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hurrikanekathrina's review against another edition
5.0
I finally managed to sit down and write my review. Wohoo!
5 stars! This book was amazing! What an awesome conclusion to an amazing trilogy!
It's been over a week since I read EoD, but for some reason, I couldn't make myself sit down and write this review. Whenever I tried, I either said too little (pretty much just "this is soo awesome") or started gushing and fangirling uncontrollably. I'll try to keep it down, but I'm afraid it won't work.
Now End of Days was a very special book for me, not just because it is the finale to my favorite series and therefore easily my most anticipated book ever, but also because this series, unlike many others, didn't have a clear goal. Take Harry Potter or Hungergames (great series, of course), you don't know how exactly the author will do it, but you know what will happen at the end: Voldemort will die/the Capitol will fall. Again, you don't know how, but you know the basics.
For End of Days, there was not ONE solution to tie all the loose ends. Killing Uriel would not have solved all the problems, like Raffe's wings, Raffe and Penryn's relationship , Paige's mutilation etc etc. So there was really no way to predict in which direction Susan Ee would go with this one. I was captivated by the development of the plots and characters from the first page to the very last. I think there were no filler scenes, no unnescessary or boring parts. Entertaining from beginning to end!
From here on beware: Spoilers and embarassing fangirling
So let's talk about a few things here.
1. The Raffryn moments Argh, how could I NOT talk about these firsts? After years of waiting, page after page of torturous, agonizing, delicious sexual tension that just didn't get released we finally got what this fandom desperately deserved. Some action ! And HOLY COW, what action it was. We were 20 pages in (technically only a few hours after WA's "it can't be" scenes) our two lovebirds find each other in bed, sleeping peacefully (well...) next to each other, when things heat up like craaazaaay...
Holy Cow. I mean it. Holy cow!
"Christ." He rakes his hair with both hands. "What jut happened?"
Yes, Raffe, WHAT just happened?
The fandom's reaction:
Well done, Susan, well done. I bet you feel like this:
Well, IT WORKED!
Apart from the sexiness of certain scenes (all I'm saying is chp 5 and chp 42. Holy moly. These two really had a breaking point in their self-control and keeping their hands off each other and in EoD they clearly reached it) there were many typical Raffe/Penryn dialouges, ranging from funny banters to bittersweet goodbyes.
Oh and this of course:
"If I were human, I'd plow the nicest farm for you." He sounds completely sincere. "Better than anyone else's. It would have golden pineapples, the juciest grapes, and the most flavorful radishes in the entire world."
I didn't know if I should laugh at him or swoon. I mean, it's so sincere and it's goddamn adorable, but Raffe clearly has an overly romantic idea of what living on a farm is like. Not to mention that he sincerly seems to believe that a 17 year old girl would like to spend the rest of her life as a farmer. It was cute and funny and corny in every way that was Raffe (well, the soft side of him.)
2. The Watchers (and Beliel's story) + the Pit
Okay, apart from the names (Cyclone? Thermo? Little B and Big B? Really? ) I LOVED these guys. The whole part in the Pit was my favorite part of this book. Not only did we find out a bit more about Raffe's past and his peers, these guys also offered some great comedic relief in the rather dark and twisted world of this series. Also, they shipped Raffe and Penryn so hard, didn't they? When they mentioned that you can pretty much do anything in the Pit, since you have Fallen status anyway, and not get punished for it xD And then they reassigned themselves so that nobody would have to go with Raffe and Penryn. Raffe didn't even protest xD When he asked Penryn if they should "go for a ride"
it was well... the situation... Didn't it feel like:
Well, I guess we got close ;) It was definitely HOT. I'll never get enough Raffryn... *sighs dreamily*
I loved loved loved the way that Susan Ee gave bachround to the Pit, how we found out that it used to be a normal world, inhabitated by a functional civilization, until Luzifer and his angels were cast into it and started destroying everything. It gave unexpected depth to the hellions, who I suddenly feel very sorry for, and the comparisons to the former Pit world and our world (and how the humans could end up just like the hellions) really blew my mind. Instead of just relying on "these monsters are bad, that's it", we now understand why the hellions are so hell-bend (see what I did there?) on torturing the fallen angels and capturing their wives.
