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Monday, February 14, 2011

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton


Pages: 464
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Series or Standalone: 1st in trilogy
Genre: YA Paranormal
Reading Level: 13 years+
Dominant Themes: Angels, Reapers
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.

As Courtney herself can attest, I have been very eagerly awaiting my chance to read Angelfire. I first saw it on a blog several months ago, and then featured it on my first Books I Want SO Badly I Could Pee post. I applied to every ARC tour that had it, entered every Angelfire giveaway I could find, and scourged the ends of the blogosphere for a copy.  I had fallen in love with a book that I hadn’t even read yet.

Then, on that fateful day that I downloaded it from Netgalley and put it on my Nook, I could swear I heard a choir of angels in the background. I finally had the book I had been ardently pining after for months. I started reading it immediately...

And fell even more in love.

When Angelfire started out, I will admit that I actually wasn’t that into it. It did take a few chapters until I fell into the groove of the novel, and the world built itself in my mind. And then, I was hooked. I sat there curled up in my bed, Nook in hand, for hours until I finished the book. I read it all in one sitting.

Ellie, as a protagonist, was good, although I felt she was unattainable. By that, I mean that there were times that I really couldn’t relate to her. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because there were times when I was reading, and I sympathized with her completely. Despite the fact that she has superhuman abilities and is the only person in the world that can wield swords of angelfire, she’s just a lost teenage girl who doesn’t know who she is.  She has boy trouble, she has school trouble, and she has some major parent trouble with a dad who is verbally abusive. (For the record, I suspect foul play where her dad is concerned. There is definitely something fishy going on with him, and something decidedly not human. But, I digress.)

The concept of the reapers and angels, and the cake frosting in between, was something new. I’ve been reading a lot of paranormal lately, namely where demons and angels are concerned, so this was a cool concept. Especially about Ellie, and her reincarnation cycle. I know there are a lot of things that still have to be revealed about this, so I’m definitely on the lookout for the sequel.

An integral part of the novel, and what made it so engrossing, was Will. And not just because he’s a nice piece of man, but because of the intensity of his relationship with Ellie. He’s been with her for centuries, watching and being powerless to save her life as she dies. He loves her. And he’s more than willing to risk everything for her, even his life. He feels guilty that he can never save her, even though she always is reborn. Will is strong and fragile all at once, and reading about him was one of the best parts of this novel.

Overall, I loved Angelfire. It had everything I look for in a good novel: dynamic and loveable characters, a rapid-fire plot, and an intricate world that’ll pull you in and won’t let you go. I give this novel 4.5 out of 5 stars.

3 comments:

  1. I'm glad you liked it :) Especially after pining for it for so long! I agree about the Dad thing, there's something fishy going on there. Oh, and I loved Will more than I did Ellie, he is such a great character!

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  2. Great review. I can't wait to get my copy. I have to wait until her launch party, but it'll be worth it. This is just one of those books, I know I'm going to love. Call it a hunch :D

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  3. lol pining that I can pee. I just finished this book last week and loved it. I could not get enough of will. This story was so well written that I can't get over it I am so sad that I have to wait about a year to read the next book that follows!! BTW I also think theres something fishy about her father!

    here's my review (we had some similar thoughts!)
    http://paranormallyromanced.blogspot.com/2011/03/review-angelfire-courtney-allison.html

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