Review: Angelfire

Book: Angelfire (Book #1)
Author: Courtney Allison Moulton
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: 2/15/2011
Pages: 464
Source: Netgalley
Date Read: 3/3/2011

Summary:

This debut, the first novel in a trilogy, is achingly romantic, terrifying, and filled with blistering action. When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul. A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle.

Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once. While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember.

Yani's Analysis:
This is probably the most surprising book I have loved so far this year. I got it from netgalley a while back and when I had just 5 days left to read I decided why not, I keep seeing good reviews for it online. Why wasn't I originally inclined to read it....

1. its an angel novel and other than unearthly those don't usually sit well with me
2. the cover didn't attract me --- I know I know don't judge a book by its cover, but seriously its hard not to
3. I sometimes get bored of action type books

I am sooo glad I decided to read this book. First of all Ellie is a bad ass chick and Will is her too hot sidekick and together they have been fighting reapers for CENTURIES! Its hot hot hot is all I can say... if all reaper fighters come with a sidekick like that, who wouldn't sign up.

Second, this book has a cool theme that I find super interesting. Its very much about evil: nature vs nuture. Are angels inherently good? Are reapers inherently evil? Why can't they choose? Can someone who is good do something evil? So many questions so many interesting quotes... like this one:

"I don't believe in absolute evil... or in absolute good. No one's perfectly one or the other."

So this makes the second angel book I actually liked. The difference between this one and Unearthly for me is that Unearthly is more about suspense and choices (fate), where Angelfire is more about destiny and timeless love, and obviously as I mentioned above good and evil. But at the root what made me like both so much was the strong female lead, both of which had extraordinary abilities yet where determined to lead normal lives. Maybe I am just tired of the guys in the story being the hero, when there are females like these that kick butt.

Ratings:

Plot: 5/5
Writing Style:5/5
Uniqueness: 4/5
Characters: 5/5

Similar Titles:

Other Memorable Quotes:

" The brave may not live forever, but the cautious never live at all."