Audiobook Review: End of Days

Author: Susan Ee
Narrator: Caitlin Davies
Series: Penryn & the End of Days, #3
Released: May 12th 2014
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
Buy: Audible

End of Days is the explosive conclusion to Susan Ee's bestselling Penryn & the End of Days trilogy. After a daring escape from the angels, Penryn and Raffe are on the run. They're both desperate to find a doctor who can reverse the twisted changes inflicted by the angels on Raffe and Penryn's sister. As they set off in search of answers, a startling revelation about Raffe's past unleashes dark forces that threaten them all.

When the angels release an apocalyptic nightmare onto humans, both sides are set on a path toward war. As unlikely alliances form and strategies shift, who will emerge victorious? Forced to pick sides in the fight for control of the earthly realm, Raffe and Penryn must choose: Their own kind, or each other?

End of Days is the conclusion we’ve all been anxiously waiting to read since early 2011, when Susan Ee first released what was to become a self-published sensation. Angelfall was quite a surprise for readers and publishers alike and luckily, the quality was recognized on all sides. But if Angelfall was a huge success, the book that followed, World After, was an even bigger hit. Not only did Ee manage to reach the same level of excellence, she somehow doubled the excitement and our own emotional investment.


It’s pretty clear that End of Days had some big shoes to fill, but unfortunately, the conclusion to Susan Ee’s trilogy was born with relatively small feet. All on its own, this book would have been something to talk about, but compared to the previous two, it doesn’t quite reach the same heights. From the beginning, it was extremely difficult to scrounge up the excitement we were left with in World After. While funny and filled with witty banter, this third book seemed rather aimless and poorly structured. Admittedly, I may be a bit harsh, but it’s only because my expectations were sky high.

The good news is that Penryn and Raffe spend most of this book together. We’ve seen them change from enemies to reluctant companions to trusted friends and eventually something more. And while the ‘something more’ part still can’t be if Raffe is to rejoin his own kind, the bond between these two, the true friendship and companionship, is undeniable. Although his honor demands that he maintain his distance, it is only a physical distance he keeps, and even that with limited success.

The tension between them is delicious, perhaps not quite as exciting as before, but palpable nevertheless. That could be the source of my biggest disappointment – after all the build-up, the ending seemed rather anti-climactic on all fronts. It was fine, I suppose, but if ‘fine’ is the best we can do right after ‘spectacular’, something obviously went wrong somewhere.

Be that as it may, it needs to be said that Caitlin Davies did a spectacular job with her narration once again. I honestly didn’t like her in any of the other audiobooks she narrated, but hers is the perfect voice for Penryn and in this case, it adds a lot to the story itself. If you do decide to read this trilogy, and I definitely recommend it as a whole, then audio might be the better choice.