From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon May 18 21:22:37 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!newspump.monmouth.com!newspeer.monmouth.com!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!eecs-usenet-02.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!not-for-mail From: "Michael I. Lichter" Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Reviews: ARCHANGEL, JOVAH'S ANGEL, THE ALLELUIA FILES by Sharon Shinn Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 18 May 1998 10:24:48 -0400 Organization: none Lines: 121 Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:1908 ARCHANGEL by Sharon Shinn Ace, April 1997, ISBN 0-441-00432-6, 390pp, US$6.50 JOVAH'S ANGEL by Sharon Shinn Ace, May 1997, ISBN 0-441-00404-0, 389pp, US$13.95 THE ALLELUIA FILES by Sharon Shinn Ace, April 1998, ISBN 0-441-00505-5, 474pp, US$13.95 Reviews Copyright 1998 Michael Lichter I don't believe any more in angels than I believe in gryphons or honest politicians, and my contrary nature generally directs me way from anything that is fashionable, so in this age of angel hype, what am I doing reading a triad of novels about angels? Part of the story is the striking cover of ARCHANGEL, which portrays a young woman holding a feather in one hand, a glowing ball in the other, standing enraptured on a bleak plain. The rest of the story is just some good, mostly old-fashioned, enjoyable writing. These three novels tell us about life on Samaria, a primitive place ruled by angels. Thankfully, these are not mystical, extra-nice angels, but are in fact only (almost) human. Humans and angels must come together as lovers because angels cannot interbreed; all angels have one normal human parent and one angelic parent. Genetically engineered for strength, flight, and singing ability, the angels form a separate religious estate, enjoying special honors and privileges, and living apart in grand mountaintop aeries. The angels are ruled by the Archangel, an angel chosen by the god Jovah to serve for a twenty year term. Unbeknownst to the vast majority of Samarians, however, the god Jovah is in fact the spaceship Jehovah. Responding to voice commands from the angels, Jehovah controls the weather, and drops food and medicine when needed, and, as a special added bonus, decides who the Archangel must marry. Finding the Archangel a mate is critical, because each year the Archangel and his or her spouse must sing a mass at a particular time and place or Jehovah will destroy the planet. This marital imperative drives the romance in each of the three novels. In fact, more than anything else, these novels *are* romances. The presence of angels gives the novels a claim to the category of "fantasy," and the technological origin of the god and the angels adds the category of "science fiction," but romance is the backbone of the series. In each case, the romance is played out against the background of a crisis, a dangerous puzzle which can only be solved by the joint action of humans and angels together. In ARCHANGEL, the crisis is a ruthless ruler who colludes with wealthy merchants to maintain the persecution and enslavement of a people called the Edori. Archangel-to-be Gabriel must find Rachel, his reluctant mate, and convince her to see beyond her hatred of angels. If he does not succeed, he will forfeit his place, and slavery will continue. One hundred years later, nerdly Alleluia is appointed Archangel when her predecessor, the proud and flamboyant Delilah, is crippled in an accident. Jovah is going deaf, the angels are thus losing their ability to control the weather, and the final result is flooding and drought that threaten human survival on Samaria. Alleluia, together with her mate-to-be Caleb, must discover the true nature of Jovah, and figure out how to fix it before all is lost. Another hundred years on, corrupt Archangel Bael is angling to install his son Omar on the throne. Tamar is a member of the Jacobites, a persecuted heretical faction who believe -- correctly -- that Jovah is not divine, and that Alleluia discovered the truth. Bored angel Jared is enlisted by a merchant friend to search for the "Alleluia Files", the fabled proof of Jovah's true nature that the Jacobites also seek. Only if Jared can win Tamar's trust can either succeed in securing the evidence, which is their only hope for saving the Jacobites and stopping Bael's plans. If this sounds a bit formulaic, it is. It is not at all difficult to figure out who is fated to become lovers with whom, predict which unlikely coincidences are going to occur, and speculate pretty accurately about how the story is going to get to happily-ever-after. Of course, there are worse things than predictability. At the outset of a tragedy, you know that the hero is going down in flames, and at the outset of a light romance you know that by the end the stubborn heroine is going to melt into the arms of the dashing hero. Whether the familiarity of the formula engenders comfort or boredom depends on the talents of the writer and the tastes of the reader. Though no Shakespeare, Shinn is a good humored, enjoyable storyteller, and she manages just fine. Stories about spaceships which become gods are not new; Frank Herbert's THE JESUS INCIDENT is one example. Stories about humans who, through technology, take on aspects of holy creatures are not new; this was a specialty of Roger Zelazny. See, for example, his classic LORD OF LIGHT. Stories about humans who, like the people of Samaria, lose track of their origins and consequently mythologize what was once well-understood, are ubiquitous; Miller's A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ is probably the best classical example. What Shinn brings to her stories that set them apart is a light touch, romance, and some intricate plotting. These are, I think, enough. %A Sharon Shinn %T Archangel %I Ace %C New York %D April 1997 %G ISBN 0-441-00432-6 %P 390 pp. %O paperback, US$6.50 %A Sharon Shinn %T Jovah's Angel %I Ace %C New York %D May 1997 %G ISBN 0-441-00404-0 %P 389 pp. %O trade paperback, US$13.95 %A Sharon Shinn %T The Alleluia Files %I Ace %C New York %D April 1998 %G ISBN 0-441-00505-5 %P 474 pp. %O trade paperback, US$13.95 Michael Lichter, UCLA Department of Sociology, and UCLA Center for the Study of Urban Poverty e-mail: mailto:lichter@ucla.edu WWW: http://www.ben2.ucla.edu/~lichter/