First there are nightmares. Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her. Then come the memories. When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream. Now she must hunt. Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember.
What a debut! This is the best book I have read so far this year. It has romance, action, angels and reapers (sort of demons.) Ellie is our kick-ass heroine. Initially it takes her a while to believe what Will tells her, but I admire her make-lemonade-with-lemons attitude, even when she is scared witless. I found infuriating that Ellie can't remember what she is, why she is that way, and most of her past. I mean, how can anyone forget Will. Another thing is that she is constantly trying to balance her school, and social life from what is really important (saving the world, duh!) Since she can't remember what she did before, I honestly don't know why this 'awakening' can't happen when she is 18 and has more freedom and is out of high school.
Ah, Will (*sigh*) I love Will and I really understand and appreciate his pain, his struggle, his impossible love and his complete devotion to his beliefs, and to the cause . All I can hope for is that Ms. Moulton is not cruel enough to make their love truly impossible. I have my suspicions about Ellie's dad, but will see soon.
I can say that I didn't see this ending coming and that is is a bit of a cliffhanger. I will eagerly (and not too patiently) await for 'Wings of the Wicked', sadly due next year. About the cover: I like the cover, although I am not in love with it. There is something off-putting by the girl in the cover, but I can see Ellie's spirit of awesomeness too.
