I received this book free from a Goodreads Giveaway. Here are my thoughts:

This book could have been, if not great, at least much better. Unfortunately, it fell very flat for me. I very very much dislike the trend of poorly written YA novels. Just because they are meant for a younger crowd, doesn't mean that they should be written as if the reader is stupid. The author here clearly felt that if she didn't tell the reader absolutely everything, they wouldn't get it. Apparently the "show, don't tell" mantra was not quite as important in her 9th grade English curriculum as it was in mine. The dialogue was stilted, with characters saying things out loud that they never would in life. You can get a sentiment or feeling across with words without the need to spell it out... And the inner monologue from the main character was horrific. If a cute boy looks at her sideways and she blushes, no need for her to explain that to herself in her head. She gets it. The reader gets it. That benefits no one - mainly it's embarrassing for everyone.

As far as the story itself, it had some promise. Typical YA fantasy/apocolyptic setup, but that's what's in now. And I do enjoy them... But this one seemed a little too all over the place. The angels, the political intrigue from their end (which, what?), the human resistance, the weird science experiments (both razor teeth children and larger scorpion inside-sucking out guys - I mean really one of those is enough and even then, why?) and literally no explanation of anything. I do realize this is a trilogy, but I'll be honest, I'm not sure I can see where it could possibly go. Also, what the heck is with the mom? It's like by being paranoid she takes on weird powers...I'm pretty sure she should actually be long dead. And I'm sure the disappeared dad will show up somewhere later - I can only imagine that will be melodramatic. But the relationship between Penryn and Raffe, the fallen Watchers and Raffe's role there, the underlying mystery reason for the Angel's invasion and, possibly even some angel politics and philosophy about the existence of God - those really did have promise. And I did like the ending. The strange wing transplants and Raffe thinking Penryn is dead - I think that was all very well done and truly did leave me wanting to see what happens. Which based on my reaction to the first 7/8 of the book is quite impressive.

All in all, I would say if you are looking for a damn good YA fantasy/sci-fi involving angels and demons on both Earth and in other realms, skip this one and go read the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor. It has everything this one does, but much, much better. I HIGHLY recommend it.