Now, let's talk about Beliel. After the excerpt, we all knew that there had to be more to his story with Raffe. What I didn't expect was that Raffe himself didn't really understand the origin of Beliel's hatred for him. Sure, it was mainly because Raffe failed to protect Beliel's wive (that was really sad, btw), but he still had some decency left before Raffe and Penryn travelled back in time and freed all the Watchers from the Pit, leaving Beliel back alone to live through torture and anguish for an eternity. And it was so heartbreaking, really. Beliel was the first to volunteer to agree to this, even though none of the Watchers knew who would be the gateway. He didn't want to become the Beliel that we met in the previous two books. But after everyone left him, and he was the ONLY ONE that had to stay back in the Pit, I understand why he came to think of himself as "unloved and unwanted." And during AF and WA there were several times in which this was confirmed again and again.
When he died in the end and the watchers gave him a proper ceremony. Wow. I had goosebumps. The idea of not letting any of the pieces "fall" and just the image of these angels carrying a burning body into the air and flying beneath it to catch the pieces - amazing.
3. The end battle
Since I strongly believed that Raffe and Penryn wouldn't get together in the end (and scared of it) I was a train wreck when the whole "blood hunt" thing came down. (Btw, isn't Blood Hunt an epic name? Really nice!)
I always knew that there had to be an end battle between the angels and the humans, but I thought it would be more like that: a battle. Two enemies fighting against each other.
The problem with the hunt was that it wasn't about equal enemies fighting for victory, it was about the angels mindlessly slaughtering and hunting humans (like a sport) because that's what they decided on. It was one more proof that humans were nothing more but game for them, not even considered real opponents. And other than a battle, Raffe pretty much had no choice to stay out of it. I wanted to hug Penryn so badly. She stayed to brave and was still so badass.
One of the most epic moments of the entire series was this:
"This is Penryn Young, Daughter of Man, Killer of Angels."
And when she thought the title "Daugher of Man" would always remind her of her 'time with Raffe'. I was dead!
The talent show fit into this story so well! It was bizarre and seemed to be completely unfitting for this scenario, but that's what made it so good. And the ballerina scene was so beautifully done, especially when the lost group member stumbled on the stage. Wowowowow! It was so amazing! I love how Susan Ee adresses both the violent, destructive nature of humanity (the gangs, cult members etc), but also shows that there are beautiful sides to humans, like love, art, frienship. It was so well done!
The end battle itself was AMAZING. I loved every single second of it. It was so insanely visual, I could see the scenery of the broken bridge with the hords of angels above it, I could picture the loud metal music (epic!) and the blinding lights and then the darkness. The chaos of it all, the brutality of both sides. And the way that the humans (or rather: Penryn) used the angel's strengths against them. Brilliant. They even infested the water with sharks and threw the angels into the water. I'm so happy about this reference to the second book, where Penryn learned that angel's can't swim. I was wondering if this weakness would be important later.
It was SO WELL done. I was sometimes disorientated during the fight, because it all happened so fast, but I think this was done deliberately. A battle like this is chaotic, after all, and things don't happen one after the other. It all happens at the same time, and as the reader, we only see what Penryn sees.
And when Raffe and the Watchers came to help the humans. I was so happy. Esp. about Raffe and Penryn fighting as a team and taking turns with Pooky Bear. THese two are AMAZING!! What a team! They are kick-ass together, but not dependent of the other. Well, they are just amazing, together or apart (though I prefer them together ;))
Let's talk about the actual ending:
4. The Ending
Like many others, I was shocked when Raffe sacrificed his wings for Penryn. His main character motivation and story arch had been to get these wings back. But that's part of the beauty of it. It reminded me of THG when. Also, it really makes sense. I've seen some people claim that the ending is unrealistic or cheesy, because Raffe and Penryn don't know each other for a very long time and it would be unlikely that he would give up everything for her.
But that's not the right way to think about it. Alright, so through this entire series, there were mulitple times when Raffe was visibly longing to have his old life back, to be part of something bigger, to lead his army again. Those people were the Watchers. He had always been the leader of the watchers and they had been the brothers he missed. When they were cast out of the angel society (pretty much just because one mad angel didn't accept their choice of marriage) he lost his peers, his brothers, his status as a leader and from then on wandered the earth alone.
