Review : Angelfire, Courtney Allison Moulton

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton (Angelfire #1)

February, 15th 2011 (US)
Harper Collins

Description

First there are nightmares.

Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her.

Then come the memories.

When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie’s power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie’s memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.

Now she must hunt.

Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember.

My review

There are lots of references in this book about TV shows and mangas I was used to watch younger. And it’s not a surprise since I’ve discovered that the author is only 24 years old! Angelfire is refreshing with a girly heroine, a mysterious and handsome boy, funny lines and monsters who can speak. It reminds me a lot Sailor Moon or Buffy the Slayer (this series is one of Courtney Allison Moulton’s favourite TV shows…).

Ellie is just 17 years old, she is in high school and likes hanging out with her best friend Kate and her other friends. She is girly, loves shopping and her new Audi car. When she meets Will, she feels like she knows him. Will tells her the truth, she is the Preliator, she has to fight reapers which are monsters who eat human souls, and he is her Guardian, who protects her, no matter what. Ellie doesn’t remember her past but she has to learn to fight if she doesn’t want to die. But what is she really?

Ellie is a normal girl who wants to remain normal and to have a normal life. She is quite funny, especially when she is with Kate, the necessary hot and fun best friend. But Ellie has to hide her dangerous activites with Will when she discovered her true identity. These two lives are common with Sailor Moon and Buffy, even if Ellie is alone with Will and didn’t reveal the truth to her friends.

There is a great use of the mythology in this novel with angels, archangels, Nephilim, with even a reference to the Grigori. It reminds me Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick or Fallen with Lauren Kate. But the universe is a little bit more complex and a lot of explanations has to be put in the story to completely understand the world of the author.

The story is entertaining with lots of fights with monsters, a sexual tension between Ellie and Will, and quieter moments with Ellie as a normal girl. However, the character of Ellie’s father is disturbing, he is violent and has a bad behaviour with his family, it’s strange, I hope there will be an explanation in the sequels.

Actually, Angelfire is the first novel of a trilogy. The second one, Wings of the wicked, will release in 2012, and the third one, Hymn to the fallen, in 2013.