can be.  But the thing that really convinces me that the apocalypse is here is the crunching of smartphones under my feet.  Nothing short of the end of the world would get our eco-conscious techies to toss their latest gadgets onto the street.  It’s practically sacrilegious, even if the gadgets are just dead weight now.”

Amazing…is it not? Six sentences.  It took just six sentences to sum up our existence as it currently stands.  Forget religion, forget our causes or our tabloid obsessive behaviors; no… it’s our devices that we will find ourselves clinging to when all else is lost.  It is THIS that Susan Ee portrays so brilliantly.  The realization that life is now one continuous string of coping mechanisms.

“I think about burying the body, but a cold part of my mind tells me that this is still the best deterrent I could have.  Any sane person who looks through the glass doors would run far, far away.  We now play a permanent game of I-am-crazier-and-scarier-than-you. And in that game, my mother is our secret weapon.”

As for the characters?  They are brilliant, and haunting, and in some moments… what nightmares are made of.  From the first page you are no longer a bystander in a world gone mad, instead you are the quivering hand helping to push them in their desolate journey.  You fall when they fall, you shake when they shake, you mourn when they mourn.

I must warn you however that this is not an overly pleasant read.  It is actually quite horrific (think blood and guts) in some parts and will take a person with a “strong constitution” to get through the central bulk of it.  But I assure you, if it were not for these descriptions, the final scenes would have lacked the emotional connection to make them work properly.  And at the end of the day…that’s what reading is all about. The connection.

So here it is… my final word on a book that literally took my breath away, get it, live it, love it…and pass it on.

You absolutely cannot go wrong with the 99 cents it will cost you to gobble this puppy up… I guarantee it.

Happy Reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: trust is difficult to earn, but worth the effort.

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[Rating:5/5]

Need more convincing? Read the first 5 chapters for free on Susan’s website!