There was no way the Watchers would have ever rejoined the angelic ranks, in fact I'm pretty sure after everything they had to go through, the last thing they want is to come back to the people that cast them away, without any real crime being comitted. Why would Raffe want to go back to the angels? Now that his real friends have returned, it is just natural that he stays with them. They still see him as their leader and follow his orders. With them, he has his old status back and since they chose to stay on earth, it only makes sense that he does, too.
He sacrificed his wings for Penryn, because once he understood that his wish to everything being back to how it was - him and the watchers being part of the angel society and him being a respected leader - will never happen (because the watchers would never want to be back or be accepted back for that matter) the wings lost their "importance". He needed them to be accepted back, because like he said himself, angel's don't accept anything that isn't "perfect" like them. Of course, they are still his wings and I'm sure that it pained him to do it. But it is a sacrifice he was obviously willing to make for Penryn and I think that's totally realistic and understandable. So yeah, the more I thought about it, the more I loved the ending, because it really makes perfect sense.
Alright, after all this fangirling, there are a few things I liked to adress which I wish wouldn't have been quite so rushed:
The Nephilim aren't monsters and Raffe knew about it. His reason for staying on earth made sense, yes, and I understand that his anti-Daughter of Man- thinking came from witnessing his Watcher's fall, not from Nephilim, but still everyone took this information in very very quickly. I had hoped we would find out more about this plot twist and more about what his time on earth looked like.
The same thing with the background of Gabriel being mad and a liar. It is a believable plot twist, but it was too hurriedly delivered. These two revelations had great potential for awesome background information and I was sad that we didn't find out more about it.
There were some loose ends that weren't tied up and I saw some people being upset about that, but I don't understand why. First of all, it's a 1st POV, which always means that the author chose to reveal the world to the reader through a very small, sometimes biased window, instead of showing the entire world with all it's history. This series is about Penryn's story and about her struggle to survive in this new apocalyptic world. It's about her fight as an individual, so it would have been straight out unrealistic if Penryn found out all things about angels (which are quite mysterious and always have been.)
Also, please consider that leaving something out of explanation does NOT equal a plot hole. This is an issue that has become quite irritating in today's media. Whether it's books, games or movies, everyone seems to be screaming for every single little thing to be spelled out. If not, people scream plot hole. 1968 the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was released and is ever since then celebrated as a masterpiece of cinematography. Literally NOTHING is explained in this movie, it is just one chain of images and sub plots that just happen. No explanation and leave everything to interpretation = BAM masterpiece.
Some explanation and some stuff left to interpretation = PLOT HOLES.
Nope, I just don't think it works that way things work. Not to mention that a book which is all about tying up old, loose ends and not introducing anything new would not only be boring, it would most definitely NOT be a good book.
________________________________________________________________________
Overall, End of Days was fast-paced, entertaining and had the perfect balance of Raffryn, backround story, plot twists and epic fights in it. Lots of Penryn badassary, lots of funny lines or banters, but also some sad parts and some definite epic parts.
I couldn't put this book down and I enjoyed reading it (and rereading it) so so much. EPIC conclusion!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit 03/12/15 : Two more month! TWO MORE MONTH, PEOPLE!!!! It will be ours!!!
Gif time
They better not delay the release date again, or else....
Edit: 12/30/2014: OMG the synopsis is there! IT SOUNDS AWESOME! I NEEEEEEED IT!!!!!
Edit: 02/07/2015: Holy shit. The cover. It is out. And the excerpt. I can't believe this stuff. There is no way I can possibly wait till May to read this book. I need it NOW!!!
5 stars! This book was amazing! What an awesome conclusion to an amazing trilogy!
It's been over a week since I read EoD, but for some reason, I couldn't make myself sit down and write this review. Whenever I tried, I either said too little (pretty much just "this is soo awesome") or started gushing and fangirling uncontrollably. I'll try to keep it down, but I'm afraid it won't work.
