Although dystopian and apocalyptic literature is far older than the 2010s—arguably, the biblical book of Revelation counts as apocalyptic literature—Angelfall was published at the height of the YA dystopian novel boom, which lasted from approximately 2010 to 2015. While some of the most popular novels in the subgenre were published slightly before this (like The Hunger Games in 2008 or The Maze Runner in 2009), their height of popularity came slightly later, spawning hundreds of similar books in a massive trend that marked a new height for young adult literature as a genre. The trend focused heavily on trilogies; most of the most popular cases were trilogies, with occasional spinoffs added on later. Angelfall adopts many of the tropes common to novels in this specific period—a cynical teenaged girl protagonist with a star-crossed love interest; a modern world wrecked beyond recognition by war, disease, or outside forces; and relatively simple prose with a first-person narrator. In many cases, protecting family members is a key motivation for the protagonists; like Penryn and Paige, The Hunger Games’s Katniss is motivated by saving her own younger sister, Prim.