Review: Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Title: Angelfire
Author: Courtney Allison Moulton
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: February 15, 2011
Series: Angelfire #1
Links: Amazon | Goodreads
Source: NetGalley

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.

Ellie and her friends live lives of privilege.  They drive expensive cars and buy expensive clothes, but other than their cars and shopping preferences there isn't really anything mentioned about class or wealth.  Still, it is made obvious that these kids are wealthy.  I'm not sure if the wealth serves a purpose or if it is just fun to destroy a brand new Audi and expensive clothes!  Ellie could be viewed as spoiled, though she doesn't really come across as entitled or bratty, which is why I feel the main reason for the expensive things was to make me cringe in horror every time one of them got annihilated by reapers, and that the wealth doesn't really lend much to Ellie's character.  As is expected, Ellie is hesitant and afraid when learning of her role in fighting the reapers.  She struggles to remember the information and skills that she needs to access in order to survive.  I like Ellie, but her character could be pretty erratic, flipping the switch between hard ass reaper terminator and cowering teenage girl in a way that reminded me of River Tam.  This makes it difficult to see a steady growth in Ellie at times, though it is there, and her confidence slowly evolves throughout in spite of her moments of fear and self-doubt.

Though I like Ellie, Will is a more fascinating character to me than Ellie is.  He has fought beside her for 500 years through numerous reincarnations, and he's been in love with her through all of it.  Each time he has to watch her die it is, in his eyes, his failure and he grieves those failures and losses over and over again.  Since Ellie's memory is fragmented and mostly obscured, it is Will's character that supplies the result of the emotional turmoil of his and Ellie's tragically cyclical partnership.

The first in a planned trilogy, Angelfire's plot centers on the reawakening of Ellie's powers and memories as she and Will investigate what these pesky reapers are up to, cause you know they have to be up to something!  As Ellie remembers, learns, and experiences more about her existence and the fight against the reapers, so does the reader.  There are plenty of fighting and action scenes for those who enjoy a good brawl.  There is also the matter of the relationship between Ellie and Will and what that does or does not involve and what is or is not allowed, as well as Ellie's struggle to maintain her ties to humanity and her friends/family.  (Speaking of family, I have to give props to Ellie's mom for being there and being a supportive parent who wants to be involved in her child's life.  Her dad is a douchebag to Ellie and her mother.  I have my own theories about this, but in the interest of keeping it spoiler free I'll keep those to myself!)

The ending isn't a cliffhanger but it does leave the reader with a sense of where the series is headed and the notion that something epic is going to take place.  I look forward to seeing Ellie regain her maximum levels of badassery.  I also really want to see more of Will and his struggles with the dynamic of his role in Ellie's lives.  I find their relationship to be one of the more interesting parts of the story, along with the lore which is great.  I look forward to seeing how that plays out in the future installments.