Title: Angelfire (Angelfire #1)
Author: Courtney Allison Moulton
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: February 2011
ARC Ebook: 291 pages
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Young Adult
Source: Review Copy
Reviewed by: Laura
RATING: 6/10 – Good
GOODREADS SUMMARY:
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.
REVIEW:
I have to say as a self confessed bookaholic, there’s something super exciting about being able to get my mitts on a book before it’s even released. It gives me a warm feeling inside 
Seventeen year old Ellie is your typical American teenager. Until she begins to have strange dreams and visions and then one night hears unusual noises in the dark. She learns of the existence of reapers. Evil beings that kill and steal people’s souls.
This coincides with the arrival of Will, who proclaims to be her very own Guardian Angel. Will tells her that she is in fact the Preliator, a powerful warrior reborn again and again over thousands of years into a mortal’s body. And that she is the only person that can fight and stop the evil reapers.
As a teenager she has enough to worry about with her school grades, friends, and Ellie does not welcome this discovery, especially after a reaper causes her to right-off her car.
With her powers awakened, Ellie cannot escape her destiny. What starts with reluctance turns to passioned determination. Reinforced as her visions affect her everyday life as the memories of her previous lives bleed their way into her consciousness.
There seems to be a theme for reincarnation stories lately, as this is the third one I’ve read so far this year. All with young women as the leads. I have to say I quite like them and in each book have been interested to see how the past affects the present day character.
Some of the best parts of the novel were the fight scenes. There are some fantastic fight sequences. In particular, the final battle on a liner in the middle of the ocean was inspired. And it will no doubt keep you on the edge of your seat.
The love story in the book is tender and engaging. Nothing adds to the edge of a romance like forbidden love and I found my heart squeezing at some of the scenes.
However, despite enjoying many, many aspects of the book I didn’t quite love it. Maybe I’m just a little ‘YA’d’ out at the moment, but at times I found Ellie a little irritating and superficial. It was hard to get my head around her and her parents almost flippant towards money. Additionally, Will was a fascinating character, but I wanted to know more about him, to understand the character behind the boy who has been in his late teens for the last six hundred years.
VERDICT:
A good read and without a doubt it was the action packed fight scenes that made the story. I think it’s a book YA fans will love, while I do have a couple of reservations it is still one I would recommend.
You can find out more about the author here:
4 Comments
Thanks for the review Laura – this one does sound good, but I know what you mean about being overloaded with YA (sorry, my fault) and sometimes taking a break from it makes you fresher for the next one you pick up. As an adult I always have to be super ready to engage with teenage angst LOL
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I do like YA books, but I think I'm in overload – just a sign of my age maybe lol!
Maybe I'll have a little break from them. It is a good book though
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Oh no!
Only 6/10?!? I have been looking forward to this book for a long time… I hope that you were YAed when reading it… Because that could mean that it is still a great read!
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@Avery well it's just my opinion, I've seen it rated higher on Goodreads and the fight scenes and the love story was fab. Just a couple of things that brought it down from a 7 or 8.
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