Now End of Days was a very special book for me, not just because it is the finale to my favorite series and therefore easily my most anticipated book ever, but also because this series, unlike many others, didn't have a clear goal. Take Harry Potter or Hungergames (great series, of course), you don't know how exactly the author will do it, but you know what will happen at the end: Voldemort will die/the Capitol will fall. Again, you don't know how, but you know the basics.
For End of Days, there was not ONE solution to tie all the loose ends. Killing Uriel would not have solved all the problems, like Raffe's wings, Raffe and Penryn's relationship , Paige's mutilation etc etc. So there was really no way to predict in which direction Susan Ee would go with this one. I was captivated by the development of the plots and characters from the first page to the very last. I think there were no filler scenes, no unnescessary or boring parts. Entertaining from beginning to end!
From here on beware: Spoilers and embarassing fangirling
So let's talk about a few things here.
1. The Raffryn moments Argh, how could I NOT talk about these firsts? After years of waiting, page after page of torturous, agonizing, delicious sexual tension that just didn't get released we finally got what this fandom desperately deserved. Some action ! And HOLY COW, what action it was. We were 20 pages in (technically only a few hours after WA's "it can't be" scenes) our two lovebirds find each other in bed, sleeping
Holy Cow. I mean it. Holy cow!
"Christ." He rakes his hair with both hands. "What jut happened?"
Yes, Raffe, WHAT just happened?
The fandom's reaction:
Well done, Susan, well done. I bet you feel like this:
Well, IT WORKED!
Apart from the sexiness of certain scenes (all I'm saying is chp 5 and chp 42. Holy moly. These two really had a breaking point in their self-control and keeping their hands off each other and in EoD they clearly reached it) there were many typical Raffe/Penryn dialouges, ranging from funny banters to bittersweet goodbyes.
Oh and this of course:
"If I were human, I'd plow the nicest farm for you." He sounds completely sincere. "Better than anyone else's. It would have golden pineapples, the juciest grapes, and the most flavorful radishes in the entire world."
I didn't know if I should laugh at him or swoon. I mean, it's so sincere and it's goddamn adorable, but Raffe clearly has an overly romantic idea of what living on a farm is like. Not to mention that he sincerly seems to believe that a 17 year old girl would like to spend the rest of her life as a farmer. It was cute and funny and corny in every way that was Raffe (well, the soft side of him.)
2. The Watchers (and Beliel's story) + the Pit
Okay, apart from the names (Cyclone? Thermo? Little B and Big B? Really? ) I LOVED these guys. The whole part in the Pit was my favorite part of this book. Not only did we find out a bit more about Raffe's past and his peers, these guys also offered some great comedic relief in the rather dark and twisted world of this series. Also, they shipped Raffe and Penryn so hard, didn't they? When they mentioned that you can pretty much do anything in the Pit, since you have Fallen status anyway, and not get punished for it xD And then they reassigned themselves so that nobody would have to go with Raffe and Penryn. Raffe didn't even protest xD When he asked Penryn if they should "go for a ride"
it was well... the situation... Didn't it feel like:
Well, I guess we got close ;) It was definitely HOT. I'll never get enough Raffryn... *sighs dreamily*
I loved loved loved the way that Susan Ee gave bachround to the Pit, how we found out that it used to be a normal world, inhabitated by a functional civilization, until Luzifer and his angels were cast into it and started destroying everything. It gave unexpected depth to the hellions, who I suddenly feel very sorry for, and the comparisons to the former Pit world and our world (and how the humans could end up just like the hellions) really blew my mind. Instead of just relying on "these monsters are bad, that's it", we now understand why the hellions are so hell-bend (see what I did there?) on torturing the fallen angels and capturing their wives.
Now, let's talk about Beliel. After the excerpt, we all knew that there had to be more to his story with Raffe. What I didn't expect was that Raffe himself didn't really understand the origin of Beliel's hatred for him. Sure, it was mainly because Raffe failed to protect Beliel's wive (that was really sad, btw), but he still had some decency left before Raffe and Penryn travelled back in time and freed all the Watchers from the Pit, leaving Beliel back alone to live through torture and anguish for an eternity. And it was so heartbreaking, really. Beliel was the first to volunteer to agree to this, even though none of the Watchers knew who would be the gateway. He didn't want to become the Beliel that we met in the previous two books. But after everyone left him, and he was the ONLY ONE that had to stay back in the Pit, I understand why he came to think of himself as "unloved and unwanted." And during AF and WA there were several times in which this was confirmed again and again.
