Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton

Release Date: 31st January, 2012

Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books

Pages: 528pgs

The Story

Life as the Preliator is harder than Ellie ever imagined.

Balancing real life with the responsibility of being Heaven's warrior is a challenge for Ellie. Her relationship with Will has become all business, though they both long for each other. And now that the secret of who she really is has come out, so have Hell's strongest reapers. Grown bold and more vicious, the demonic threaten her in the light of the day and stalk her in the night.

She's been warned.

Cadan, a demonic reaper, comes to her with information about Bastian's new plan to destory Ellie's soul and use an ancient relic to wake all the souls of the damned and unleash them upon humanity. As she fights to stay ahead of Bastian's schemes, the revelations about those closest to her awaken a dark power with Ellie that threatens to destroy everything - including herself.

She'll be betrayed.

Treachery comes even from those whom she loves, and Ellie is broken by the deaths of those who stood beside her in this Heavenly war. Still, she must find a way to save the world, and her love for Will. If she fails, there will be hell to pay.

The Review

Last year, I read Angelfire and expected a fantastic and EPIC young adult read! Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed in Moulton's debut novel - more so with the main character Ellie's believability rather than the storyline itself. However, I can't complain when it came to her action scenes since they were something to die for and she sure knew how to entertain her slice-and-dice fans such as myself. You just have to admire the gore. But with Moulton's next sequel, WINGS OF THE WICKED, I have to say I'm immensely immensely impressed with this book and you can clearly tell that this author has grown in her writing abilities! I mean, WOW! It takes a lot to surprise me . . . especially with a very young, young adult novelist.

One of the things that surprised me the most was the characters themselves. While I wasn't a huge fan of the characters in the previous book Angelfire, everything soon did a complete turnaround and I became so invested in these characters of Moulton's. More than I thought I would be . . . Let's admit, Ellie is a hard character to like: She's someone I wouldn't be friends with, she's someone who makes mistakes that could be easily avoided, she's someone whom can overreact on matters, and she's also the type of girl who should think before she acts if you catch my drift. But much like the storyline, I actually came around to liking Ellie a hell of a lot more and of course loving her powerful kickass side which certainly shone some light in this second installment. For once in herlife, Ellie began to embrace her powers and believed in herself and in the cause, and in the sacrifices for others in order to protect them from greater dangers . . . finally she gets it. Here is the Ellie I wanted to know for so long now! And alongside with Ellie, I absolutely loved Will too (just had to mention him) even though he never truly gave into his desires like I so desperately wanted him to and I even loved the deeper introduction to Cadan's character, the boy we only got to see a little bit in the first book. Now I adore him to the bone . . . so all you Cadan fans will be very, very happy!

With the world-building of WINGS OF THE WICKED, it continues on the same lines as seen in Angelfire and is still beautifully crafted, and well thought out compared to most young adult novels that I've read in the past. It's good to finally see author's planning their mythologies more without going too overboard for a change. And as for the romance department, again you won't be disappointed because it's the best part - and the most frustrating part as well - of the book but it doesn't make the book lose its focus at all. I mean, one of my major concerns as seen in book one was the romance lingering between Ellie and Will . . . since Ellie was all about lusting for a strange boy and Will was just being Will thinking his duty of protecting his beloved was all that was required of him and nothing more could come of it. Sighs. Boys being boys, right? Gosh it was frustrating . . . however Moulton continued to surprise me yet again in developing this complicated relationship and bringing out more sexual tension that was needed for these two main characters. . . I absolutely loved it. There's a hot scene and it gets two thumbs up from me! So well done Ms. Moulton for impressing me element after element.

Overall, I loved WINGS OF THE WICKED and while there were a few scenes (in particular an attempted rape scene) that I thought wasn't exactly necessary and lines that were a little bit iffy-cheesy for me, but at least this sequel blew me away compared to the first book and made me WANT and NEED to continue with this young adult series. Not only was this a great sequel and offered a killer cliffhanger, but this book wasn't a filler book that bored me. . . it was something that evolved this series and pushed it further into its full potential and all the high praises are very much deserved in this author's case. So if you loved Angelfire, there's no question in my mind that you will adore this book. If you haven't read it, get it soon. And if you had concerns like I did with the first book, I assure you this one right here will prove you wrong and you will be dying for the last book in the trilogy . . . because that's the feeling I'm left with right now and I don't like it one bit!

The Rating

4 1/2 / 5 stars