Angel Burn (Angel Trilogy, #1)

by L. A. Weatherly

They’re out for your soul . . . and they don’t have heaven in mind.

Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil. In the first book in an action-packed, romantic trilogy, L.A. Weatherly sends readers on a thrill-ride of a road trip — and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful.

• ISBN10: 0763656526
• ISBN13: 9780763656522
• Publish Date: 24 May 2011 (first published 1 October 2010)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Candlewick Press,U.S.
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 464
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780763656522

Reviews

[Amanda]

Actual rating: 3.5

Original review: http://onabookbender.com/2012/05/23/review-angel-burn-by-l-a-weatherly/

Reading Angel Burn makes me think I must be hitting a wall with YA paranormals. There were so many parts that made me think, “oh, this again?” and had me forcing my eyeballs not to roll up in my head. In some ways, reading Angel Burn reminded me of reading Half-Blood with Ruby with its predictable plot lines and “the one” syndrome. Only Angel Burn had far better world building, no love triangle, and a likable main character. Fair disclosure: I probably would have liked the romance between Alex and Willow better if Alex hadn’t reminded me of my own brother. And, you know, the fact there was the insta-love thing.

Leaving the negativity behind, though, I really enjoyed this world. Angels are evil. Angels want to suck the life out of you. Angels are kind of involved in religion here, but not really, and it’s more of a lie perpetuated for their continued survival. I loved the evilness of it all. I liked that Alex and Willow were basically all alone in the world. Er. Well, I was rather o.O “o rly?” at the missing parents stuff/kids growing up without quality parental supervision, BUT I like that there was no one out there to help them. The utter alone-ness was often as terrifying as the angels are.

I liked Willow. She was tough and I always admire a girl who knows her way around a car. That just says self-sufficient to me. I also liked Alex. He’s got that wise-beyond-his-years thing going for him, and though I don’t know that I approve of his drinking in a YA novel, his character was a multi-faceted one. Beyond the insta-love and awkward exchanges between the two, the romance was sweet. (which, incidentally, is another reason why I don’t want to read a love triangle that sullies it)

The more I think about it, the more I am curious about what happens next. Alex and Willow attempt to stop the angels, and, considering this is a series, I don’t think it’s a spoiler if I say they did not appear to be successful — otherwise, there would be no point in having a series. If you can tolerate the triangle business, I would recommend picking up this series.

[celinenyx]

What would you do if you found out you were half-angel? And angels aren't the kind creatures from heaven, but mindless killers that feed on humans?

Willow has always been different. She doesn't dress like the other girls, she has other interests than the other girls, and oh yeah, she's psychic. Then she does a reading on one of her fellow classmates, that changes everything...

This is a hard book to review for me. I haven't read enough angel-YA books to properly compare Angel Burn (or Angel) with other angel books. Therefore I will just give my general impressions of the book.

The first thing that struck me was how all angels are portrayed as the bad guys. There isn't just one band of "fallen" ones. They are all through and through bad beings. It's a risky decision, as angels are often associated with God and he must be a good guy. I liked that Ms Weatherly chose for a different system, which definitely made this book a little more special to me.

This book is mostly set up as a road-trip. Willow and her love-interest Alex are trying to survive while looking for other angel-assassins to help them in the war against the angels. I'm not so sure how I feel about this kind of set-up. I find road-trips a tad boring, and equally so to read about one.

It was a great setting for the blooming romance between Willow and Alex though. They have a rough start; Alex is a trained angel assassin, and Willow is half angel. There is quite a bit teenage angst going on, but it wasn't annoying. I thought they were very cute together.

The story builds a lot of tension towards the final part of the book, and I flew through the last hundred pages or so. Of course I'm not going to spoil the ending to you, but I can say that after you finish Angel Burn you really, really want to know how the story continues.

I would recommend Angel Burn to people that love young-adult fiction, that love angels, or both!

[Jo]

Willow knows she s different from other girls. And not just because she loves tinkering around with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into peoples futures, know their dreams, their hopes and their regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where she gets this power from... But Alex does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows Willows secret and is on a mission to stop her. The dark forces within Willow make her dangerous and irresistible. In spite of himself, Alex finds he is falling in love with his sworn enemy. From Amazon UK

I was so excited to read Angel when I received it to review. I had heard nothing but extremely enthusiastic praise, and it sounded amazing! Plus, on top of that, it involved angels, and I can't get enough of them lately. So I picked it up expecting to be wowed, and thankfully, I was.

Willow, our main character, is psychic and can tell the future. She just thinks she has a gift, but in reality, she's a half angel. And Alex, an Angel Killer assassin, has been sent by the CIA to kill her. Cue a whole lot of trouble coming Willow's way. Why? Because angels aren't exactly the nicest beings around. Yet Willow might be the only person who can save humanity.

