Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Angelfire (Angelfire #1) by Courtney Allison Moulton
453 Pages>
Harper Collins/Katherine Tegan Books
February 15, 2011
Source: Bought
Format: Hardcover

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.

    I read this book the day after it came out because I wanted it so much it was consuming. Why I didn't review it earlier is beyond me -life just got in the way I guess. Anyway... this book was great! It has made it onto my list of all-time favorite books, which is a very selective spot.

  &nsbp; Angelfire follows Ellie, a normal seventeen-year old. Well she was normal. Or more appropriately, she thought she was normal. But Ellie is anything but normal. She is an ancient warrior, reincarnated generation after generation after dying fighting the reapers. However, Ellie isn't sure that is who she wants to be. After going so long being just Ellie, it is hard to give that up. But when your life and the lives of your family are at stake, there may not be an easy way out.

    I loved, loved, loved this book! There was tons of reaper-killing, kick-butt action. As well as romance, teenage angst, humor, suspense, and difficult choices. The plot is something that will almost immediately draw you in, but for me, the plot wasn't the selling point (though I loved it), the characters were

    The characters in this novel were so well developed and completely likable! They were funny, they had depth and they were realistic. Also, Ellie's relationship with her best friend reminded me shockingly of me and my own best friend. So maybe I'm a little biased there since I felt like I bonded with them because they said the same things I would in that situation. But it wasn't just the "good" characters that I loved. I loved the bad ones just as much. They were not the annoying, I-can't-stand-reading-about-you kind. Sure, they were evil, but there are just some evil characters you don't find yourself hating. You might hate what they do, but the characters themselves are interesting. Like Bellatrix from Harry Potter (my favorite from the series), or Lady Macbeth. Both are horrible, but awesome at the same time. Or maybe I'm just evil... watch out!

    So overall, I cannot wait until I get to reunite with Ellie and dive into her crazy, scary, action-packed world again! It is a trilogy: Wings of the Wicked (2012) and Hymn to the Fallen (2013) will be the next installments in the series. If you have yet to pick up this awesome debut, I would recommend you do that soon (now would be great).