When he died in the end and the watchers gave him a proper ceremony. Wow. I had goosebumps. The idea of not letting any of the pieces "fall" and just the image of these angels carrying a burning body into the air and flying beneath it to catch the pieces - amazing.
3. The end battle
Since I strongly believed that Raffe and Penryn wouldn't get together in the end (and scared of it) I was a train wreck when the whole "blood hunt" thing came down. (Btw, isn't Blood Hunt an epic name? Really nice!)
I always knew that there had to be an end battle between the angels and the humans, but I thought it would be more like that: a battle. Two enemies fighting against each other.
The problem with the hunt was that it wasn't about equal enemies fighting for victory, it was about the angels mindlessly slaughtering and hunting humans (like a sport) because that's what they decided on. It was one more proof that humans were nothing more but game for them, not even considered real opponents. And other than a battle, Raffe pretty much had no choice to stay out of it. I wanted to hug Penryn so badly. She stayed to brave and was still so badass.
One of the most epic moments of the entire series was this:
"This is Penryn Young, Daughter of Man, Killer of Angels."
And when she thought the title "Daugher of Man" would always remind her of her 'time with Raffe'. I was dead!
The talent show fit into this story so well! It was bizarre and seemed to be completely unfitting for this scenario, but that's what made it so good. And the ballerina scene was so beautifully done, especially when the lost group member stumbled on the stage. Wowowowow! It was so amazing! I love how Susan Ee adresses both the violent, destructive nature of humanity (the gangs, cult members etc), but also shows that there are beautiful sides to humans, like love, art, frienship. It was so well done!
The end battle itself was AMAZING. I loved every single second of it. It was so insanely visual, I could see the scenery of the broken bridge with the hords of angels above it, I could picture the loud metal music (epic!) and the blinding lights and then the darkness. The chaos of it all, the brutality of both sides. And the way that the humans (or rather: Penryn) used the angel's strengths against them. Brilliant. They even infested the water with sharks and threw the angels into the water. I'm so happy about this reference to the second book, where Penryn learned that angel's can't swim. I was wondering if this weakness would be important later.
It was SO WELL done. I was sometimes disorientated during the fight, because it all happened so fast, but I think this was done deliberately. A battle like this is chaotic, after all, and things don't happen one after the other. It all happens at the same time, and as the reader, we only see what Penryn sees.
And when Raffe and the Watchers came to help the humans. I was so happy. Esp. about Raffe and Penryn fighting as a team and taking turns with Pooky Bear. THese two are AMAZING!! What a team! They are kick-ass together, but not dependent of the other. Well, they are just amazing, together or apart (though I prefer them together ;))
Let's talk about the actual ending:
4. The Ending
Like many others, I was shocked when Raffe sacrificed his wings for Penryn. His main character motivation and story arch had been to get these wings back. But that's part of the beauty of it. It reminded me of THG when
Spoiler
Katniss did everything just to save Prim and Prim died in the endBut that's not the right way to think about it. Alright, so through this entire series, there were mulitple times when Raffe was visibly longing to have his old life back, to be part of something bigger, to lead his army again. Those people were the Watchers. He had always been the leader of the watchers and they had been the brothers he missed. When they were cast out of the angel society (pretty much just because one mad angel didn't accept their choice of marriage) he lost his peers, his brothers, his status as a leader and from then on wandered the earth alone.
There was no way the Watchers would have ever rejoined the angelic ranks, in fact I'm pretty sure after everything they had to go through, the last thing they want is to come back to the people that cast them away, without any real crime being comitted. Why would Raffe want to go back to the angels? Now that his real friends have returned, it is just natural that he stays with them. They still see him as their leader and follow his orders. With them, he has his old status back and since they chose to stay on earth, it only makes sense that he does, too.
