World After by Susan Ee

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

by Susan Ee

The irresistibly compelling BOOK TWO in the long awaited PENRYN AND THE END OF DAYS series. It is THE book we are all waiting with bated breath to read...

In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world. When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige.
Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans, where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

Reviewed by Katie King on

4 of 5 stars

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This is somewhat of a hard book to review. On the one hand, it somewhat addresses my issues with Angelfall. On the other hand, it added a lot more issues. For example, I had a huge problem with the all-consuming haze around the motivation behind everything. Well, we find out more about that in World After, but at the same time, it also adds more plot elements that are left just as unexplained. And can I say that I still don’t really understand WHY and HOW the whole apocalypse happened?

Raffe was a pretty strong character in Angelfall. He was self-assured, confident, and independent. Okay well, in this book he flips between being a cold jerk and a lover. He was pretty hot and cold with Penryn, to the point where I got kinda irritated with him. I understand that he thought she died and that made him sad, but then he realizes she’s alive and like sort of treats her like extra baggage weighing down his crusade against Uriel.

Penryn, however, did become a much stronger character. She was already pretty badass from protecting her family, but she got an angel sword and it just intensified. She faced down a lot of scary shit in the name of her sister and I really respect that. One thing I think is important to mention is that she still showed a soft side for Raffe when they finally met up again. So sweet. :)

In other news that continues to scare everyone, Paige is still creepy as shit to read about. Ee does a VERY good job of describing her appearance and actions – so much so that I had to wiggle to the middle of my bed. I was honestly getting a little anxious just reading about her. There is still that hint of humanity shown to Penryn that keeps tugging at my heartstrings, so I’m curious to where her plotline is moving in the future.

Speaking of plot, this was a little slower than Angelfall. There wasn’t quite so much intense and frequent action, but more of slower character building and then some action at the end. I didn’t necessarily mind because I wanted to know the characters’ backgrounds a lot better. Here’s to waiting for book 3!

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 2 February, 2015: Finished reading
  • 2 February, 2015: Reviewed