World After (Penryn & the End of Days #2) by Susan Ee

Title: World After
Series: Penryn & the End of Days #2
Author: Susan Ee
Genre: Fantasy/Paranormal/Young Adult/Romance/Science Fiction

Maturity Rating: 13+
Initial Rating: 3/5
Technical Rating: 4/5

My Quickie Synopsis: Penryn finally has the family back together again, but things go awry when Paige slips away after a terrible massacre at their new home base. Penryn and her mother, desperate to not lose Paige again, attempt to find her, but find trouble instead.
Raffe isn't having much luck of his own, as he tries to recover his wings and exact revenge on the angels that took them.

My Initial Response: It's always bad when you attempt to write a synopsis and you struggle to articulate the point of the book. And then, when you come up with something that sounds right, it mimics the point of the first book of the series. What is that all about? I wanted to rate this book higher, if only because the writing seems to have slightly improved. Apparently, this book is longer than the first one, but I actually didn't take issue with finishing it. It's still choppy in its structure sometimes, but it was bearable. So that must count for something, right?

Really? The same basic plot twice?

Turns out, I still only felt the mildest twinge of interest for this book. Why, you ask? Well, nothing really happens in the story. You get a little bit of background on Raffe, and you find out what happened to Paige and even uncover what Uriel is trying to do. But by the end of the book, it doesn't feel like there was any stride forward within the overall plot. All the information that was provided simply creates a better foundation, but it doesn't magically create the house as well. The series darn well should be called "The Hunt for Paige and Raffe's Wings" because that's all there is to it at the moment. The main characters are so focused on those elements alone, that everything else might as well be window dressing. Locusts? Yeah, they are bothersome, but I need to get to Paige. Angels seeking an Apocalypse? Oh, that is worrisome, but I need to get my wings. It was fine for the first book, but to rehash the same thing in the second book makes the series start to feel repetitive. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how hooked you are), the next book isn't slated to drop until 2015, so that gives me plenty of time to possibly let the series grow on me. I wouldn't hold my breath though.

Character Building: 1/1
I'm glad that we got a little more insight into Raffe's character. I'm also glad that there was a little bit of growth in the relationship between Penryn and Raffe. However, right now, my favorite character is Paige. Ms. Ee is taking her in quite an interesting direction, and I hope that her character is explored more in the coming book. Overall, I'm not sure if the character building evolved as much as I would have liked, but it was still on par with what she created in the last book, so a full point for that!

Plot Strength: 0.5/1
There is a very rude part of me that wants to give this a big fat zero. But, I'm not without heart. I think that Ms. Ee used this book as a means of creating some of the foundation that she probably should have had for the first book. But nothing really happens in the story. It seems like an updated re-run of the first story. You learn some tidbits here and there, but it doesn't lead up to anything, really. The ending was middling to fair. There was a big, heavy, action-filled moment and then...nothing?! It fades off abruptly and that's it. That's the end. It's definitely weaker than the ending of the first book in the series.

Sincerity: 0.5/1
There was some improvement here! I started caring just the slightest as to what was happening to the characters and what was going to happen next. The story felt a bit more genuine and the writing came together a bit better than it did with the last book. However, it still needs polish.

Editing: 1/1
Nothing really to add here; the editing was fine.

Pacing: 1/1
I felt a bit more locked into the story and it never felt like the pacing was lagging behind. If anything, perhaps there were times when the pace was a little too fast for the story; but, just as with Angelfall, these flaws didn't detract from the story overall.

My Icing on Top:
It seems like Ms. Ee is getting a better grasp on her writing style, but I think that her plot could use some work. If the Paige/wings plot somehow repeats itself in the next book, I just might lose my mind. Well, at the very least, I'd be hesitant to complete the series. I really am rooting for the series to get better, because it does have the potential. Part of me is glad that the third book in the series doesn't come out for a while, because I really don't want to be disappointed again so soon. Is that mean of me? Yeah, probably. But I have to have a healthy does of skepticism in with my optimism :) If you've already read Angelfall, you might as well continue on with World After. It isn't necessarily better, but it isn't worse either. If you haven't started the series at all yet, you may just want to let this sit on the back burner for a while until the majority of the books are out. Just my two cents!

Check out my informal review on Goodreads!

Happy reading!

-K