* * * * *
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?
Being that I'd originally read and written the review for Angelfall two Christmases ago, (I had posted it until yesterday), I’d forgotten how chaotic and devastating those final moments
were. World After picks up from there
with Penryn separated from Raffe. She’s wondering how he’s coping and he most
likely believes she’s dead. She doesn’t have the luxury to dwell on him so much
as she still has to look after her hapless mother and unrecognizable sister and
lead them to safety.
This is a terrifying world where people are left to their
own devices to survive. Penryn is working so hard to keep it together in this
harsh reality especially in the face of her mother’s insults and her sister’s
plight. Paige is almost unrecognizable physically thanks to some graphic experiments
that the angels performed on her. Penryn has become fiercer about protecting
her sister even though she can’t quite bring herself to accept what Paige is transforming
into. It’s easy to forget that Penryn is merely a seventeen- old child who
needs to be taken care of herself. She is in constant survival mode with every
movement is calculated. It also doesn’t help that people seem to believe that
she’s some sort of savior who can rescue them. All she wants to do is take care
of her family but she is always at that fork in the road where she has to
decide if she’s just going to watch her back or be the good Samaritan.
Raffe and Penryn aren’t even together for most of the book
except through “flashbacks” provided by Raffe’s sword that’s now in Penryn’s
safekeeping. The sword not only provides Penryn with insight into Raffe’s
mindset, it also keeps him close to her. She has to admit that she feels
something for him and she almost admonishes herself for having a crush on
someone – an archangel no less – when there is so much more at stake during
this troublesome time.
It’s once Raffe and Penryn finally see each other that the sparks go wild. Everything is said in
a single stare as everything comes to a standstill. I was so thrilled that I
was applauding their reunion! It’s also when they finally encounter each other
that the weight she carries is truly felt. As they’re escaping a party gone
terribly wrong, (what do you expect with out-of-control angels?), Penryn allows
herself this one time to be someone in need of rescue. It’s her moment to have
a break:
“But for now, for just this moment, I let myself be a
seventeen-year-old girl in a strong guy’s arms. I even let some of the what-ifs
seep in, the kind of possibilities that might have blossomed between us in the
World Before. Just for a little while. Before I carefully fold my dreams away
into the vault in my head.”
It's quite sad whenever she refers to life as either the World Before or World After. That sense of hopelessness and loss rings so loudly. She doesn't want to be a hero, she just wants to be a teenager. And when Raffe comes back into the picture, we get a few glimpses of what that teenager may be like. With him around, she regains her sense of humor and it’s nice to see her be playful side even if for a fleeting second. They
clearly mean something to each other but neither is willing to reveal too much.
In fact, their relationship status could say “it’s
complicated” and it would be the truth.
World After is masterfully written. I am in awe of this tragic and complex world featuring our annihilated planet at the
whim and mercy of intricate angel politics. Some characters are complete
live-wires ready to snap, others are on the cusp of insanity and the rest are simply toiling away, lost and broken. Penryn and Raffe are unlikely partners in this war to regain a home and a future. By the end, Susan Ee does it again with an
astonishing cliffhanger that left me clutching at all the mad ideas in my head
as to what’s going to happen next.
~ Bel
