Angelfall is a 2012 YA apocalyptic fantasy novel by Susan Ee, the first in the Penryn and the End of Days trilogy. It is followed by World After (2013) and End of Days (2015). Ee, formerly a lawyer, started writing Angelfall to reflect her interests in fantasy and science fiction. Reflective of the large, popular movement of young adult dystopian novels in the 2010s, Angelfall begins with the protagonist, 17-year-old Californian Penryn Young, struggling to survive with her family in the ruins of society, which has been decimated by angels—winged, powerful humanoids evidently sent by God. Penryn’s sister, Paige, is kidnapped by the angels, forcing Penryn to cooperate with a wingless angel, Raphael (or Raffe), to rescue her. The novel focuses heavily on the resilience of human nature and taps into biblical angel mythology to develop the setting and characters.

This guide is based on the 2012 Skyscape paperback edition.

Content Warnings: This guide contains descriptions of violence and body horror, as well as references to ableist attitudes within the source text, particularly toward people with mental health conditions.

Plot Summary

California—and by implication, the world—has been largely destroyed by an invasion of angels. In this post-apocalyptic scene, Penryn Young escapes from her family’s ruined condo with her mother, who has schizophrenia and is frequently abusive, and her seven-year-old sister, Paige, who is paraplegic and uses a wheelchair. They travel at night, trying to avoid the gangs that roam the streets, but are soon assaulted by six angels. Penryn realizes that five of the angels are attacking the sixth, who has large white wings, and she watches in horror as they slice off his wings, leaving him bleeding badly. Penryn throws the injured angel his sword to help him defend himself, but the leader of the attacking angels grabs Paige and takes off with her, while Paige and Penryn’s mother runs away to save herself.

Penryn, separated from her mother and sister, decides she must rescue Paige. She ties up the injured angel and wraps up his wings, then shelters in an office building. Penryn’s mother eventually finds her, but Penryn manages to keep her at a distance while she nurses the angel, Raffe, back to health. Raffe and Penryn fend off an encroaching gang and, despite tensions, agree to help each other reach the angels’ aerie, where Raffe can get his wings sewn back on and Penryn can find Paige.

They travel together until they are chased down by dogs. Raffe hides Penryn in a tree and allows himself to be captured by a group of soldiers. Penryn hides his wings and decides to rescue him but is captured in the camp. She discovers that the camp is a group of rebels seeking violence against the angels; their leader, Obi, encourages them both to join the resistance, but they try to escape to no avail.

Penryn adjusts to life at the camp while trying to keep Raffe’s identity as an angel secret. She gets into a fight with a lewd soldier, drawing the attention of two twins, Dee and Dum. She agrees to fight a woman in exchange for the twins’ help escaping, but before the fight can conclude, the camp comes under attack.

Raffe and Penryn leave but find mauled human remains outside. Raffe tries to convince Penryn to go back to the camp, but she refuses, and he leaves her alone in the woods. She is attacked by small, cherubic children with sharp teeth, but Raffe appears and defends her since they do not like the taste of his blood. Sometime later, Penryn finds a couple mourning over the bodies of two dead girls, whom they have evidently sacrificed to a boy they loved, claiming he was a “victim” who needed to feed.

Raffe and Penryn slowly learn more about each other’s way of life and perspective as they travel toward San Francisco, where they observe rebels from the camp surreptitiously moving toward the city to begin their attack. Raffe helps Penryn sneak into the aerie by giving her a party dress. He attaches his wings to his body using a special backpack so that no one will know he has lost them. They enter the aerie, a 1920s-style hotel, and try to avoid attention. At one point, they kiss to hide their faces from another angel, and the feigned kiss becomes passionate, but Raffe denies that he feels anything for Penryn afterward.

In one of the parties, Raffe tells Penryn to convince an albino angel to go to the men’s bathroom, where he will confront him and ask for help. While plotting how to achieve this, Penryn notices a different angel, one with a face like a politician, but narrowly avoids his attention with one of the twins’ help. She spills wine on the albino angel’s suit, forcing him to go to the restroom to clean himself up.

Raffe confronts the angel, Josiah, in the restroom, revealing that he is the reason Josiah has any social power and demanding his loyalty. Josiah reveals several key details about angelic politics: A power vacuum exists after the death of Gabriel, the Messenger (the only angel allowed to speak to God), and another angel, Uriel, is campaigning against Raffe—revealed to be Raphael—for the position. Some angels believe that the cannibalistic cherubs are Nephilim, born from angels and humans, and are a sign that Raffe has fallen. Raffe eventually convinces Josiah to help him get surgical help from Laylah, an angel doctor, but Josiah denies knowing anything about Paige.

Raffe and Penryn clean up and eat in one of the hotel rooms; Laylah and Josiah eventually join them. Laylah implies that being alone might have doomed Raffe to fall, but Raffe eventually convinces her to help him regain his wings, turning them over to her. Raffe reveals afterward that he isn’t sure he believes in God since no angels have any proof He exists. He leaves for the lab, making Penryn promise to escape if he doesn’t return.

Penryn takes matters into her own hands and uses room service to contact the twins, who reluctantly take her out back to the garage entrance. There, they are confronted by Penryn’s mother, who slaps her but cooperates with her enough to go into the garage in search of Paige. They find a lab filled with disturbing human-sized scorpion angels feeding on living humans in test tubes, as well as a pile of naked, surgically modified children seemingly dead or asleep. Penryn calls for Paige in despair, and her sister climbs out of the pile. Paige is covered in stitch marks and bruises and can now walk; her teeth have been replaced with sharp, metal fangs.

An angel finds Penryn and attacks her, but before he can kill her, Paige leaps on him and rips him apart with her teeth. Penryn considers leaving Paige behind but decides against it when Paige calls her “Ryn-Ryn” and reaches for her comfort. After rejoining their mother, Penryn is suddenly caught up in a battle between Raffe—now with demonic bat wings attached to his back—and Beliel, a fallen angel, now bearing Raffe’s white wings. Beliel mocks Raffe for being fallen and for having fallen in love with a “Daughter of Man,” or human woman, against his own laws.

Penryn attacks Beliel with Raffe’s sword, which now refuses to let Raffe touch it, but is stung by one of the scorpion angels and falls paralyzed. Raffe, devastated, hugs her and promises her she will be all right, then attacks Beliel with new fury. Uriel arrives and forces Beliel to stand down so Raffe will not become a martyr. Raffe destroys the laboratory in rage and carries Penryn to safety.

Raffe brings Penryn to her mother and the other humans as the rebel attack destroys the aerie. The rebels initially refuse to accept her, believing her to be dead, but Paige picks her up and carries her onto the truck. As they drive away, Penryn sees Raffe flying and feels content to be with her family again.