Susan Ee has eaten mezze in the old city of Jerusalem, surfed the warm waters of Costa Rica, and played her short film at a major festival. She used to be a lawyer but loves being a writer because it allows her imagination to bust out and go feral.
Her debut novel was the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days series). Angelfall has been translated into 19 languages and the film rights have been optioned by Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Good Universe.
World After by Susan Ee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
World After, dare I say it, is one of the sequels many people have been looking forward to, and you can count me among the many. My jealousy radar was on high alert every time I saw someone get this. Then… I got some amazing book mail!
I didn’t even finish the book I was in the middle of reading before I started this one. I just couldn’t.
Every single second I had to wait for World After was worth it by the time I finished.
I know some of you have an aversion to angel stories… and fallen angel stories, but if you ever read any of them, this is the one to pick up.
World After begins almost immediately after the end of Angelfall. Which means if you’re looking for a lot of Raffe initially, you might be disappointed. That being said, there is plenty going on that while you might notice he’s gone, it takes nothing from the excellence of the story.
I’m not going to give you all the highlights of the actual story here… mostly because a lot of stuff happens here… instead I’m going to tell you why I’m such a huge fan of this series.
Penryn. She is perfection in fiction character form… no, I don’t mean she’s perfect, she absolutely has her flaws but she’s everything I look for in a protagonist. She’s snarky… despite everything that has happened to her, she has managed to maintain a bit of her humor and it adds some much needed levity to the dark sides of this story. She’s kick-ass, dedicated and honorable and she is smart. She does what she needs to in order to keep her family safe and yet while reading you still get a sense of her youth and emotions and it’s just a perfect balance.
Raffe. I will be honest, I did miss him in the first half of this book. He was such a wonderful presence in all of Angelfall and the bond that he and Penryn formed was definitely something I was looking forward to more of. Once he makes his presence known though, I swear you’ll be smiling the entire time… no matter what might be happening. They slide back into their friendship with such ease and perfection and the banter between the two is just as wonderfully done.
“Raffe looks over at the bloody knife in my hand. “If I still had any doubts that it was you, that would do it.” He gestures toward my opponent rolling on the ground with his hands cradling his package.”
Pooky Bear. Despite the two not being together in the beginning we find out that Penryn has Raffe’s sword and it provides bits of his presence when he’s not able to be there. It allows us to get flashbacks and memories from Raffe’s perspective and was a wonderful way to give us some more of his backstory. It also allows us to see the connection Penryn has with the sword … because it is in essence a whole other character.
”Have you named her yet?” he asks. “She likes powerful names so maybe you could appease her by giving her a good one.”
I bite my lip as I remember telling Dee-Dum what I named my sword. “Um, I could rename her anything she likes.” I give him a cheesy smile.
He looks like he’s bracing himself for the worst. “She gets named once by each carrier. If you’ve named her, she’s stuck with it for as long as she’s with you.”
Damn.
Penryn’s mother and sister also play larger roles in this part of the story and were strong additions to an already incredible story. They both have their roles to play and while Penryn’s mother may seem crazy, there is a purpose to her… and the same goes for her sister, she will definitely have a larger role in the coming books.
But you know I love my romance and swoons and I have to tell you that I was not at all disappointed with the bits we get here.
“There’s no way around it is there?” I ask. “We’re mortal enemies and I should be trying to kill you and everyone like you.” He leans over, touches the tip of his forehead to mine, and closes his eyes. “Yes.” His gentle breath caresses my lips as he says the word.
I close my eyes too, and try to focus on the warmth of his forehead resting on mine.
World After was definitely worth the wait … if you’re looking for a series that will pull you in and have you running the gamut of emotions… one that is filled with amazing characters, excellent story-telling and wonderful world building you definitely need to jump into the world that Susan Ee has created with Penryn and the End of Days.
Ms. Ee….
I’ll just be over here waiting patiently for book 3.
Special thanks to the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for my honest thoughts!
Erin’s Thoughts
World After by Susan Ee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved this one!
World After is the second book in the Penryn & The End of Days series and I can honestly say this is one of the books I have been looking forward to most this year. Ee dives right back into the story and the action and I loved every second of this one. We get more Penryn, more danger, and of course, more Raffe.
The story picks up right where Angelfall leaves off – Penryn has been stung by the Scorpion and for all anyone knows is dead. Thankfully Raffe is able to deliver her to her mother and she is transported, along with her sister and mother to the Resistance compound. It is while they with the Resistance that Penryn, Paige and their mother realize they will never really fit in. When Paige is vanishes, Penryn makes the decision to hunt her down and bring her back to her mother. Along the way she realizes the angels are up to more than they originally thought. At the same time, Raffe continues to hunt for his wings at has to decide what is more important to him, his wings or Penryn.
The characters in this series are some of my favorites and outside of the actual story; they are what really kept me turning the pages of this book. There are some solid secondary characters that help move the plot along and only add to the story.
Penryn is smart and strong and continues to kick ass. We get to see more of her protectiveness of Paige but because of the changes in her, she also doesn’t really know how to act with her. I also love the banter and relationship she has with Raffe. Despite the fact that they both have their own end goals, they clearly care about each other…even if they won’t admit it and when Raffe finally realizes that Penryn is alive, it is clear he is not only surprised, but happy about it.
One of the things I enjoyed was through the sword that Penryn now has, we also get to see Raffe’s perspective during some moments in Angelfall. They were some nice little flashbacks that gave Penryn a view of what Raffe was experiencing.
With all of that said, there were some moments in this book that just made me happy….like big smiles on my face, happy. The first being when Penryn and Raffe wash up on the beach. The whole scene really helps convey just how important Penryn has become to Raffe and his realization that she is alive and with him puts a crack in his armor.
One of my favorite lines:
Raffe is warm and strong and he feels like home.
And some of the banter with Raffe:
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.”
”If I still had any doubts that it was you, that would do it.” He gestures toward my opponent rolling on the ground with his hands cradling his package.
“He should have been polite and just let us by,” I say.
”Way to teach him some respect. I always wanted to meet a girl who fights dirty,” says Raffe.
“There’s no such thing as dirty fighting in self-defense.”
Paige herself is also very protective of Penryn and whenever she is facing danger, she does whatever she can to protect her and it frightens Penryn a bit. I had my doubts as to how things were going to go with Paige based on what was revealed during the course of the book but I am interested in seeing how things move forward with her. I also look forward to seeing how Penryn’s and Paige’s relationship potentially changes.
I have very mixed feelings about Penryn and Paige’s mom. There is definitely more to her than some people believe but boy I really didn’t like her when she and Penryn were locked in the police car. She clearly believes that Penryn didn’t do everything she could do to protect Paige. Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t but what made me angry (aside from what she says and does to Penryn) is the fact that she hasn’t’t been around to care for Paige. I do believe that Penryn has done the best that she could and for her to hold anything against her just made me angry.
This truly was a great second book in the series and I am looking forward to seeing what happens next with this group. Ee does a great job of building out the story. This is almost continuous action and I really didn’t know for sure where things were going to go. If you haven’t had a chance to start this series yet, I recommend you check it out. The world that Ee has created is interesting and the conflict between humans and angels kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next.
View all Erin’s reviews
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