Rating: 
Summary: Mesmerizing and complex
Review: I read this book last summer and I absolutely could not put it down. Sharon Shinn's romance changes the aspect of "over mooshy" romance to something that is actually believeable, yet enchanting. I probably have read 11 times, and I'm still determined to read the whole thing in order to relive it in my head. Each character is so deeply thought and developed, that it almost makes it seem that they ARE going to be real people in the future. I thought it was interesting that there was a good looking villain, because usually a villain in a story like this would be some kind of wart fulled alien or a cranky old warlock. I also love her choice of words that makes even the complicated plot easier to read. I really don't think there is anything like the "Archangel" that I've ever read before. This is indeed an original piece, and this has become my most favorite book of all time.
Rating:
Summary: Fantasy with a touch of romance
Review: Gabriel has known for the last 15 years that he is destined to become the new Archangel. The only thing left to do is to find the wife Jovah had chosen for him. Once found, Rachel proves to be one of Gabriel's biggest problems. She's fiercely independent, and after having spent the last 5 years in slavery, she regards having to become the next Angelica as yet another form of captivity. And as if that wasn't enough, Gabriel has other problems, including the current Archangel, who is power hungry and not happy to give up his current position, and wealthy merchants who doubt that Jovah even exists.ARCHANGEL is a gorgeous mix of romance and fantasy. Rachel and Gabriel's relationship seems truly epic as they struggle with the growing feelings they have for one another. The characterization is beautiful and realistic, and Shinn has the uncanny ability of making this fantasy world come to life. There is just enough political intrigue, philosophy, and religious debate thrown in to make your mind work a bit. The only (minor) problem I had with the book was that it might have been a little too "textbook romance" at times. The two main characters spent the entire span of the novel trying to deny their feelings. However, the writing style was beautifully descriptive. I was particularly impressed with the way I was able to visualize the world she had created. The plot was simple, yet captivating and unique. I was eager to find out if Rachel would change Gabriel, and vice-versa. A defnite must read for those who like their fantasy with a touch of romance.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining read, if you can get past the heroine
Review: Sharon Shinn's a skillful world-builder, and the details she scatters through Samaria are enough to keep a fantasy/sci-fi reader happily engaged as they unravel Samaria's timeline and figure out how the world works. However ... Conventional romantic-epic heroine Rachel -- willful, formerly victimized, advocate of the poor -- is the most unpleasant part of the book, which is unfortunate since she's ostensibly the center of it. Rachel may have a sense of justice, but she's intensely self-absorbed, nurses vendettas long past the point of return, and lacks any humility whatsoever. Readers are left to watch this self-sabotaging heroine rampage through the book with a chip the size of the starship Jehovah on her shoulder and wonder how on Earth the male protagonist, Archangel-elect Gabriel, manages to tolerate her, much less fall in love with her. The ending, in which Rachel ends up having her cake and eating it too, feels like a sop to romance readers; it would have been much more interesting to see Rachel and Gabriel blow their chance for love (read: extended antagonism interrupted by libido) and learn to rule as sadder-but-wiser partners. Despite this, I cannot recommend the follow-up, "Jovah's Angel," highly enough. There, the world-building is even more well thought out, and the heroine -- equally hobbled by circumstances -- holds the story aloft with an endearing blend of doubt, assertiveness, erudition, selflessness and wisdom. Come to think of it, ALL of Shinn's other heroines are much more engaging, so read this book only as background for the rest.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting book, new ideas that don't bog down the plot
Review: This book is very character driven. It is based in the world of Samaria, where Angels take care of the humans by communicating directly to "Yovah". The fantasy element was quite good, without being overly shoved under our noses. Shinn allowed us to see her world, but she picked two strong main characters (and good secondary characters) to do it with. We actually care about the characters in the end. I've read a few reviews that critizise this book for mixing romance and fantasy. All I can guess is that they haven't read very many fantasies OR romances. The romance in this book was done very subtly. There aren't any explicit scenes, and by the time the two characters fix their differences, we can actually believe they're together. Many, many, many fantasies have romantic plots to them. Most romances that have fantastic settings, however, don't manage to do justice to the fantasy genre. This book, because of its good world and character building, and its thoughtful (but not preachy) passages about religion, is most definitely fantasy. And it's a good one, at that.
