Angelfire by
Courtney Allison Moulton Series: Angelfire #1 Published by HarperCollins on February 15th 2011
Pages: 453
Goodreads 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.
Short and Sweet:
Angelfire is an interesting take on the overloaded Angel / Demon premise. Thankfully, instead on falling in love with an Angel and being utterly dependent on him, our MC, Ellie is a somewhat kick-butt heroine (who carries swords I would dearly love to get my hands on). And as only a few helpless moments. But I think Moulton does a pretty good job of explaining why this is.
Unfortunately, Angelfire reminded me way too much of one of my favorite animes, Blood +, to really take it seriously. Ellie, like Saya, is a demon hunter who has lived for centuries. Being "reborn" over and over again to complete her mission. Yes, there are plenty of differences between Angelfire and Blood +. But the similarities were just too close for comfort.
I know that if I had not already been a fan of Blood +, my love for Angelfire would probably be very strong. I love that the book incorporates reincarnation and Moulton does a fabulous job of presenting this through Ellie. Will was an interesting love interest, but he was too closed off to really get to know him better. Hopefully, his character will be better explored in the future installments.
Final Verdict:
Yes, I know it is not really fair of me to really hold Angelfire against Blood +. But for any of the anime fans that have watched this series, you will know exactly what I am talking about. There is plenty left to be explored with this series, and I hope to try the next book and maybe move past all the comparisons.
Kate is the co-blog owner of The Book Monsters. I am a twenty-something year old who is passionate about reading. I currently hold a B.A. in English and am married to my high school sweetheart. We have two (cat) children, Gracie and Kit, who are total divas. I have an insane and possibly unhealthy passion for reading. You can usually find me with my nose buried in a book.
I’ve got this one sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read. It sounds like it’s worth a read, especially since I’ve never seen Blood +, so I won’t have that to compare it to.