Angelfire, Book 1, The Angelfire Trilogy by Courtney Allison Moulton

Publisher:  Harper Teen
Pages:  464

(Release Date:  2-15-11)

From the Cover:

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 has it all... it's her senior year of high school, she's almost seventeen years old, she has the most sweet and gorgeous best-friend ever.  But, she been having horrible nightmares, and they're getting worse.  They're the bloodiest scariest nightmares, and sometimes... she doesn't leave them alive.

When Ellie sees the mysterious Will standing at the edge of the schoolyard, she feels an attraction to the brooding soul.  And he seems to know her.  But from where?  When?  How?  Will is everything she needs, and she finds herself wanting more, can she have more with Will?

In Ellie's dreams sometimes she brandishes swords that glow with a too bright light, a fire that blazes when she calls it.  Sometimes, she feels herself calling out.  Sometimes for Will.  Could it be the same Will?

When Will awakens her, she discovers her true purpose in this life, and the things she must hunt if humanity is going to survive, if Lucifer's army will be contained, if she's going to survive.  And she really wants to survive.

Anglefire by Courtney Allison Moulton is a story of a soul reborn from the birth of time, from the first battle in the heavens, Lucifer and his follows against God and his avenging angels.  Ellie is an old soul who on her seventeenth birthday, is awaken to her calling.  To fight the creatures who hope to increase the souls delivered to Lucifer for the next war with God.  Souls who have done nothing wrong and forced into Lucifer's service.  Demonic soul reapers who kill and steal the souls of the innocent, and it's Ellie job to prevent that from happening.  Ellie is more than she seems and less than she needs to be, she can't remember all of her past lives, and it's costly.  With every re-awaken, she looses a little bit more of the knowledge she needs, she forgets a little bit of her purpose.  And she can't figure out why.  It's all she can do to hang onto her humanity, it scares her to know she can kill so easily.  Is she becoming one of the monsters?  When Ellie discovers her true identity, she doesn't know what to think.  But she does know, Will is what she needs in her life right now.

Angelfire is the debut YA novel for Courtney Allison Moulton, and it's an excellent first start.  There are many debuts coming out in the months to follow, but this is an one that I've been waiting for and I'm happy to have the opportunity to have an advance peek at this book.  Angelfire is a book not to be missed by YA urban fantasy/paranormal romance lovers.  It's a quick read with action, love, and the Archangels and Lucifer's battle for souls.  The demonic soul reapers are many and a wide variety of species, all are frightening in the strength and abilities.  Courtney Allison Moulton has created a world where fantasy becomes the reality, and the hope for humanity's soul rest in the hands of a seventeen year-old girl, awakened to a power greater than she can realize with archangels and angelic soul reapers as her guiding light.  Angelfire is a must read and I'll be looking for more from this new author with the next two books in her trilogy, Angelfire Book 2, Wings of the Wicked (2012) and Angelfire Book 3, Hymm to the Fallen (2013).  Visit her website for more details.





I received this ebook from Harper Teen and Net Galley for review.  All opinions expressed are my own.