Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

This one was an action-packed thrill ride. It was different from a lot of YA books out there.

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Alright. Now I'm ready to review ANGELFIRE.



First thing I should say is, this book was good. It really was. If you're a fan of heart-stopping action, forbidden romance, the search for self identity, and a little bit of teenage angst all rolled up into one... well, this is your book right here. I think my only problem was reading it after finishing UNEARTHLY. It's like reading Shakespeare and then picking up a Where's Waldo book. It wasn't really fair to ANGELFIRE. UNEARTHLY was everything I could ask for and more with a dash of surprise. And in comparison, ANGELFIRE was good, but not when another book was still running through my head.



The pace was intense. It seemed like in every chapter, someone was getting head-butted or decapitated, or impaled. Which is nonetheless awesome! But I would've liked a good breather once in a while. It seemed like Ellie, the main character, learned and accepted her purpose in life a bit too quickly. But then again, with all of these reapers swooping down on her, trying to end her life, I guess that's forgiveable.



Ellie was cool. She's like an action hero that still shops for designer clothing. I just felt that some of the things she was upset about, and wanted to lament over, were all complained about before in other books. Every young adult novel has that character that "just wants to be normal" "why can't I be normal?" spiel. It's understandable, given each of their circumstances, but after you've read these lines over and over again in previous novels, it gets a little annoying. Ellie wasn't all about complaining though. She learned to accept things and move on. She had a lot of strength, which was admirable.



Will was pretty awesome as well. It was refreshing to see a guy REALLY try to put distance between himself and the love interest. He didn't succumb to Ellie's every whim, which gives him a lot of points in my book. And I really loved that they had a strong friendship.



The reapers were just a bit too generic for me. Like the demons in The Mortal Instruments series, they just didn't scare me. These are supposed to be monsters. Hell spawn. Apocalypse worthy soldiers. And yet... I find myself yawning at them. Oooh! You have two rows of sharp teeth! Scarrrry! I liked that Ellie still felt guilt over killing them though. It proved that she had a shred of humanity left.



Overall though, I really liked it. It was nice to read a book with this much action. A breather would've been nice, but it was not without it's breathless moments, and that's what makes a good book in my opinion. I'm excited to see where these characters go in the sequel and will definitely be picking up a copy!



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