Angel apocalypse: YA dystopian romance
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- Susan Ee self-published Angelfall in 2011; Hodderscape (Hachette UK) released the mass-market paperback in 2013.
- The trilogy spans three books: Angelfall (2011), World After (2013), and End of Days (2015).
- Penryn and the End of Days sits at the intersection of post-apocalyptic survival fiction and paranormal romance, with angels reimagined as hostile occupiers rather than divine protectors.
- The series debuted during the 2010s YA dystopian boom alongside Veronica Roth's Divergent (2011) and Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me (2011).
- Ee's angel mythology draws from biblical Nephilim lore and inverts the celestial hierarchy — grounded angels like Raffe are outcasts, not heroes.
Angelfall: Penryn and the End of Days Book One — Susan Ee
The book that proved angels could be scarier than zombies, and twice as compelling.
Susan Ee's debut drops you into a California wasteland where angels have decided humanity's time is up. Penryn isn't waiting for rescue — she's hauling her paraplegic sister and paranoid mother through the rubble when she witnesses Raffe, a warrior angel, get his wings hacked off by his own kind. The trade is simple: he helps her find her kidnapped sister, she helps him reattach his wings. What follows is equal parts survival horror and slow-burn tension, with none of the overwrought melodrama that plagued contemporary YA paranormal romance. Ee writes action sequences that land, dialogue that snaps, and a protagonist who'd sooner gut an enemy than swoon over one. Penryn's pragmatism — she's been caring for a mentally ill mother and disabled sister since before the apocalypse — makes her one of the sharpest YA leads of the 2010s. The Hodderscape paperback edition holds up well as preloved stock: compact, foxing-prone on the edges, but the text block stays tight. Explore our current copy of Angelfall or browse more Romance books at Patina.
World After: Penryn and the End of Days Book Two — Susan Ee
The middle book that refuses to coast — Ee doubles down on body horror and moral ambiguity.
Where most YA trilogies stall in the second act, World After leans into nightmare fuel. Penryn's found her sister, but Paige has been transformed into something neither human nor angel — a Nephilim experiment with scorpion legs and a fractured mind. Ee doesn't flinch: the angel resistance camps are brutal, the politics are uglier than the monsters, and Raffe's loyalties fray as his wings — now stitched from demon parts — corrupt him from the inside out. The romance beats are there, but they're subtext to the survival plot. Penryn spends more time navigating angel civil war than pining, which keeps the pacing relentless. If you loved Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke & Bone (2011) but wanted less stardust and more scorched earth, this is your entry point. As of August 2026, Patina's secondhand stock tends toward the Hodderscape paperbacks — look for creased spines and the occasional coffee ring, markers of a book that got read hard. Explore our current copy of World After or browse more Romance books at Patina.
End of Days: Penryn and the End of Days Book Three — Susan Ee
A finale that actually sticks the landing — rare for YA dystopian trilogies of this era.
End of Days could've collapsed under the weight of its own mythology, but Ee keeps the focus where it belongs: Penryn's refusal to let anyone — angel or human — dictate her choices. The angelic invasion reaches its endgame, the Nephilim revolt spirals out of control, and Raffe's demon wings threaten to consume what's left of his sanity. The romance resolves without the characters abandoning their core competencies, which is more than you can say for most 2015 YA finales (looking at you, Allegiant). Ee doesn't tie every thread into a bow, but she earns the ambiguity. The worldbuilding stays internally consistent, the action sequences hit harder than the first book, and Penryn remains ruthlessly practical to the last page. If you're hunting for comp titles, try Marie Lu's Legend trilogy (2011–2013) or Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed in Blood duology (2011–2012) — all three authors trust their protagonists to be competent without sacrificing emotional stakes. Explore our current copy of End of Days or browse more Romance books at Patina.
The Penryn trilogy hit shelves during the tail end of the dystopian YA boom, but it's aged better than most of its peers. Ee's angels are vicious, her protagonist is competent, and the romance never swallows the plot whole. If you're assembling a shelf of 2010s YA that still holds up on reread, these three deserve a spot between your battered copies of The Hunger Games and your dog-eared Grisha Trilogy.
Where can I buy secondhand copies of the Penryn and the End of Days trilogy in Australia?
Patina Paperbacks stocks rotating preloved copies of Angelfall, World After, and End of Days — all three ship Australia-wide from our Sydney base. Check the Romance collection for current availability, and expect Hodderscape paperback editions with the standard wear of well-loved YA: creased spines, foxing on the page edges, maybe a previous owner's name on the inside cover. Free shipping kicks in at $29.
Is the Penryn series appropriate for younger YA readers?
Honestly, no — not if they're on the younger end of the YA spectrum. Susan Ee doesn't sanitise the violence: there's body horror (angel experiments on human children), graphic combat, and implied sexual violence in the background of the apocalypse. The romance is slow-burn and never explicit, but the worldbuilding is dark. If your reader handled The Hunger Games without flinching, they'll be fine. If they're more comfortable with Tamora Pierce, maybe wait a year or two.
How does Angelfall compare to other angel-mythology YA like Hush, Hush or Fallen?
Angelfall strips out the instalove and the "fallen angel redeemed by mortal girl" trope that dominated early 2010s paranormal romance. Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush (2009) and Lauren Kate's Fallen (2009) lean heavily into supernatural romance; Ee uses angels as antagonists, not love interests. Raffe's an exception — he's grounded, literally and figuratively — but the series prioritises survival over swooning. Think less Twilight with wings, more Mad Max with a celestial civil war.
Did Susan Ee write anything after the Penryn trilogy?
Not yet — End of Days wrapped in 2015, and Ee hasn't published another novel since. She's hinted at future projects on social media over the years, but nothing's materialised as of August 2026. The Penryn trilogy remains her only completed work, which makes it both easier to recommend (no unfinished series limbo) and harder to replace once you've burned through all three books in a weekend.
Are the Hodderscape editions different from the original self-published versions?
The core text is identical, but the Hodderscape mass-market paperbacks — the ones Patina typically stocks — have slightly tighter copyediting and redesigned cover art. The original indie editions sometimes carried formatting quirks or typos that got cleaned up in the traditional publishing run. If you're buying secondhand, you'll almost always encounter the Hodderscape versions; the self-published printings are rare in the Australian preloved market.