He sacrificed his wings for Penryn, because once he understood that his wish to everything being back to how it was - him and the watchers being part of the angel society and him being a respected leader - will never happen (because the watchers would never want to be back or be accepted back for that matter) the wings lost their "importance". He needed them to be accepted back, because like he said himself, angel's don't accept anything that isn't "perfect" like them. Of course, they are still his wings and I'm sure that it pained him to do it. But it is a sacrifice he was obviously willing to make for Penryn and I think that's totally realistic and understandable. So yeah, the more I thought about it, the more I loved the ending, because it really makes perfect sense.
Alright, after all this fangirling, there are a few things I liked to adress which I wish wouldn't have been quite so rushed:
The Nephilim aren't monsters and Raffe knew about it. His reason for staying on earth made sense, yes, and I understand that his anti-Daughter of Man- thinking came from witnessing his Watcher's fall, not from Nephilim, but still everyone took this information in very very quickly. I had hoped we would find out more about this plot twist and more about what his time on earth looked like.
The same thing with the background of Gabriel being mad and a liar. It is a believable plot twist, but it was too hurriedly delivered. These two revelations had great potential for awesome background information and I was sad that we didn't find out more about it.
There were some loose ends that weren't tied up and I saw some people being upset about that, but I don't understand why. First of all, it's a 1st POV, which always means that the author chose to reveal the world to the reader through a very small, sometimes biased window, instead of showing the entire world with all it's history. This series is about Penryn's story and about her struggle to survive in this new apocalyptic world. It's about her fight as an individual, so it would have been straight out unrealistic if Penryn found out all things about angels (which are quite mysterious and always have been.)
Also, please consider that leaving something out of explanation does NOT equal a plot hole. This is an issue that has become quite irritating in today's media. Whether it's books, games or movies, everyone seems to be screaming for every single little thing to be spelled out. If not, people scream plot hole. 1968 the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was released and is ever since then celebrated as a masterpiece of cinematography. Literally NOTHING is explained in this movie, it is just one chain of images and sub plots that just happen. No explanation and leave everything to interpretation = BAM masterpiece.
Some explanation and some stuff left to interpretation = PLOT HOLES.
Nope, I just don't think it works that way things work. Not to mention that a book which is all about tying up old, loose ends and not introducing anything new would not only be boring, it would most definitely NOT be a good book.
________________________________________________________________________
Overall, End of Days was fast-paced, entertaining and had the perfect balance of Raffryn, backround story, plot twists and epic fights in it. Lots of Penryn badassary, lots of funny lines or banters, but also some sad parts and some definite epic parts.
I couldn't put this book down and I enjoyed reading it (and rereading it) so so much. EPIC conclusion!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit 03/12/15 : Two more month! TWO MORE MONTH, PEOPLE!!!! It will be ours!!!
Gif time
They better not delay the release date again, or else....
Edit: 12/30/2014: OMG the synopsis is there! IT SOUNDS AWESOME! I NEEEEEEED IT!!!!!
Edit: 02/07/2015: Holy shit. The cover. It is out. And the excerpt. I can't believe this stuff. There is no way I can possibly wait till May to read this book. I need it NOW!!!
blurrypetals's review
5.0
November 26, 2018
[reread because I was missing Penryn and Raffe something fierce]
Honestly, looking back at what I wrote about this book when I first read it back in 2015, I'm having a hard time coming up with anything more to add to how Past Me felt about concluding the series because Present Me feels pretty much the same way.
This series is one of the most fun, strange, and original series I've ever read, especially when you take into consideration that the first book was written at a time when YA about angels was way oversaturated already and this book came out three years after that and it still manages to be completely its own thing from start to finish.
I absolutely adore every last bit of this series and I'm so glad to have reread it and found it just as good as it was the first time, if not better.
Now, my only question is, what the fuck has Susan Ee been up to in the three years since this came out? Can we please get more Susan Ee? Please? Okay. Thanks.
June 1, 2015
Now this is how you end a series. I can't really put into words just how much love I have for this book and its predecessors for the incredibly unique, terrifying, and wonderful journey that was Penryn and the End of Days. I doubt I'll ever find anything that's quite as perfect at being different and broken as this series is. It's about broken people: an angel without wings, a sister who's lost the ability to walk, a mother who hears her demons talk to her, and a heroine who stubbornly treks onward despite the true and utter horror and disgrace humanity has become. It's about a broken world. It's about breaking, being broken, and putting things back together again.
