A Review for World After (Penryn & the End of Days #2) by Susan Ee

Posted by Melanie 
Release Date: December 31st 2013 
Finished Date: November 20th, 2013

Publishers: November 19th 2013 
Genre: YA, Dystopia, Romance
Source: For Review

Format: Paperback
Pages: 315

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

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?

The Review: World After is the long awaited sequel to AngelFall and what a sequel it was!! It was just EPIC!!! Pure perfection in a paperback.
At the end of AngelFall, Pen is assumed dead and only the fear of her mother and sister keep the resistance from not allowing her to travel with them….. but she wakes up much to the astonishment of everyone, but it isn’t a happy awakening as suspicion is thrust upon her family, people fear them - a girl who has awoken from the dead, a child that resembles a mechanical, medical experiment and a mentally disturbed woman prone to using a cattle prod and talking in tongues – things are not looking good for them and they have few supporters. After an episode where Paige is made to seem like a monster, she flees, so Pen has no option but to follow. As they search for Paige, they are thrust right into the middle of a nightmare as they come upon some of the Angel’s secrets & plans. As Pen again tries to save her family, she is forced to put her life on the line yet again as she heads to the heart of a new airie and she comes face to face with him again….Raffe. he had assumed she was dead too and had been chasing Belial around in order to get his wings back so that he can rejoin the angels, but seeing her knocks him for six and when the danger she is in becomes so desperate…. Who will he fight for?
So… this was amazing! I just can’t describe how this book enraptured me, it pulled me in and I seriously put my life on hold to read it all. It was so easy to reconnect with the characters especially Pen, she is a really cool character and I love that she still feels fear in dangerous situations but does it anyway, we could all take a leaf out of her book. I think her mother is great too, I’m so curious about her, about how she always seems to know what’s happening or what needs to be done etc. Is it mental illness or something more supernatural? And poor Paige, bless her, what have they done?
The storyline was amazing aswell, great progression and it starts more or less exactly where we left book one. I know that some people are wondering whether to re read book one but in my opinion there is no need, I know it made a big impact on me and I remembered a lot plus we get some excellent recaps told from Raffe’s POV, they were really good and I appreciated that insight into his head and we even get to see Pen through his eyes. :D The Angels may have hit a bit of a bump in the road with what the resistance did at the end of book one but they are by no means out of the picture and we find that they have others places set up doing the same type of thing. We find out quite a bit of information too as the focus of this book is the Angel’s plans, we find out who’s in on it, what’s happening with the weird test tube flying man/scorpions and how they fit into it, we find a little about how it all became possible, what the experimentation on the kids was for and what the ultimate goal is. For all the book is filled with humans in despair, struggling to survive now that they’re not at the top of the food chain, I also feel like it shows how that can bring out the best and the worst in people and even though the world is now fraught with danger, humans are showing their guts, they may be down to their primal instincts but their survival skills shine through giving a ray of hope & determination which I think Pen displays perfectly. I love the tentative relationship between Pen & Raffe, who doesn’t love a little forbidden love? I missed his character throughout the book and that was another reason I couldn’t stop reading….just waiting for the reunion and I thought Raffe’s reaction to finding her again was great and even though he struggles with his feelings for her, they came across loud & clear giving me hope for them - if they survive. There are awesome action scenes in this also and I can’t wait for the movie for some of those visuals because if they’re as good as my imagination then we’re in for a treat!