Angelfire (Angelfire #1) by Courtney Allison Moulton

Title: Angelfire

Author: Courtney Allison Moulton

Series: 1st in Angelfire

Pages: 464

Published: Available now from Harper Teen

ISBN: 9780062002327

Source: Published via Netgalley

Description:  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 Give This ...

 

It's so hard to give an impression of book without giving away major spoilers along the way.  Because sometimes those key points are what make or break a story for a person.  

I liked a lot about this book.  I liked Ellie.  She's a kick ass heroine who doesn't take crap from anybody.  I liked her social life.  She's not the popular girl in school, but she's not the misfit either.  She has a close nit circle of friends that she's comfortable with.  Then steps in Will.  He's mysterious and way beyond cute.  Plus, Ellie feels a deep deep seeded connection to him that she can't explain.  I liked that because it was different than the instant attraction that seems so rampant in ya literature these days.  I liked how they work together.  After 600 years of reincarnations, you can tell they are a team that really would do anything to protect each other.

I also liked the action during this book.  The reapers really wreck havoc in both the real world and their own dimension which leaves Ellie in some sticky situations she has to explain.  I loved her swords and her ability to call on Angelfire.  It really gave them book the punch in the action department.

Which brings me to what I didn't like.   I really disliked that the reapers stole innocent/good victims for devil's army against God.  It seemed like a glaring contradiction to everything I know and believe in.  I think there was a better way for the reapers to have accomplished their mission and still have Ellie be the Preliator (thanks Ashley!).  I also disliked who Ellie is revealed to really be at the end.  It didn't fit in my head with who and what I thought Ellie was.

I'm sure I will continue this series because I really like the basic idea.  I just happen to disagree with some of the reasoning behind it :)

*Ashley from Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing and I discussed this book quite a bit after I finished.  We had the some of the same dislikes, so I'm hoping this review doesn't sound too much like hers.