Book Review: World After; Susan Ee.

The second book I managed to read on my travels, and part of a series that my work colleague begged me to continue! Funnily enough, I recommended that she read 'Angelfall' which she did, before completely overtaking me and finishing the series! As this falls under Dystopian and is definitely a story of survival, I'll enter it into the 'Monthly Motif' challenge too.

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: World After
AUTHOR: Susan Ee
SERIES: Penryn & The End OF Days (#2)
PUBLISHER: Skyscape
PAGES: 314
GENRE: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Dystopian

RATING: 3/5 Stars

Blurb:
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. Mum 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?

What I Liked:

• Susan Ee's writing was as action-packed and explosive as I remember it! My favourite thing about book one was it's fast pace, and Ee didn't disappoint here either. Every chapter ends on it's own, mini-cliffhanger which makes for a gripping reading experience. In fact, I read a vast majority of this book in one sitting! Despite the long time-gap between books, Ee's characters were obviously deeply embedded in my memory and I never felt lost or confused at any point.
• I liked that Ee took some time to develop Penryn's family dynamic a bit more in this book. While Penryn's mother was nothing more than a nuisance in book one, I started to get a clearer picture of how her head works and the complicated relationship she has with her children. It was also interesting to watch Paige become more independent and Penryn struggle with the way her sister is now. It added an extra dynamic to the story and made those scenes with Beliel and Paige slightly heart-warming to read.

What I Disliked:

• Despite the fact that I liked this installment in the series, it still did very much feel like a filler book. The constant jumping from mission to mission with very little direction, the final showdown with a minor villain, etc. The biggest disappointment for me had to be the real lack of Raffe. It's not that I don't like Penryn, but her witty banter with Raffe was sorely missed and it was frustrating that she spent so much of the book without him. I hope that they'll stay together from now on.

Overall Conclusion:

This book had some really great moments, choosing to give the characters and world some much needed development rather than lead the plot anywhere too significant. In some ways I really liked this, but in others it just filled time rather than progressing the story all that much further. Raffe was sorely missed too, appearing about 80% of the way through when I'd really hoped to see some more moments between him and Penryn. Not a bad sequel, but it definitely didn't hold a candle to book one. That being said, I'm still heavily invested in this series. I need to read book three!