Angelfire (Angelfire, #1) by Courtney Allison Moulton
Paranormal YA
February 15, 2011
Hardcover, 464 Pages
Katherine Tegen Books

Reviewed by Tori

Favorite Quote: “I guess true love does make you blind.”

“No…true love doesn’t make you blind. It paralyzes you until you can’t breathe or run away from it.”

Ellie is your average teenager; hanging with her friends, despairing about school, and waiting for her 17th birthday to arrive. But when the monsters in Ellie’s nightmares become reality, she finds herself on the front line of a supernatural war between the Angels and the Fallen. Ellie is Preliator-an angel warrior who is charged with dispatching the Fallen back to Hell. Ellie has fought this war for thousands of years and is reincarnated each time she dies. Will, her protector, waits each time for her to be reborn and remember her life mission. This time though, something is wrong. She isn’t remembering as fast as she should and time is running out.

The beginning is promising. Ms. Moulton has created a wonderful world that seamlessly blends real and fantasy to give us a story that is easy to follow. The characters are well thought out and retained their flaws perfectly. Interesting snappy dialog creates a fast paced storyline that flows well. Ellie is a teenage girl with a snarky attitude and a strong sense of self. With her fast approaching 17th birthday she is more concerned with parties and her friends. When her nightmares increase in frequency an she is attacked one night a mysterious young man comes to her rescue.

Will, the love interest, is introduced in the beginning and his development seems to come in spurts. Yet as he becomes more involved with Ellie; light back story is given I found myself much vested in his story. As this is all from Ellie’s POV-we only get to know him on her time. I would have loved more time with him. I do like that the romance is not a major storyline but rather a pleasant under current that enhances but doesn’t try to compete.

The majority of the story focuses on Ellie but her character doesn’t develop fast enough to hold my constant attention. Ellie’s everyday actions begins to slowly overwhelm the arc as we basically read about each minute of Ellie’s life and those who interact with her. Information concerning who and what Ellie is, is given sparingly. Exciting fight based action but it begins to bog the story down with repetitive fight scenes and dialog. I felt as though I was reading the same scene over and over with minute changes.This story reminds me so much of the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie with Kristine Swanson. Action packed with a terrific premise yet a bit silly and chafing at times.

Our secondary characters don’t come into play as much I would have liked. Again, this completely follows Ellie so you only see, hear, and meet on her terms.The Reapers and Archangels have minimum roles and did not flesh out well as being terrifying entities. Ellie’s friends provide comic relief and help cement Ellie’s role as your average teenager; but some scenes are just too juvenile and seemed more filler then meat. Will’s answer for everything became a bit convenient. I found her parents to be a bit odd. I really wished to have gotten more background on her father. He stayed one dimensional, though I really felt he was suppose to play a huge part in Elle’s story. He never seems to complete the transition from minor to major.

Overall I would have liked more growth and less Buffy but still an interesting story filled with lots of action, some forbidden romance, and teenage growing pains. Those who love the premise of humans becoming involved in the ultimate Heaven /Hell battle will enjoy this new author’s debut in this genre.

Rating: C-

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