World After (Penryn and the End of Days, #2)

by Susan Ee

[littleread1]

I am not going to lie, my review may be a little biased just because I've waited SO LONG for the follow up to Angelfall, which is easily my all time favorite YA book, and many days my all time favorite book EVER. When I was notified I was going to get an early copy for review (thank you to the publicist by the way!) I thought I was going to have a panic attack. Seriously, I loaded it on my Kindle and just looked at the cover for like an hour before I started reading. I was NERVOUS. With as much build-up to this, and as long as I waited I was terrified that it wouldn't live up to my expectations.

I had nothing to fear. Well, except for maybe some demon/angles and scorpion monsters. But that is to be expected! ;-) Once again Ee weaves a magical tale of people fighting to maintain their humanity while in a new and terrible world. We get to see more of the daily human interactions, and how people are attempting to organize themselves in the World After. We see the good - people helping people, and the bad - people being selfish, afraid, and downright terrible. It is all so believable and you feel Penryn's struggles right along with her.

At the end of Angelfall, there is a lot of craziness happening, and Penryn and Raffe get separated, with him thinking she is dead. So of course it is a while before they get reunited, and their reunion is perfect. There is more "will they/won't they" in this second installment, because we know more about how they feel for one another. Even now, after having read it, it makes my heart hurt for them both.

Penryn's mom is still just as crazy as ever, and remains one of my favorite side characters. That woman is a looney toon, and yet sometimes seems like she knows more about what is happening to the world than anyone else. It makes me wonder how crazy she actually is, or if she really has some sort of precognition, which given what I think she is seeing, would drive any sane person a little nutty. As before, she plays an integral part in one section of the big finale. And I say one section because there is a split in the story - one where we follow the humans and one where we follow the angels.

I can't say much more without telling you the whole story, so I will say this - World After is one of the best sequels I've ever read. There is certainly no second book slump, and I hope, for all our sakes, that we don't have to wait another 2 years for the next part to the story!