#REVIEW: World After by Susan Ee

Title: World After

Series: Penryn and the End of Days #2

Author:  Susan Ee

Published Date: November 19, 2013

Publisher: Skyscape

Format: ebook

Pages: 336

ISBN: 9781444778540

Genre: post apocalyptic fiction

Add to: Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis: 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?

My Review: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Most sequels fall flat. That’s the curse of the sequel. If you are really lucky, the author finishes the series before it is so horrible that readers just stop reading. It happened for Fifty Shades for me, it happened for numerous other series for me.

The first book in this series was dark, terrifying, and thrilling, all at the same time, and it ended in such a way that I immediately picked up the next book without taking a breath. The end of the first book was an emotional, heart-rending experience and I needed some sort of happy ending. Instead, I was tossed into a book where people think Penryn is dead in front of them, Paige is some sort of miniature Frankenstein, their mother is even crazier than before, and Raffe? Oh Raffe….

The more I think about it, the more it shows how, when push comes to shove, any society sees what is right in front of them only superficially and judges, not on the person’s inside, but on their appearance, basing the person’s morality on how they look. And aren’t we as a society so very guilty of that too?

This book did not succumb to the curse of the sequel; instead it was just different enough to not be a carbon copy of the previous book, but just as exciting. If I could have, I would have read it in one sitting. This book was just as dark, and emotional, and gripping as Angelfall, if not more so.