End of Days: Penryn and the End of Days Book Three (Penryn and the End of Days, #3)

by Susan Ee

End of Days is the explosive conclusion to Susan Ee's bestselling Penryn & the End of Days trilogy.

After a daring escape from the angels, Penryn and Raffe are on the run. They're both desperate to find a doctor who can reverse the twisted changes inflicted by the angels on Raffe and Penryn's sister. As they set off in search of answers, a startling revelation about Raffe's past unleashes dark forces that threaten them all.

When the angels release an apocalyptic nightmare onto humans, both sides are set on a path toward war. As unlikely alliances form and strategies shift, who will emerge victorious? Forced to pick sides in the fight for control of the earthly realm, Raffe and Penryn must choose: Their own kind, or each other?

'Addictive. Seriously and completely addictive.' Glamour

• ISBN10: 1444778552
• ISBN13: 9781444778557
• Publish Date: 21 May 2015 (first published 12 May 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• Imprint: Hodder Paperback
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[ambiancereads]

OK I waited to finish this one because I love this series. I ABSOLUTELY WAS DYING to see what happened next. And I’ll be honest this one disappointed me which is why it got a low rating! Without giving away spoilers I just felt like this should’ve been a four book series. Which is surprising usually I feel like authors should typically end a series early. But this time it felt rushed. I feel like some of the things that were really built up suddenly were given rushed conclusions. And some of the explanations didn’t seem to match from previous books I felt like?! I think there should’ve been a fourth book. But I still love this series no matter what.

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Star Rating: —> 4.5 Stars

Ahhhh!!!! I loved this conclusion to the series! SO good!

RTC

[Djilan]

And I would have given 6* if possible.
Whew what a crazy ride this third book has been. Or actually the whole trilogy. I loved it!

I love Raffe, Penryn, little Paige and what about Pooky Bear :D What a great characters. Oh and don't forget Mom of course ;)

This trilogy is one of my favourite series I have read so far. I loved how the story has been building up over the 3 books with one big thrilling finale throughout the third book.
I say it's a must read.

[wyvernfriend]

Wait, what?  That's how it ends? It felt unsatisfying, yes things were resolved but there were a lot of hanging threads in this war between humanity and bored angels.

[Brittany]

Overall I thought the series was good, however the first two books were waaaaay better than the third. I'm disappointed that there was a LOT of smut hinting without it actually ever happening. I also think the book was extremely rushed. There were a whole bunch of super climactic points in the book that seemed like they should have taken way longer to resolve. It didn't even seem like it was that hard for the characters to face their so-called biggest obstacles. I still recommend the books because I think they are worth the read, I just think the third is disappointing in some ways.

[lizarodz]

Quite the Novel Idea http://quitethenovelidea.com http://quitethenovelidea.com/liza-reviews-end-of-days-by-susan-ee/Angelfall and World After , the first two books in the Penryn and the End of Days series were hits with me. I adored Angelfall and its sequel was not bad at all, End of Days, the much awaited conclusion was SO good. You may ask: “How good was it Liza?” Well, read on and get ready to love it :)

“Dedicated to readers like Penryn who have it tough at home, who had to grow up fast due to life circumstances, and who have no idea how much potential they really have. You are being fire forged, just like Penryn. And like her, you can turn your greatest trials into your greatest strengths.”

End of Days starts right after the ending of World After and finds our main characters, the archangel Rafael (Raffe) and Penryn running for their lives, this time with Paige, Penryn’s little sister. Now, it’s hard to review this book without spoiling it for you since it’s the last in the series, but I shall do my best.

In case you haven’t read the previous books let me summarize the plot for you: The angels attacked Earth under the pretext that the archangel Gabriel was shut down from the sky. With me so far? Uriel, another archangel is in charge of the attack and the world went to hell in a hand basket.

Penryn is awesome. That’s all you need to know. Oh, you wanted more? Okaaay. Penryn was trained all her life by her somewhat crazy mom to survive. She had fighting lessons in different martial arts and has sharp survival instincts. She also has a natural compass that always points to what’s right, even if it’s not the easiest thing to do. She is strong, resilient, loyal, a natural leader.

Raffe is an archangel. He has been betrayed and abused by his own kind and now that he is still trying to get his wings back. He’s also loyal, righteous, curt, unbendable, smart, strong, a lonely soldier.

“Maggots are freaky hideous,’ I say, getting up. I try to salvage some dignity, but I can’t help but shiver and shake my hands in the air. It’s an instinctive impulse, one I’m not up for resisting right now.

‘You’ve fought off a gang of men twice your size, killed an angel warrior, stood up to an archangel, and wielded an angel sword.’ Raffe cocks his head. ‘But you scream like a little girl when you see a maggot?’

If you’ve read the first two books, you know that Raffe admires and trusts Penryn, but he thinks that she’s off limits as she is a “Daughter of Man” and he’s an angel. Well, End of Days finally turns up the romance! It’s very costly for Raffee and Penryn to be together, but oh, so sweet! All I’m going to say is: Finally!

I love all the secondary characters. Something horrible was done to Paige, but above all the adversity she tries her best to help her family and to keep her humanity. Their mom is crazy, but so it happens that she’s the kind of crazy that the world after the angel attack. The world makes sense for her now and she knows a lot more than people give her credit for. My other two favorite characters are the twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee. They are hilarious! The Watchers were also a great addition to the group ;)

“And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that trying to make someone stay with you when he doesn’t want to is a recipe for heartbreak.”

