Religious or not, plenty of people are fascinated with the concept of angels–and of course, their demonic counterparts. I’m not particularly interested in angels myself, but this was a big trend in Young Adult literature for a while, so I did end up reading quite a few books featuring angel and part-angel protagonists and villains. Many were duds, but there were a few I really enjoyed, so let’s take a look.
- Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy by Laini Taylor- (4.5/5 stars) This is one of those rare few trilogies that, in my opinion, gets better every book. Book one was three stars for me, but book two was four and book three was five. Laini Taylor’s writing is absolutely gorgeous, and she has a really fresh take on the angels-demons dichotomy. (And no, not just that angels are bad and demons are good.) The first book is a bit romance heavy for my tastes, but even if that’s not your thing, I promise it’s worth it. Beautiful writing, really excellent characters, unique worldbuilding. Highly recommend.
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Unearthly Trilogy by Cynthia Hand- (4/5 stars) This one is a little more actually religious, but is probably my favorite take on literal heavenly angels that I’ve ever seen. Destiny, a well-done romance, interesting mythology about the biblical concept of nephilim, or part-angels. There is a love triangle, which I normally can’t stand, but I didn’t mind it in this one. If you’re interested in the biblical angels, check this one out.
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Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1) by Susan Ee- (3/5 stars) This is your classic angels-gone-wrong dystopia. Makes liberal use of the forbidden love and teaming up with the ‘enemy’ tropes, but if you’re looking for something darker, bloodier, and a little more twisted, this might be the one for you. First of a trilogy, though I have yet to read the other two.
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Hush, Hush Quartet by Becca Fitzpatrick- (2.5/5 stars) So technically, I gave Hush, Hush, Crescendo, and Silence, the first three books of this series, three stars. But then I never read the fourth one, so I clearly wasn’t that invested. Because of that, I’m knocking off half a star. From what I remember, this one is fairly romance heavy, and I remember the plot getting a little repetitive in book two or three. Also, the love interest’s name is Patch, which is just not…great. Plus, I seem to remember him being somewhat stalker-y. So I don’t know about this one.
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Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly- (2/5 stars) Honestly, I read this entire trilogy and I’m not entirely sure why? They were long books that I did not find super compelling, in terms of characters, plot, or worldbuilding. Also, the first line in the premise says the heroine is “not like other girls,” which is never a great sign. This is another sort of post-apocalyptic take, if I remember correctly, with angels that are more menacing than heavenly. Again, I couldn’t really tell you why I stuck around for this one, other than I needed something to read, I guess.
I actually don’t have anything on my to-be-read list with angels, so let me know if you have recommendations!