Rating:
Summary: terrific vacation read
Review: I usually avoid romance novels like the plague. Their too-predictable plots, stock characters, and particularly the overly explicit sex scenes leave me cold. Innuendo is far more erotic than anatomically precise detail, imo. But this one was filed under science fiction/fantasy, so it slipped by my romance censor, and I'm glad it did. In "Archangel," the angel Gabriel discovers on the verge of his accession to the position of Archangel that the bride chosen for him by the god is a slave-girl from the wandering, disenfranchised Edori people. His horror at the unsuitability of the match is exceeded only by his devotion to the commands of the god, so he unwillingly seeks her out. In Rachel, he meets his match, and the story of their tempestuous marriage and eventual cautious détente is a romance par excellence (minus the explicit sex scenes, thank goodness). The characters are intelligent turns on the usual romantic cast; the plot is entirely predictable, but so well written that you're glad to go along for the ride; and there is just enough political intrigue, philosophy, and religious debate thrown in to make your mind work a bit. A perfect vacation read. My only disappointment is not with the novel itself, but with the sequels, which (according to their annotations at Amazon) pick up quite a bit into the future with a new cast of characters--it would have been nice to know what happened to a number of the characters in "Archangel" (did Maga and Nathan have angel children? Did Rachel move back to the Eyrie? How did she solve the problem of wanting to make a difference? What happened to her school?)
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Book!
Review: I picked this up on a whim while on vacation. By the time the vacation was over, I had finished it in a day, my mom had read it and then gave it to my sister. Then when we got home, my mom lent it to her sister who told her two daughters to read it. This is a great, great book! I reread it so many times I had to buy a new copy. Ms. Shinn is a very talented writer, I would highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best reads I ever experienced.
Review: When I first picked this up at the library I thought it sounded like a cheesy read, but I found my own criticism- which is usually never wrong- wrong. This book got better and better by each chapter. Sharon Shinn has a very far imagination that proves to be exciting as well as beautiful in this novel. It really is like a religious novel, except it's focused on the lives of the angels for once. And Sharon has made them as we see them and more. Beautiful, intelligent beings, but also like humans, there are a few bad ones in the bunch such as Raphael, a character you'll see much of in the book.
The novel centers on a young woman named Rachel, whom is destined to become the wife of the next Archangel named Gabriel, a dark, mysterious and somewhat cold man. He marries Rachel at first just to marry her, since he has to marry Rachel to become the next Archangel, and their beginning time together is a mess as they constantly fight when they see one another. For as Gabriel's cool, steely demeanor bounces off her fierce independent side, fights are bound to happen. As these two argue though, Rachel starts loving Gabriel's homeland. And as she starts to love the lands, she starts actually liking Gabriel as well. But Gabriel is in trouble, for the present Archangel, Raphael, doesn't want to step down from his throne as Archangel, and is willing to do anything to keep Gabriel from getting it.