The plot is as complicated as the first books. There is a lot of politics and rules among the angels, and they are constantly changing sides. The writing is gripping and drives the reader to finish reading fast! The world after is not a pretty place to be and Susan Ee has a great imagination and describes in detail what happened after the angels attacked. How humanity deteriorated, how they hide, and how they struggle.

I felt like the ending was a bit rushed. The outcome was desirable, but I’m not quite okay with the way it was achieved. I wished that the epilogue was a year after or something like that, I want to know what happened with Raffe and Pernyn as the world healed. I wanted more!

“He leans down, and his lips hover a hair’s breadth from mine. I close my eyes, feeling the tingle of anticipation.

Then he presses his lips to mine. His warmth spreads out from my lips down into my chest and stomach. Time stops, and I forget about everything else – the apocalypse, my enemies, watching eyes, monsters in the night.

All I feel is the kiss.

All I am is Raffe’s girl.”

Overall, End of Days was a great end to the Angelfall series. It’s full of mayhem, hope, love, pain, revenge, and redemption. If you like dysptopian, kick a** heroines, monsters, action, angels –both of the hot or cruel variety – this series is for you. Read it.This review was originally posted on Quite the Novel Idea

[Angie]

End of Days was a pretty good ending to this totally awesomely, bizarrely, dark and unique series. I know I would have enjoyed it more if I had gotten to read the books back to back though. The wait made me lose momentum, but it was still a worthy conclusion. It all starts with Penryn and Raffe traveling to get his wings reattached. An angel should not have demon wings. But of course, there's danger!, evil plots!, and creepy Paige! along the way.

I actually don't have a whole lot (or anything really) to say about End of Days. There's a lot of great stuff: the return of Pookie Bear, kissing, creepy creatures from hell, and an epic battle. There were some places where I got bored and what I was reading didn't stick with me. But over all, I was happy with what happened. I definitely think there could have been more at the end after all of this build up, but that epilogue was quite funny.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[neddieb]

Well I don't know how to rate this book. I wish there were more intimate moments with Raffe and Penryn. I believe this series ended to soon. I would have really loved to have had the opportunity to read more about the Watchers. Also, It would have been an awesome new read regarding the relationship with Raffe and his new Watcher Warriors, Raffe's and Penryns love relationship, and maybe another attempt for Raffe to get his wings back from the Pit Lord. The book seems like it ended too prematurely. I am thinking a fourth book would have brought more closure. BTW...I don't know, but did I miss the reason behind Penryn's ability to hold and wield Pooky Bear? If someone could let me know if this was explained and or where this explanation was sited on the book, I would really appreciate it! Thanks

The end to this series was quite boring and dragged out I feel, it felt weird and I wasn't really enjoying it as mush as I did Angelfall. I was pretty disappointed to be honest!

[cornerfolds]

I'll start by saying that I ADORED Angelfall, I really enjoyed World After... I did not love End of Days. Let me cut to the chase. It was okay, but it was honestly an underwhelming conclusion to what was otherwise an amazing series. My ratings for this series have slowly declined and this one is the bottom of the super amazing barrel of angelic amazingness. That's not to say that I didn't like it, because I did. I just wanted (and expected) so much more.

Penryn and Raffe seem like as good a place as any to begin. In Angelfall, I loved the relationship between these two. They were hesitant and tried to resist any romantic feelings, but the pull seemed undeniable. Still, there was just the right amount of angst to make it a really good underlying romance. The key word there is underlying. It was on the back burner. Before all else were their missions. Each wanted to save their people and that was their top priority, which was why they knew no relationship could work out. This continued into World After, where Raffe was barely present. I hated that he wasn't there, but at least there wasn't any unrealistic romance. And then... End of Days happened. And Penryn lost her freaking mind. In book three of the series, both characters completely go off into left field, making decisions that are totally out of character and put others in danger. I mean, on the one hand I was glad that it ended the way it did. On the other, it just wasn't believable based on the first two books.

My other big issue was the pacing. I actually put this book down a hundred pages in and left it. For weeks. I was just so bored I couldn't keep going. It eventually picked up towards the end, but it picked up almost too much. Things were super slow throughout the first 2/3 of the book and then in the last 80 or so pages just BAM! Everything happens all at once and it's tied up way too quickly. As in HUGE BATTLE and then cut to epilogue. It was a little disappointing.

The world building was also a little shaky in this book. I really did like the descriptions of the aerie and the election. I loved the descriptions that accompanied the final battle and the place it all went down. But I was totally confused by "the pit." What was it? Where was it? It felt like they were in a virtual reality world or something and I just wish it had been laid out a little more clearly.

The whole time travel thing was also really confusing to me. The butterfly effect seemed to be missing completely and it just didn't make a ton of sense.

There were things I did like though! I enjoyed watching Paige come into her own even more than in World After and take control of her meager army. I really liked learning more about Beliel and understanding his character better (even though his character made no sense in light of the time travel). I also actually thought the final battle was really smart although I've seen others comment on how ridiculous it was.

Overall, this was a decent conclusion to the series, but it was not what I hoped it would be. Perhaps this is because it was originally supposed to be a 5 part series and was cut short? I'm honestly not sure what happened but it makes me really sad that I can't give this book the high rating I gave books one and two. I'd still recommend this series because it is incredibly unique, just be aware that the ending is really not on par with the rest.