Review: Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Title: Angelfire

Author: Courtney Allison Moulton

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: 2.15.2011

Pages: 464

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Series: Yes; Angelfire #1

Rating: A-

Summary (from Goodreads):

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:

It took me a while to write this review because I honestly wasn’t sure how I felt about the book. Was it enjoyable? Yes. Were the characters well written? Most definitely. But I couldn’t help but compare it to Buffy the Vampire Slayer for a long while. While there are no vampires in this book (a nice break to read a paranormal romance not about vampires), it still had a lot of Buffy-esque qualities in my opinion.

The novel starts with Ellie, an upper-class teen who is one of the popular girls, who has a good life (insane father-figure aside), and is suddenly told she has super powers that help her hunt things that go bump in the night. I think because I grew up with my own demon hunting badass I was drawing unfair comparisons and not letting this novel take flight on its own. Shame on me.

Moulton has crafted this intense world (well, worlds, really) where a single girl is one person who can essentially save mankind. Ellie, our heroine, is a ballsy as she is sarcastic which the perfect blend of the current American teen and the American teen dream. She is this strong, brave, and intense character that pushes the story along. You can’t help but fall for Ellie and root for her with every turn of the page.

But no novel is complete without a terrific, well-rounded cast. Will is every girl’s fantasy (dark, brooding, protective, sweet, and loving). He’s the total embodiment of the “dream” guy but he never comes off as insincere or overly perfect. His charms are balanced with his flaws. Nathaniel, Lauren and Ellie’s best friend Kate easily weave in and out of the story, and I hope they’re in the following books.

I feel like I owe Moulton an apology for judging this book too quickly. By drawing my own comparisons early in, I almost missed out on a great book. And this truly is a great book, and one that I will most assuredly be recommending to friends and family alike.