Angelfire (Angelfire Series #1)

by Courtney Allison Moulton

Overview

First there are nightmares. Then come the memories. Now she must hunt.

Ellie can’t shake the terrifying dreams about monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her. Then she meets Will and 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. When they meet 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. Will holds the key to Ellie’s memories, whole lifetimes of them, and she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.

Her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. In order to survive, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives, the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, and truths that may be too frightening to remember.

Angelfire is achingly romantic, terrifying, and filled with blistering action.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062002358
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	01/17/2012
Series:	Angelfire Series , #1
Pages:	453
Sales rank:	176,119
Product dimensions:	5.46(w) x 8.22(h) x 1.25(d)
Lexile:	HL710L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Courtney Allison Moulton lives in Michigan, where she is a photographer and spends all her free time riding and showing horses. She is the author of Angelfire, Wings of the Wicked, Shadows in the Silence, and the novella A Dance with Darkness.

Editorial Reviews

Although the angel subgenre isn't languishing, reworking traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs to suit one's plot still takes chutzpah, and first-time author Moulton has no qualms about amping up her fight scenes with the risk of damnation. Not for her 17-year-old kick-butt heroine, Ellie Monroe, who is eternally reincarnated, but for those she fails to protect, who are dragged to Hell. Ellie doesn't know she's the powerful "Preliator" at first, and is more concerned with her lousy grades, her parents' fighting, and the car she's getting for her birthday. When Will, a handsome stranger, approaches her, she thinks it's flirtation until a monster attacks. Will awakens Ellie's latent power, most importantly her ability to wield angelfire to destroy demonic "reapers." Moulton attempts to work in and revise so much angelic lore that the nature of the reality Ellie has awakened to is a bit garbled. The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon clarity of the fight scenes, however, is unimpeachable. Ellie can be maddeningly slow on the uptake, but this is one heroine who's happy to take matters (and angelic swords) into her own hands. Ages 14–up. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Ellie's nightmares are growing increasingly worse. No amount of therapy or medication can stop her nightly descent into a world of deadly battles with demonic reapers. Any hopes of remaining a normal teenager screech abruptly to a halt on her seventeenth birthday, when the mysterious and handsome stranger, Will, awakens her power and she sees the reapers are, indeed, very real and determined to destroy her. She is the Preliator, an ancient warrior whose body and soul are repeatedly reincarnated. It is her heaven-sent duty use the angelfire of her ancient weapons to kill the demons that are devouring innocent human souls and sending them to Hell to build Lucifer's army in preparation for the Apocalypse. With Will as her Guardian, Ellie must combat pure evil while hiding her true identity. This is the first in a trilogy of the preparations for the ultimate war between good and evil. The author has introduced a dark and compelling world of action and intrigue, albeit with enough "normal" drama and humor sprinkled throughout to lighten it. Ellie is quite relatable as a teenage girl reluctantly thrust into a role of unimaginable importance, and her relationship with Will has substance along with romantic overtones. Several fascinating characters and storylines are introduced, with the unspoken expectation that their importance will be revealed as the series progresses. Older junior and senior high school readers will find themselves engrossed in the story until its powerful conclusion—then anxiously awaiting the second installment. Reviewer: Julie Watkins

VOYA - Julie Watkins

In an epic battle of good versus evil, Ellie will quickly be forced into understanding and must use her powers to defeat the reapers. Her journey begins with terrifying nightmares of horrific monsters who are hunting her and trying to kill her. These nightmares become a nightly occurrence and then Ellie begins having scary memories. The action-packed and suspenseful plot will have the reader intrigued and when Will enters the storyline, he brings intense romance that will balance the book perfectly. When Will comes into Ellie's life she immediately feels a deep connection of their souls. It is Will who will awaken Ellie's powers on her seventeenth birthday, when she must finally face her true destiny. The reapers prey on human souls and Ellie's purpose is to hunt and kill them. The only challenge is she must first reveal the secrets of her past lives and the many truths that are too terrifying to remember. Reviewer: Lisette Baez

Children's Literature - Lisette Baez

Gr 10 Up—How can a normal 17-year-old suddenly deal with an awakened power, learn to wield magical blades properly, save the world, and fall in love with her 500-year-old Guardian? These questions are answered as angels, horrible beasts, and superpowers meet in the Detroit suburbs where Ellie attends high school. Her nightmares start to make sense when she is introduced to the dark world in which reapers are intent on destroying her as well as the rest of humanity. Handsome and mysterious Will helps awaken her powers and guides her as she discovers who she really is. Fans of the supernatural genre will recognize echoes of recycled plot devices such as the returned savior who needs training, dark and swirly tattoo markings, and an ancient book that gives details on fighting demons (to name a few). Though the writing is rushed and loose, offering plenty of clichés, the story does have a fair dose of action, clothes, shopping, drama, and romance. First in a planned trilogy, with a media blitz and flashy author website to bolster sales, this is likely to be requested where supernatural romance adventures are a hot item.—Angela J. Reynolds, Annapolis Valley Regional Library, Bridgetown, NS, Canada

School Library Journal

Spoiled rich girl discovers she has a destiny to kill demons and maybe prevent Armageddon. Ellie is the Preliator, a reincarnated fighter with angelic connections, destined to kill Reapers before they kill people and send their souls to Hell. Her guide is Will, who has watched her back for 500 years and has really intense green eyes. Despite magical flaming blades, a convoluted but interesting angel angle and forbidden romance, this first-in-a-series ultimately fails because Ellie is so intensely unlikable. On her 17th birthday she receives an Audi, which is quickly destroyed, and seems more upset at the car's demise than the death of her favorite teacher. Too much time is devoted to minutiae (dress shopping, who likes who, drinking) at the expense of the paranormal plot, which is all exposition and action scenes. Ellie's habit of turning her back on deadly enemies mid-fight to run to check on Will and the inability of anyone to ever kill anyone else get old pretty quickly, and the late-breaking random appearance of a sexy bad-boy reaper is just pandering to the love triangle trope. The most amazing thing about this book might be the fact that it manages to avoid any references to Buffy the Vampire Slayer despite obvious parallels and a final line that sounds like it could've come straight from the show. Yes, the teen appetite for the formulaic appears bottomless and angels are the new vampire, but this one never rises above mediocre. (Paranormal romance. YA)

Kirkus Reviews - Kikus Reviews

Spoiled rich girl discovers she has a destiny to kill demons and maybe prevent Armageddon. Ellie is the Preliator, a reincarnated fighter with angelic connections, destined to kill Reapers before they kill people and send their souls to Hell. Her guide is Will, who has watched her back for 500 years and has really intense green eyes. Despite magical flaming blades, a convoluted but interesting angel angle and forbidden romance, this first-in-a-series ultimately fails because Ellie is so intensely unlikable. On her 17th birthday she receives an Audi, which is quickly destroyed, and seems more upset at the car's demise than the death of her favorite teacher. Too much time is devoted to minutiae (dress shopping, who likes who, drinking) at the expense of the paranormal plot, which is all exposition and action scenes. Ellie's habit of turning her back on deadly enemies mid-fight to run to check on Will and the inability of anyone to ever kill anyone else get old pretty quickly, and the late-breaking random appearance of a sexy bad-boy reaper is just pandering to the love triangle trope. The most amazing thing about this book might be the fact that it manages to avoid any references to Buffy the Vampire Slayer despite obvious parallels and a final line that sounds like it could've come straight from the show. Yes, the teen appetite for the formulaic appears bottomless and angels are the new vampire, but this one never rises above mediocre. (Paranormal romance. YA)

Kirkus Reviews