Skin to Bone - Lori's Review of END OF DAYS by Susan Ee

Title: End of Days
Author: Susan Ee
Publisher: Skyscape
Publication Date: 5/12/2015
Source: ARC from the Publisher 

Synopsis:
End of Days is the explosive conclusion to Susan Ee’s bestselling Penryn & the End of Days trilogy.

After a daring escape from the angels, Penryn and Raffe are on the run. They’re both desperate to find a doctor who can reverse the twisted changes inflicted by the angels on Raffe and Penryn’s sister. As they set off in search of answers, a startling revelation about Raffe’s past unleashes dark forces that threaten them all.

When the angels release an apocalyptic nightmare onto humans, both sides are set on a path toward war. As unlikely alliances form and strategies shift, who will emerge victorious? Forced to pick sides in the fight for control of the earthly realm, Raffe and Penryn must choose: Their own kind, or each other?

Susan Ee is the author of the bestselling books in the Penryn and End of Days trilogy, Angelfall, World After andEnd of Days. Her books have been translated into over 20 languages and her short films have played at major festivals. She used to be a lawyer but loves being a writer because it allows her imagination to bust out and go feral. 

***I'm jumping into this review as if  everyone reading it has either read this series or at least knows a lot about it. If you haven't read it, first of all, why not? Second of all, you can catch my review of ANGELFALL HERE.

This is another book that leaves me grasping for words to say. Whenever anyone asks me to tell them about this series, I find myself struggling to come up with an appropriate and accurate description. Well... there are angels, but it's not exactly religious. There is forbidden love, but it's not really a romance novel. There are demons and cults. There are flying scorpions and flesh eating children. There are humans who are more monstrous than any and all of the above. This series defies the rules, dispels genre boundaries, and completely draws you in.

END OF DAYS is the final book in the series. It was a little bittersweet for me because, of course I was hoping for lots of Raffe and Penryn time. Instead they chose to spend much of the book in separate corners, so to speak. It is in this book that Penryn finally realizes that ultimately she and Raffe are on opposite sides of this war. No matter their feelings, no matter the outcome, Raffe is still an angel, an enemy of humans. He belongs with the angels and that is a place that Penryn can never be accepted.

The ending was such a shock to me. I was absolutely not expecting it to end the way it did. It was so amazing and just... perfect. I cannot say more than that without giving too much away, but just know that it is a VERY satisfying ending to this wonderful series.

There is so much going on in this last novel that you really won't want to set it down. The angels are hunting humans, demons have escaped, and it's up to one human girl to decide which side she is going to fight for in her quest to save the world. It's the many tiny details of this story as well as the emotional ride that is going to cause me to re-read this series very soon.

5 out of 5 stars

Linkin Park - Skin to Bone