Does there have to be a romance in every book I read? Even if there’s an apocalypse going on and supernatural creatures swooping down stealing children the romance still, for some reason, has to make up a lot of the plot. I came to the conclusion in the middle of this book that I am rather bored with the idea of star-crossed lovers. In fact I was a little incredulous when we’re expected to believe that they had feelings for one another the whole time, because apart from a staged kiss I never got any ‘coupley’ vibes. Pen and Raffe’s exchanges were comical at times and I did laugh at their wit, but I wouldn’t say that their chemistry leapt off the page. As for him being an angel it wasn’t particularly anything new, a blend of Hush Hush and The Mortal Instruments. Raffe too embodied the classic components of a sarcastic, arrogant and mildly amused love interest, with a side of broody angst for good measure, of course. Penryn is your classic dystopian protagonist, down to the love of her younger sister and ability to fight, resulting in her not being a particularly stand out character. However, I gave it a go and here are my thoughts! – as an indication that I should stay clear. I should have taken my great apathy towards horror movies – the scariest film I’ve ever seen probably being The Black Cauldron, I mean, come on! The Horned King is too creepy for the under tens. Angelfall was a lot slower than I was expecting and even though I’d heard a lot of reviews mentioning the horror element I was still surprised by how revolting and vivid the description was. I was sold on the idea that this book would be ‘unlike any angels I’ve read before’, it certainly had something I’d never read before – and it wasn’t the angel apocalypse.

Angelfall book review