Book Title: World After
Author: Susan Ee
Series: Penryn & the End of Days #2
Series: Penryn & the End of Days #2
Date Started: December 2nd 2013
Date Completed: December 5th 2013
Genres: Action, Dystopian, Thriller, Romance, Fantasy
Rating: Four stars
Review:
I struggled giving World After a rating because I enjoyed it far more than the first book, however I still wasn't sure it quite reached five stars. So, I settled on four stars, because it really was very good, however I still think there's more to develop. However, compared to the huge improvement from the first
Raffe thinks she's dead. Her mother thinks she's dead. Her sister thinks she's dead. But Penryn is alive. And ready to fight. The Resistance to the angel invasion is growing larger, and as the world collapses into the new apocalypse, it isn't only the angels that are the only danger to mankind; it seems they threaten their own existence. But Penryn must protect her sister and mother as well as herself, but can she do it when she can't bring herself to look at either for longer than a minute?
The main thing I remember from reading Angelfall was that I felt there was something missing. It wasn't anything specific, but there was a clear feeling for me that the book hadn't gone through enough edits and re-throughs to make it as best as it could be. Having said that, I did really enjoy the story, and I got along with the writing - there was just something missing. I'm very happy to say that that missing element was there in World After. I'm still not even sure what it was, but I this novel felt like a completed piece of work and I loved every minute of it.
Not only does Ee write very detailed action scenes, and some quite touching moments, but she can also create genuinely funny snippets of both dialogue and monologue. There are some books that make me smile when there's a funny part (I'm not even going to mention the books that don't have any affect on me whatsoever), but there are very few books that can make me actually laugh out loud. But World After is one of them. It seems strange that such a dark novel can do that, but it does. And maybe it's because the rest of the story is so tough and gritty that it makes the rest work so well. (Another great aspect of this is that the humour doesn't stand out like something completely wrong in the story; it slides in. You can still tell that it's a tough world Penryn is surviving in, but she is still strong enough to make jokes about it to help her cope.)
I'm not exactly familiar with the behaviour of murderous angels, or apocalypse-survivors, but the actions of the characters in the book are amazingly close to what I'd expect someone in their position to act like. Even when they make wrong choices that play out negatively, I can respond by knowing that the character had understandable reasons for doing such things.
The whole basis for the plot line in the Penryn series is the world building. Location and setting are always incredibly important, as they determine what the character is like when we initially meet them, however in this series, the apocalyptic world is so complex and vital to the story, that it's really what the whole book rests on. This could potentially be extremely risky, as if certain parts weren't explained properly, the whole thing could come tumbling down. But we learn all the details in a gradual, slow way that makes it easy for us to process and still be intwined in the story at the same time.
My favourite thing about these books is how dark and gritty they are. You might call Legend or Divergent dark, since they do have some genuinely troubling elements, and there's a lot of violence and destruction constantly following the characters. But those examples are nothing compared to the devastating world Penryn is living in. I haven't experienced many stories where the author is so open about the violence and terror that happens in their world, and describes it in such a vivid way. I'm not sure this series is something you'd encourage younger people to read.
The story in World After isn't at all predictable, which is always a win for me. I don't like being able to tell what happens next, because then there isn't any point reading the book. If, like this novel, I can't tell what's going to be around the next corner, I need to keep reading to find out, and it has more of an affect on me when it does happen.
I'm not entirely sure if I'm happy with the ending, and it came quite suddenly to me. However, I'm fine with having a cliffhanger, since I know the next book will be explosive to follow the dramatic end.
Ee's characters are the typical sort of ensemble with a dark twist. There's a darker side to all of them, and I'm not talking about long-hidden secrets.
There's only really one character that matters in the series: Penryn. Admittedly, this is because it's told from her perspective, so we see everyone's actions from her point of view. But this tells us more about Penryn than it does about anyone else. She's selfish; in that way that everyone is, and because she needs to survive in a very dangerous world that's not afraid to test her. But at the same time of all of that, she's definitely still a teenage girl, she's flirty, and funny and scared and really cares about her family, despite what her actions show. She's an amazing protagonist and portrays Ee's creation wonderfully.
Raffe is amazing and I still really love him. I was waiting for ages for him to turn up and everything picked up immediately for me when he did. I love his character, and there is a clear line between his archangel-side and then the side that cares about Penryn. I think that side needs to be there to maintain the fact that he is, technically, the bad guy.
I don't think I liked Paige that much to start with, but actually I became more attached to her in this book. Learning more about what had happened to her during her absence from the last book really made me think about how she was coping with everything and actually how amazing she is. I think this happened for Penryn as well, so it was helpful to have her responses registering at similar times to my own.
I will always love Dee and Dum. I really wish they had been in the book more, but their involvement was amazing. They're just those little characters that pop in every now and then that you can count on to be the good guys and make the right decisions and just brighten even the darkest parts of the story. I can't wait to see what they get up to next.
World After has a reasonably long and twisting storyline. But it felt like a second when I was reading it. Short chapters do help this, and the writing style is reasonably simple to get in with, but the fact that so much happens in such a short space of time, it's amazing that the book didn't have me closing it in confusion at points. I understood what was happening throughout and literally couldn't put it down, even right from the beginning.
I recommend World After to fans of hard-core dystopians and unique fantasies. There's also great action, very good writing and a lovely romance. Definitely read the first book first otherwise you won't understand what's going on and everything from the previous book will be spoiled.
