Saturday 23 July 2011

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
Source: Library
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins)
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 453

This debut, the first novel in a trilogy, is achingly romantic, terrifying, and filled with blistering action.

When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.
A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once.
While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember.
Slight SPOILERS in this review. Nothing major, but now at least you have some warning.

I had very high expectations going into Angelfire but unfortunately, the book didn't match most of those.

The main thing about Angelfire that didn't work for me was the main character, Ellie. I just couldn't connect with her at all. I mean, I can appreciate that her life has been thrown upside down and that she is clinging to the threads of normalcy that she has left - I get that. What I don't understand, and maybe it's just me, is that after multiple near-death experiences, Ellie doesn't really seem bothered by the situation enough to want to learn how to protect herself from the creatures out to kill her. Instead, she's perfectly content to just hang out with her friends as if it's no big deal when it is a big deal.

Also, the relationship between Ellie and Will kind of fell flat for me. It was sweet at first how commited to Ellie's safety Will is and it's well described in the book why that is. After a while though, it got a little redundant when I started to feel that all Will had to contribute was repeatedly stating that he would protect Ellie. I wanted more depth to his character, and supporting characters as well, for that matter.

That being said, there were some aspects of the novel that I did enjoy. There were a lot of great fight scenes with amazing details that were very exciting and the mythology was new and interesting. I loved the concept of the reapers and seeing them in action was probably my favourite part of the novel.

All in all, I was disappointed by Angelfire despite some more redeeming qualities. I'll give the sequel a chance and hopefully that will do more to impress me.

Cover Comments: Okay, don't think I'm crazy... but does that model not look like Taylor Swift with red hair from where you're sitting? IS IT JUST ME?? I really like the cover though. It looks eerie and mysterious and I love the contrast with the pink title.

6 comments:

  1. I have to agree with you that Ellie was difficult to connect with. I found myself annoyed with her MANY times throughout the beginning of the book. Her "rich girl whining" was too much at times.

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  2. I've been hearing a lot of the same thing about Angelfire in regards to the disappointments. Which has made me a little hestitant in picking it up. I really like the reaper aspect but I NEED to connect with the characters in order to enjoy a book.

    Ha... you know, I think the cover girl kinda does resemble Taylor Swift. You're not *totally* crazy! :P

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  3. Aw, it's a shame this one disappointed you! I had trouble with Ellie at first but I managed to connect with her after a while. I'm glad you're gonna try out the sequel though, hopefully it'll get better for you :).

    I have never noticed that before...but it really does look like Taylor Swift! I own this freaking book and never ever noticed that. Wow...

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  4. So disappointing I had high hopes for this book too I should have known I bought it but haven't read it yet. I tend to have a six sense about these things.

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  5. Jessi: Glad it wasn't just me. I mean, I don't think she even thanked her parents once for buying her a CAR.

    Brodie: Good to know! As long as you're crazier, I'm fine ;)

    Liz: I know you really liked this one! Hopefully the sequel is better, yeah :)

    It wasn't as noticeable irl but online? I thought it was Taylor Swift LOL!

    Sonya: Well, go ahead and give it a try anyways! I know that lots of other people enjoyed it :) Hopefully it's better suited for your tastes!

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  6. Good review. I was disappointed as well. You can read my review here:

    http://tracyshappybookshelf.blogspot.com/2011/06/angelfire-by-courtney-allison-moulton.html

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