Wings of the Wicked Review

Author: Courtney Allison Moulton
Release date: January 31, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 516
How I got it: Library
Other titles in series: Angelfire 

Life as the Preliator is harder than Ellie ever imagined. 

Balancing real life with the responsibility of being Heaven’s warrior is a challenge for Ellie. Her relationship with Will has become all business, though they both long for each other. And now that the secret of who she really is has come out, so have Hell’s strongest reapers. Grown bold and more vicious, the demonic threaten her in the light of day and stalk her in the night. 

She’s been warned. 

Cadan, a demonic reaper, comes to her with information about Bastian’s new plan to destroy Ellie’s soul and use an ancient relic to wake all the souls of the damned and unleash them upon humanity. As she fights to stay ahead of Bastian’s schemes , the revelations about those closest to her awaken a dark power within Ellie that threatens to destroy everything—including herself. 

She’ll be betrayed. 

Treachery comes even from those whom she loves, and Ellie is broken by the deaths of those who stood beside her in this Heavenly war. Still, she must find a way to save the world, herself, and her love for Will. If she fails, there will be hell to pay.

Wings of the Wicked is very much about Ellie coming to terms with being Gabriel and Ellie in one body, and her and Will's complicated relationship. There is lots of build-up and dramatics, but I didn't mind this. Actually I kind of liked it.

It had been a while since I'd read Angelfire when I read Wings of the Wicked, and in that time I had forgotten how much I love Moulten's voice. It's snappy, compelling, and incredibly hilarious. I found myself chuckling several times. But her style has the remarkable ability to change in an instant and suddenly BAM I am reading some of the best fight scenes I have ever read. It is AWESOME.

Also, WOW can she write some awesome romantic tension. That is my favorite part of romances in books, and Wings of the Wicked totally delivered in this area.

The one downside to WotW is that it can get a little drawn out and slow. Perhaps the whole thing could've been shortened 50 pages or so? I didn't mind it much overall, but that is something I noticed.

Dark, demented, and a little bit fabulously twisted, Wings of the Wicked proves to be a seriously solid follow-up to Angelfire. I cannot wait for book 3 so I can get some more of these epic characters.

Plot: Fun and exciting, despite the occasionally slow pace.

Characters: Love!

Writing: Really good.

Ending: GAH I HAZ THE NEEDZ FOR BOOK 3.

Mature content: There's violence, some swearing, and brief mentions of sex.

Overall:

Please, world, leave me for a while so I may read this in peace.

Wings of the Wicked was totally engrossing. I doubt anyone can resist its charms.

Tour: Angelfire Review

Author: Courtney Allison Moulton
Release Date: Feb 15, 2011
Pages: 454 (ARC)

Publisher: HarperTeen

Most Appropriate For Ages: 14+
Where I Got It: For review from Teen Book Scene

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.

This was such an awesome, action-packed novel. And now they expect me to wait for the next one?! Grrrrr.

This was gory. There was beheading, and slicing and dicing and I LOVED IT. ...Not to say that I'm some creepy blood-lover. I just loved that Courtney Allison Moulten didn't hold back on the fighting and blood,  because I felt it gave the story a really nice edge that will help it stand out in my mind.

Speaking of bloody stuff, Ellie could kill me in her sleep. That girl can kick some butt like nobody's business, man. I love to see that! While she still relied on Will a decent amount, since this whole thing is completely new to her, she's still a great heroine and protagonist. And Will? Will was awesome. I haven't been loving guy love interests in paranormals as much lately, but I found Will to be a unique, layered love-interest and really liked his character. Although, Ellie's best friend did annoy me a little.

OK, I do have one complaint: It was painfully obvious to me that someone was an enemy, but nobody realized this at any point in the book. It made my beloved characters seem very dense. I imagine it will be explored further in the next book, but it still irked me a little bit.

I'm not sure what more there is to say. I really enjoyed this one! Full of fascinating mythology, edge-of-your-seat tension, awesome characters, and fast-paced action, paranormal fans do NOT wanna miss Angelfire.

Book Report:

Plot: Fast and original. (Makes me think even reluctant readers would like it.)

Characters: Very likable.

Writing: Impressive.

Ending: I AM THE PRELIATOR!...Sorry. Couldn't resist. Very good ending.

Kid friendly? There's gore, teen drinking, and some mild swearing too, I believe.

Should I read it? Definitely.

Overall: