Rating: 
Summary: My second favorite of Samaria...
Review: I'm not sure I'll like any better than Archangel, but Angelseeker is a close 2nd. It was interesting to learn more about the Jansai and to see the angel seekers point of view.
Sharon Shinn is definitely one of my favorite authors - I recommend all her books highly and I continously look forward to new ones.
Rating:
Summary: One of Shinn's Best
Review: I've read all of Sharon Shinn's Samaria books, and enjoyed them all. But Angel-Seeker has to be one of my favorites. I finished it on one day, reading it for about five hours straight and refusing to feed my cats until I was done. I can tell you that they don't like it so much...
Angel-Seeker is the tale of two women, Elizabeth and Rebekah. The two are very different -- Elizabeth is an Angel-Seeker, a woman who tries to seek out an angel lover in hopes of bearing an angel child. Rebekah is a Jansai of marriagable age, waiting for her father to find her a suitiable husband.
The story is very predictable -- both fall in love and live happily ever after. But Shinn's remarkable writing skills keep the novel moving at a quick pace and hook the reader's attention. Her imagery and description is absolutely breathtaking, especially when she's describing the angel's singing. I'd read any of her novels just to drool over her writing.
It was fun reading about old characters, but you don't have to have read any of the other Samaria books in order to enjoy Angel-Seeker. I'd reccomend them all to anyone though, whether or not they're a big fan of fantasy. Sharon Shinn's writing is so amazing that I think anyone could enjoy them.
Rating:
Summary: Worth every penny
Review: Its a wonderful sensual book, it holds all different kinds of love,[soul mate, family love, sibling love] Its great and it also holds betrayel, secrets and other things mixed into one book, Sharon shinn did a wonder job and i hope she writes more.
Rating: 
Summary: I have to agree...
Review: Ms. Shinn's Arab bias is quite evident, it's something I hadn't realized until I read her last book Angelica...she seems to have absolutely no understanding of the culture she is lambasting. While I understand that writers have the right to create worlds and inhabit them how they please her stereotypes are quite obvious and at second glance disturbing.
Rating:
Summary: I have been swept away
Review: Not since Archangel have I truly enjoyed another novel of Samaria. I actually gave up after Jovah's Angel and haven't even read The Alleluia Files. I gave Angelica a chance and that was okay.However, I've enjoyed other Shinn books like Summers at Castle Auburn. But Angel Seeker is just as good as Archangel, even only a little. One thing I look for in a story is character development. Although completely subjective, my opinion of Rebekah is high. I empathized her rebellious nature and admired her selfless ways. I found her honesty amusing since its coming from an inexperienced girl who doesn't know better when it comes to keeping certain things to yourself. I also found her devoted if not to Obadiah at first, to tradition. Obadiah is an admirable character. He still had to get rid of his loose ways but he was devoted to Rebekah and he treated her kindly. I admire Elizabeth for her selflessness though I didn't quite admire her intentions with Obadiah after he had come back with his excursion with Rebekah. All the same, Elizabeth proved herself and was even given a chance at love with a fellow Edori, Rufus. Perhaps, the only weak parts in the book were one, the ending was not as climactic as Archangel. Much of the story centered on the relationship development between Obadiah and Rebekah despite handling issues such as domestic abuse and promiscuity. There really wasn't a villian in Angel Seeker like in Archangel but the storyline itself makes up for that. Also, another weak point was the dialogue. In certain situations, it seemed almost poetic and too proper. Obadiah would be spitting out something that he probably gotten from a poem somewhere and made a mental note to remeber it for the next time he runs into another pretty lady. Other than that, I enjoyed the story and will one day pick it up again when I've got nothing to do.
Rating: 
Summary: Same old same old...
Review: Sharon Shinn had three plots. One for Archangel, one for Jovah's Angel, and another for The Alleluia Files. In her latest two books (Angelica and Angel-seeker) she has found very creative ways to recycle that plot (and those characters). This gets three stars because it is well written. It loses two because if you've read the other Samaria books, well, you've read this one already.