I recommend this book to all fantasy lovers, and also recommend after reading Book One of this Samaria Trilogy that you read the other two, for each is as good as the first one. But this one will always be the best. But that's my opinion, read the Trilogy and see for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing story, but strangely conventionalized ending
Review: This book caught my eye because of the novel concept: a world where the just and harmonious order of society is maintained by winged humanoids, called "angels," whose authority is backed up by the weaponry of an orbiting spaceship. The true nature of the ship, called "Jovah," is hidden from the planet's inhabitants, including the angels, and the ship is worshipped as God. Incidentally, a quirk of Shinn's story is that the exposition that Jovah is a spaceship actually comes from the book's >>jacket notes<<. Shinn only hints obliquely at this in the story, and she is silent on how Jovah and the planet's inhabitants came to be. This was a peculiar and irksome omission from the story. The planet's society is approximately pre-industrial agrarian, with groups of mercantilists, artisans, and nomads, but these groups are riven by slavery and growing corruption. Tensions come to a head with the approaching change of the leading angel, the Archangel, who is expected to rectify the injustices. Not only are powerful forces aligned to prevent the change of power, but the Archangel-designate, Gabriel, cannot ascend to power unless a human female sings with him to please Jovah at the Archangel's inauguration. The female, Rachel, has been a slave for five years when she learns that Jovah has selected her to be Gabriel's wife and "angelica," and despite her unexpected and radical improvement in station, her fiercely independent spirit views being angelica as exchanging one form of enslavement for another. She resists cooperating with Gabriel at every turn. But the consequence of Gabriel and Rachel's failing to sing at the appointed time is that Jovah will destroy the planet. Much of the book addresses the tumultuous yet growing romantic relationship of Gabriel and Rachel, as well as the nature of the planet's growing corruption. Although the story is told in rich detail and Shinn's vision is fascinating, the narrative falters at the moments of major confrontation, when the dialogue should be expository but is instead constrained, almost choked. One comes to think that Shinn is better at painting the landscape rather than the foreground. While this drawback may have been tolerable, my greatest issue is with the resolution of Rachel and Gabriel's relationship. In spite of the sustained storminess of their relationship, in the end they find balance with Gabriel active in the world as Archangel and Rachel ensconced alone by her own choice in a remote mountain lodge, where she receives visits by Gabriel. So, Shinn's answer to her two main characters' incompatibility is for Gabriel to run the world while Rachel discovers herself in chaste domestic bliss on a mountaintop. I found this to be oddly supportive of outmoded male-female roles. This despite Rachel's strenuous resistance to her duty as angelica, which leads to another shortcoming of this book. For most of the book's 400 pages, Rachel is portrayed as being mighty unreasonable, practically annoying the reader. While Rachel is permitted occasional flashes of amiability, and her attitude is understandable given her harsh experiences, Rachel's personality remains too static and limited for much of the book's 400 pages. Still, had Shinn avoided an excruciatingly conventionalized ending, this novel might have been a provocative exploration of man's relationship to the divine, and the ramifications for social organization. The fullest potential for this novel would have been to explore these issues to the same extent Ursula Le Guin did with sexuality in "The Left Hand of Darkness." Yet, the story is distinctively imaginative and commands your attention, so it's worth a try. Three stars.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: These three books are ultimately my favorite books.I've never read any other books that I have been more satisfied with. Samaria is a fairly large continent in a science fiction world that is run by angels. The first book of the trilogy is titled Archangel. The story starts with Gabriel, the archangel, desperately searching for his angelica to sing with him at the Gloria. The Gloria is a gathering of the countries all across the continent, singing in supplication to their god Jovah, showing him that they continue to live in harmony. Gabriel needs to find the angelica that the god named, to sing with him at the Gloria. If not, there will be mass destuction and the entire continent will be wiped out. The story cuts to the strong-willed slave Rachel. She soon finds that she must, just like Gabriel, do the will of Jovah. The two must be united for the world's sake, but she is stubborn and does not give in. The fate of the world rests in her hands, as she tries to deny her new feelings for Gabriel and refuses to let them win over her. Archangel is a great piece of writing with many different stories happening all at once. Somehow Sharon Shinn ties them all into one large story at the end of the book. It is a great page-turner that has you picking up the next book right away. The second and third books are titled: Jovah's Angel and The Alleluia Files. Also Sharon Shinn has taken it passed the trilogy with the great novel Angelica, and the upcoming book titled Angel Seekers, which is out on March 2.
Rating:
Summary: Rachel grow up
Review: The book was a bit slow at times, and when Rachel and Gabriel were around each other, I found their behavior disturbing. They seemed to have so much in common (besides some different religious beliefs) and yet they could never get along. It was like Rachel's character was forced to react the ways she did to him in order to build tention between the two. It made absolutely no sense to me why she would get along with Obadiah. It does frusterate you when they're apart. You just want them to get along, but they never do. The tension was interesting but the ending was disappointing. Rachel was more of a lunatic than a strong woman, completely irrational and demanding things she was not willing to give herself. I was left not really sure what Shinn was trying to say with this book. Maybe nothing. It became more of a trashy romance novel. Still she writes beautifully. I have nothing wrong with having romance in stories, but there was nothing to laugh at, nothing to really smile about with this couple.
|