Image Source: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wzAeY4tfL._.jpg
I struggled giving World After a rating because I enjoyed it far more than the first book, however I still wasn't sure it quite reached five stars. So, I settled on four stars, because it really was very good, however I still think there's more to develop. However, compared to the huge improvement from the first
Raffe thinks she's dead. Her mother thinks she's dead. Her sister thinks she's dead. But Penryn is alive. And ready to fight. The Resistance to the angel invasion is growing larger, and as the world collapses into the new apocalypse, it isn't only the angels that are the only danger to mankind; it seems they threaten their own existence. But Penryn must protect her sister and mother as well as herself, but can she do it when she can't bring herself to look at either for longer than a minute?
The main thing I remember from reading Angelfall was that I felt there was something missing. It wasn't anything specific, but there was a clear feeling for me that the book hadn't gone through enough edits and re-throughs to make it as best as it could be. Having said that, I did really enjoy the story, and I got along with the writing - there was just something missing. I'm very happy to say that that missing element was there in World After. I'm still not even sure what it was, but I this novel felt like a completed piece of work and I loved every minute of it.
Not only does Ee write very detailed action scenes, and some quite touching moments, but she can also create genuinely funny snippets of both dialogue and monologue. There are some books that make me smile when there's a funny part (I'm not even going to mention the books that don't have any affect on me whatsoever), but there are very few books that can make me actually laugh out loud. But World After is one of them. It seems strange that such a dark novel can do that, but it does. And maybe it's because the rest of the story is so tough and gritty that it makes the rest work so well. (Another great aspect of this is that the humour doesn't stand out like something completely wrong in the story; it slides in. You can still tell that it's a tough world Penryn is surviving in, but she is still strong enough to make jokes about it to help her cope.)
I'm not exactly familiar with the behaviour of murderous angels, or apocalypse-survivors, but the actions of the characters in the book are amazingly close to what I'd expect someone in their position to act like. Even when they make wrong choices that play out negatively, I can respond by knowing that the character had understandable reasons for doing such things.
The whole basis for the plot line in the Penryn series is the world building. Location and setting are always incredibly important, as they determine what the character is like when we initially meet them, however in this series, the apocalyptic world is so complex and vital to the story, that it's really what the whole book rests on. This could potentially be extremely risky, as if certain parts weren't explained properly, the whole thing could come tumbling down. But we learn all the details in a gradual, slow way that makes it easy for us to process and still be intwined in the story at the same time.
My favourite thing about these books is how dark and gritty they are. You might call Legend or Divergent dark, since they do have some genuinely troubling elements, and there's a lot of violence and destruction constantly following the characters. But those examples are nothing compared to the devastating world Penryn is living in. I haven't experienced many stories where the author is so open about the violence and terror that happens in their world, and describes it in such a vivid way. I'm not sure this series is something you'd encourage younger people to read.
The story in World After isn't at all predictable, which is always a win for me. I don't like being able to tell what happens next, because then there isn't any point reading the book. If, like this novel, I can't tell what's going to be around the next corner, I need to keep reading to find out, and it has more of an affect on me when it does happen.
I'm not entirely sure if I'm happy with the ending, and it came quite suddenly to me. However, I'm fine with having a cliffhanger, since I know the next book will be explosive to follow the dramatic end.
Ee's characters are the typical sort of ensemble with a dark twist. There's a darker side to all of them, and I'm not talking about long-hidden secrets.
There's only really one character that matters in the series: Penryn. Admittedly, this is because it's told from her perspective, so we see everyone's actions from her point of view. But this tells us more about Penryn than it does about anyone else. She's selfish; in that way that everyone is, and because she needs to survive in a very dangerous world that's not afraid to test her. But at the same time of all of that, she's definitely still a teenage girl, she's flirty, and funny and scared and really cares about her family, despite what her actions show. She's an amazing protagonist and portrays Ee's creation wonderfully.
Raffe is amazing and I still really love him. I was waiting for ages for him to turn up and everything picked up immediately for me when he did. I love his character, and there is a clear line between his archangel-side and then the side that cares about Penryn. I think that side needs to be there to maintain the fact that he is, technically, the bad guy.
I don't think I liked Paige that much to start with, but actually I became more attached to her in this book. Learning more about what had happened to her during her absence from the last book really made me think about how she was coping with everything and actually how amazing she is. I think this happened for Penryn as well, so it was helpful to have her responses registering at similar times to my own.
I will always love Dee and Dum. I really wish they had been in the book more, but their involvement was amazing. They're just those little characters that pop in every now and then that you can count on to be the good guys and make the right decisions and just brighten even the darkest parts of the story. I can't wait to see what they get up to next.
World After has a reasonably long and twisting storyline. But it felt like a second when I was reading it. Short chapters do help this, and the writing style is reasonably simple to get in with, but the fact that so much happens in such a short space of time, it's amazing that the book didn't have me closing it in confusion at points. I understood what was happening throughout and literally couldn't put it down, even right from the beginning.
I recommend World After to fans of hard-core dystopians and unique fantasies. There's also great action, very good writing and a lovely romance. Definitely read the first book first otherwise you won't understand what's going on and everything from the previous book will be spoiled.
Image Source: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wzAeY4tfL._.jpg
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