This series was as thrilling and horrific as it was funny and strange, just like life is sometimes. It's the kind of apocalypse series that addresses what ACTUAL dystopia looks like and that is a very scary thing. It's a series that's kept me awake at night because of the disgusting and truly scarring things within its pages. But despite this, my one-word verdict on this series is this: beautiful. It's beautiful. It, like hard times in life, is hard to get through, sometimes sickening, but also intensely wonderful with how it describes what falling in love feels like, how the world is and how it might be, and, above all, the good that humanity can bring forth despite hunger, terror, and tragedy ravaging lives.
It's definitely one of my all-time favorites and I feel like it will be that way for many years to come. Hopefully, though, in the years to come, it will serve as a weighty reminder of the darkness we can carry in ourselves in times of hardship rather than becoming a guide to harness that darkness for future use.
All I can say is, with a comfortable life and what seems to be, at this point in time, a safe future, I know anything can change at the turn of any corner, this series is something to be revered in that it knows what it is to do good things and bad things and to curb ourselves so our future looks brighter rather than darker.
[reread because I was missing Penryn and Raffe something fierce]
Honestly, looking back at what I wrote about this book when I first read it back in 2015, I'm having a hard time coming up with anything more to add to how Past Me felt about concluding the series because Present Me feels pretty much the same way.
This series is one of the most fun, strange, and original series I've ever read, especially when you take into consideration that the first book was written at a time when YA about angels was way oversaturated already and this book came out three years after that and it still manages to be completely its own thing from start to finish.
I absolutely adore every last bit of this series and I'm so glad to have reread it and found it just as good as it was the first time, if not better.
Now, my only question is, what the fuck has Susan Ee been up to in the three years since this came out? Can we please get more Susan Ee? Please? Okay. Thanks.
June 1, 2015
Now this is how you end a series. I can't really put into words just how much love I have for this book and its predecessors for the incredibly unique, terrifying, and wonderful journey that was Penryn and the End of Days. I doubt I'll ever find anything that's quite as perfect at being different and broken as this series is. It's about broken people: an angel without wings, a sister who's lost the ability to walk, a mother who hears her demons talk to her, and a heroine who stubbornly treks onward despite the true and utter horror and disgrace humanity has become. It's about a broken world. It's about breaking, being broken, and putting things back together again.
This series was as thrilling and horrific as it was funny and strange, just like life is sometimes. It's the kind of apocalypse series that addresses what ACTUAL dystopia looks like and that is a very scary thing. It's a series that's kept me awake at night because of the disgusting and truly scarring things within its pages. But despite this, my one-word verdict on this series is this: beautiful. It's beautiful. It, like hard times in life, is hard to get through, sometimes sickening, but also intensely wonderful with how it describes what falling in love feels like, how the world is and how it might be, and, above all, the good that humanity can bring forth despite hunger, terror, and tragedy ravaging lives.
It's definitely one of my all-time favorites and I feel like it will be that way for many years to come. Hopefully, though, in the years to come, it will serve as a weighty reminder of the darkness we can carry in ourselves in times of hardship rather than becoming a guide to harness that darkness for future use.
All I can say is, with a comfortable life and what seems to be, at this point in time, a safe future, I know anything can change at the turn of any corner, this series is something to be revered in that it knows what it is to do good things and bad things and to curb ourselves so our future looks brighter rather than darker.
kingkarl's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
esther626's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
nubialemus483's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
beaniedorman's review against another edition
5.0
Wow! This was a great ending to an amazing story! I'm generally underwhelmed or dissapointed by the endings to trilogys, but this one really brought all of the characters and plots together, leaving me satisfied and happy. While there where some parts that made me a little... emotional and one aspect of the ending was kind of dissapoiiting , I was very happ with the way that it ended. Plenty of action blended with the right amount of romance to hold the reader in suspense, com =bined with a shocking twist at the end that will prevent anyone from putting the book down until the last word is read. I absolutely love Penryn and Raffe, along with the Tweedle Twins (seriously, their dialouge was responsible for at least half of my enjoyment.) Five Stars!!!