Angelfall (review)

There's been a Biblical-style apocalypse, and Penryn's living in the hellscape of what was once San Francisco. She makes an unlikely alliance with Raffe, an injured avenging angel, after her little sister Paige is carried away by the faction of angels who incapacitated him. Endangered by Penryn's violently paranoid schizophrenic mother, the brutal gangs who rule the streets, and the packs of feral cannibal children starting to appear on the landscape, the pair tries to find and save Paige. Ee leaves much of her backstory unexplained, so readers will be left wondering about the history of the gangs and of Penryn's family history (how did the gangs form? why are Penryn and Paige still with their mother when she is apparently the one responsible for Paige needing a wheelchair?). The mystery around the angels' motives and endgame is well developed, though, and it pays off in the disturbing final reveal. The book's biggest draw is the electric, antagonistic attraction between Penryn and Raffe, temporary allies caught on opposite sites of a war that is just beginning; fans of angst-ridden vampire and werewolf romances will find plenty to enjoy. A cliffhanger ending promises much deeper explorations of this dark, devastated world and its implacable angelic invaders in future volumes.