Rating:
Summary: Great worldbuilding
Review: The settlers on the planet Samaria designed it so that the population would be divided into two races: mortals and angels. Just by singing the angels can cause the weather to change and have medicines fall down from the sky. In most cases an angel can only mate with a mortal otherwise the chance of birth defects is increased dramatically. For most women the highest honor is to give birth to an angel child and angel seekers flock to where they live in hopes of catching their eye. Elizabeth, a poor relation in her cousin's home, runs away to Cedar Hills where the angels are constructing a new community. She hopes to catch the eye of an angel, give birth to his child, and live the rest of her life in luxury. Rebekah, a member of the nomadic Jansai tribe, isolated from the males not of her family, stumbles across the injured Obadiah in the desert and nurses him in secret back to health. Although they fall in love, Rebekah refuses to give up her way of life and family for an angel but both she and Elizabeth learn that what they think they want is not really their heart's desire. For readers who follow the Samaria novels, ANGEL-SEEKER should be read after ARCH ANGEL and before JOVAH'S ANGEL'S. The Jansai will remind readers of gypsy clans crossed with women living in Purdah in the mid-east. There is enough romance in this novel to appeal to fans of this genre without disappointing those who prefer a solid science fiction tale. Sharon Shinn is a talented storyteller who makes world building seems so graceful and easy. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: An excellent beach book.
Review: This book makes a great beach book. It follows each of the three narrators for a chapter or so at a time, providing the reader with plenty of places to stop without hurting the suspense. There is significantly less political and religious debate in this book than in the previous Samaria novels; instead, Shinn focused on the differences and similarities between two supposidly powerless women, Elizabeth and Rebekah, and the methods they use to affect their lots in life. GENERAL PLOT: Elizabeth, a pampered Mandavvi daughter turned ignored, embittered servent, takes a laundress job at the Angel hold of Cedar Hills in the hopes that she can catch the eye of an angel. Instead her hard work earns her the attention of a proment doctor who wants to train her as an assistant - a more satisfying and dignifying job than that of angel-seeker but one that has much less job security than that of the mother of an angel. Rebekah is an opinionated Jansai daughter about to be married off. Shinn is not very subtle in her distain for any culture that would cut women off from ouside contact and the Jansai life comes off sounding like Afghanistan under the Taliban. Rebekah's mildly discontent at her lot in life but can't imagine a different one. She rebels in small ways by arguing with her mother, sneaking out of her compound, and raising her younger brother to be kind and respectful to the women he will have complete authority over one day. Obadiah is an angel recently sent to Cedar Falls as an ambassador to the Jansai at Breven. He is lonely and frustrated to find that he has little standing or authority among the Jansai. When he is attacked and injured flying between Breven and Cedar Hills, he makes an emergency landing 3 miles from Rebekah's caravan. She sneaks out to help him and the two begin a secret, dangerous relationship. Back at Cedar Hills, it is Obadiah's injuries that prompt the doctor to request Elizabeth's assistance, also giving her a taste of Samarian politics as the hold leaders meet trying to figure out how to respond to the attack. OTHER THOUGHTS: Angel-Seeker is the 5th book in the Samaria series, for all that it occurs 3rd chronologically. It is a stand alone book in the sense that Shinn offers readers an unending number of characters ready to offer up exposition at every turn. If it has been years since you've read Archangel, you do not need to reread it before picking up this book. If you have never read a Samaria novel, however, I would recommend reading them in publication order. Not because Angel-Seeker needs it but because in it, certain aspects of Samarian life, land, and history are revealed that might lessen the suspense of the previous books.
Rating:
Summary: Love those angels!
Review: This is an outstanding book. My favorite in the series is still Archangel, but Angel Seeker is not far behind in the page-turner department. This book also has the single most romantic scene I've ever read. Encore, Ms. Shinn!
Rating:
Summary: fasinating
Review: This series has always been a spell-binding read for me. The original trilogy was fantastic. From there it became a little repetitive. This latest addition was a welcomed change. One of my problems with previous novels was the extreme description of music. Shinn could spend an entire chapter describing the rise and fall of angel voices in song. Almost all her novels were concerned about the archangel. In this case, she concentrates on two women (not angels at all) and their perspectives. A Jansai woman and an angel-seeker. In both women she shows the trials and tribulations of misunderstood and persecuted women doing what they have to do to survive, truely live, and love. Shinn twines these two women's lives together in an unexpected and touching way. It's a long novel, but you will find it hard to put down. I finished mine in two days. Good reading!
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