Howard Hughes

End of Days

Monicap

umgee!!!

Susan Ee, you must write faster! Now!

Colleen

3.5 Stars

This review contains spoilers.

I enjoyed End of Days and the series overall. However, I do have mixed feelings about this book. There were parts that I liked a lot but also some messy parts. I really debated whether to round up or down on my rating. 

There was not as much action commentary in End of Days as in the first two books. That was disappointing because that was my favorite part of these books. It was still entertaining enough, but I missed the how to butt-kicking lessons. Still, Penryn was an easy heroine to cheer for.

Like World After, End of Days continued to delve into the exploration of humanity and the debate between personal survival or selflessness for the greater good of humanity. It gave the story more depth than your average YA story and was one of the better parts of this book.

In terms of the plot, there were quite a few critical events that took place away from Penryn (view spoiler)[such as the angel showdown or Paige's battle with the locusts (hide spoiler)]. So since the story is only told from her point of view, the reader completely misses out on those parts of the story and is only given a quick recap after the fact. It wasn't anything big enough to cripple the story, but I did feel cheated at certain parts. 

The ending fizzled out a little. It was rushed and almost anticlimactic. Big Spoiler: (view spoiler)[Honestly, throughout the whole series I was expecting it to end with Rafe becoming the Messenger and Penryn either leading the rest of the survivors or dying the hero. The happily ever after, while sweet, felt a little hollow. There were many adorable moments between Penryn and Rafe throughout the series, but the final culmination did not blow my mind or set my heart satisfactorily aflutter. (hide spoiler)]

The biggest issue I had with End of Days was that there were a lot of loose ends. Goodreads noted that this was originally intended to be five books but got cut into three. So I think those threads got left loose ((view spoiler)[her mother's involvement with the devil, her missing father, what exactly was done to the her sister, etc. (hide spoiler)]) were supposed to be explored in the subsequent books and that the publisher hoped readers would not notice. It felt like a slapdash attempt to wrap everything up sooner than expected. Again, I enjoyed the story overall, but I would have liked more closure. The things that were left unresolved were not even given any attempts to wrap them up; they were just pushed aside and never mentioned again. But I am glad I read the series. 


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 5 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 4 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Beatriz Pereira

A great ending. This trilogy was great through and through. Kept the same quality from beginning to ending and that's something that's rare. Really amazed me how much I enjoyed this.

soph <33

‘𝐖𝐞’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬. 𝐀 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰. 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥. 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐧. 𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲. 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧.’

——————

Okay, first off, I have very mixed feelings about this book but the reason I’m giving it a higher rating is because I enjoyed 75-80% of this book. The ending though… I don’t know. To me, it felt quite rushed and almost too neat and tidy considering what had just happened. I didn’t get enough closure for lots of things and as well as that I feel like this book in the trilogy was lacking so much of the emotion that Ee had captured so well in the previous two books which sucks because this series deserved an amazing, gut-wrenching, mind-blowing finale. And instead what it got was a rushed 10 chapter summary that I found myself incredibly bored during (which I hated, I really wanted to be invested but I just couldn’t be).

Also, throughout the book there’s an extended metaphor of Penryn’s mental vault, and over the trilogy she’s been shown to slowly have trouble keeping herself together and “closing that mental vault”. I really wanted some closure for her, some emotional vulnerability for such a strong female character. (It also wouldn’t hurt if we could throw some Raffe comfort in there too—)

Anyway; what I did like:

- Paige (probably my favourite character in the series at this point, well, besides Dee-Dum)

- the banter between Penryn and Raffe

- THERE’S A HURT-COMFORT SCENE

- that we got a bit of Beliel’s backstory (yes, I’m still sad about it, yes, I know he’s still a bad guy)

- my homeboys Tattoo and Alpha (even though they kind of disappeared for the first 3/4 of the book)

Final thoughts: Angelfall is the best, and then World After is a close second, and End of Days…well, nowhere near the perfection of Angelfall but not completely atrocious either. I personally believe the last two books could’ve been made into one and that would’ve improved it, as well as having a longer ending. 

All in all, Raffe’s hot, Penryn’s…well, she’s Penryn, and Paige is a queen.

Livia

Marissa Luzio 

The conclusion to this wonderful series was just..amazing. Honestly, Penryn & the End of Days, was the best series I had read in 2015, by far. This was such a thrilling explosion of action and romance all together and just squashed in 3 books, it was fantastic. I am so glad I read these books, I couldn't imagine not ever reading them because I find myself comparing a lot of new books to these. Susan Ee did an amazing and impeccable job writing this series and she definitely needs way more praise for it. Even though conclusions suck and are the most horrible thing in the world, it was time to say goodbye to Penryn and Raffe and that wonderful post-apocalyptic world. 

The last book was definitely literal to the title. The end of days were coming and it was coming fast to Penryn and her group. Sacrifices were made and we really divulged into the life-threatening fights. Seriously, I though a couple of the main characters were going to die at multiple points of the novel. We had a crushing, thrilling and explosive battle at the end and it was so adrenaline-rushing to read. I was feeling worried yet proud of Penryn and Paige, and what they've accomplished and how much they've both been through! 

We even get a change of setting! Penryn goes someplace where she finally gets to learn about the angels and even Raffe. It was so damn cool how smoothly the transition between the two worlds were. Ee described it beautifully and there were some pretty close calls for Penryn and Raffe's old angel friends. Yes, expect to see his old pals from long ago in this book, whether they help them or not, you'll have to read and find out ;). The romance escalated as the situations became more life-threatening and I loved every shared moment they had. I will leave you with one, very teasing quote because I just can't help it:
“So am I?” I whisper. “Your Daughter of Man?”

This was such an exiting and so satisfying way to closing the series and I will 100% miss the thrill I got from reading it the first time around. Rest assured I shall be re-reading these books a lot more in the future! Goodbye Penryn. Goodbye Raffe. Goodbye Paige. Goodbye Mom. Goodbye Watchers. Goodbye Pooky Bear and finally, Goodbye Penryn & the End of Days. It has been a pleasure reading Susan Ee's thrilling trilogy.
IF you liked this review, check out more on my blog where I review YA and other genre books!
http://keepcalmandloveboooks.blogspot.ca

End of Days

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