Angel mythology in this book is pretty awesome, and it creeped me out when I first started reading. Angels are coming into our world to feed. They feed off of human energy. Which means they appear to humans in their angel form - gloriously beautiful, amazing winged humanoid beings seemingly made of brillliant white light, touch the human and absorb their energy, while the human is... well, completely blissed out and amazed and filled with wonder. They come to adore angels and want to be "blessed" by them, not realising that they're suffering from angel burn, which will lead to serious illness - physical or mental - and eventually death. Vampirism in it's most freaky form, if you ask me. I was actually really disturbed while reading. Seriously unsettling.

The action in the book is pretty great too. Almost throughout, there's a sense of urgency to keep moving, to keep safe, and when the fighting does happen, it's fast, it's violent, it's dangerous, and oddly beautiful, with these angels flying around. And you wouldn't believe how violent angel fanatics can be when they're told there's a threat to their precious angels. he climax to the story is so fast paced and suspenceful, you're sitting on the edge of your seat. It's huge! Seriously, the action and the mythology are enough to keep you turning every page.

If I'm fair though, there was some disappoint me for me. The anticipation of seeing whether or not Willow and Alex will get together was brilliant. The tension, the yearning, the trying to fight it - it was all fantastic, and had me practically begging to just get to it already. But once they did, it all got kind of cheesy, in my opinion. There was too much gazing and touching and repeating the same things. One would ask a question about their feelings, only to be asked it themselves a few paragraphs later. There were several pages of non-stop clichéd swooning. I stopped believing it. It just didn't feel true to the characters who had so much chemistry and tension beforehand. It was just too much for me.

Saying that, I still loved the story. It was addictive, it was different, unique, and the plot was just brilliant! Despite the romance part letting me down, the paranormal part was just genius, and I'm really looking forward to the second book in the series, Angel Fire, which will be released in June 2011. A pretty awesome story, definitely worth a read!

From Once Upon a Bookcase - YA book blog

[Leah]

Angel by LA Weatherly is one of those books that, after starting it, you just can't stop. It is literally a page turner and it took me all of 5 hours to complete the 500+ pages! I was hooked completely from the off, despite the fact I had no idea what to expect from the book. I assumed it would be a regular girl-meets-boy scenario but with a few angels included but I was completely and utterly wrong. Yes, girl does meet boy but it's not as you would expect as Alex actually goes to kill Willow.

You see, Alex is an Angel Killer (AK) for short, and has spent his life dedicated to hunting down and killing angels, as the angels in LA Weatherley's story are foul creatures who feed off humans. There's nothing redeeming about them at all. So when he gets the text message about an angel in upstate New York, he heads off with the intention to kill. But Willow isn't like any other angel, she's psychic yes, but she doesn't feed off humans leaving Alex perplexed as to what exactly Willow is. Alex can't think of that for long, as he and Willow find themselves running for their lives from the bad angels.

That's the plot in a nutshell but it's actually so much more than that. It's hugely suspenseful for starters, as we know Alex and Willow are being hunted down so there's always the constant fear that they will be caught. The suspense keeps the book shooting along at quite a pace but what also makes the book is the budding relationship between Alex and Willow. At the beginning they hate each other - Alex doesn't like angels and perceives Willow to be one and Willow does't like Alex because Alex doesn't like her - but as they spend more time on the road together, they start to thaw with each other. There's no immediate love here, no, it builds as the book builds and I liked the realism to it.

I thought Alex and Willow as characters were fantastic. You have the beautiful Willow, who is an outcast at school due to her questionable fashion sense, the fact she loves tinkering with cars and, most of all, the fact she's psychic, and I loved her immediately. She's my kinda girl and is much stronger than most teenagers depicted in young adult novels. And what can I say about Alex? He's the kinda boy every girl wants to find. He's strong, brave but has a touch of vulnerability that makes him real. As Alex and Willow spend most of the book on a road trip across America, evading the angels baying for Willow's life, they're basically the only characters in the book, but that works perfectly because they're both so engaging and absorbing.

LA Weatherly has written a stonking good debut with Angel, with a great mix of danger, suspense and romance all bundled up in its 500 pages. The writing style is a mixture of first-person narrative and third-person so not only did we get to feel and hear Willow's thoughts but we also got to see the story as a whole, with the third-person narrative. It was a very clever way to write the book and I found it just as engaging as the plot. Not once did I get bored with the book or with Willow and Alex and I can't wait to see where book two, Angel Fire, takes them when it's released in 2011 along with the third and final book Angel Fever also out in 2011. All paranormal fans will love this book and I hugely recommend it!