Titles: Archangel, Jovah’s Angel, The Alleluia Files
Author: Sharon Shinn
Sub-genre(s): Science Fiction
When it comes to reviewing series, I often have trouble leaving my impressions one at a time, especially after I have finished. So I’ll tackle these together, although each tells its own complete story.
What really struck me about the Samaria books was the clever world building and politics, which is what tied them together. I see a lot of people categorizing these books, especially the early books, as fantasy, but they’re not. By the third book, there is a scientific explanation for everything, although I suppose the fantasy label fits insofar as any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. (Clarke)
Sharon Shinn takes us to another planet, another world, where humans have travelled (in Jovah’s hands) and settled into a new society led by angels — winged beings reminiscent of their Biblical namesakes in many ways, including their rivalries. Yet each year they and the people of the world must come together to sing The Gloria or Jovah wil, in pieces, destroy the world.
The angels sing prayers to the god, asking for weather intercessions and medicines for sickness. And Jovah listens to them, sending them what they need. Through the oracles, they can also talk to him in the old language and through the interface — yes, a computer screen.
These books are very political, but except for a few slow spots, they moved at a nice pace, managing to keep things interesting.
The books also attempt to be romantic, although this doesn’t work for me as well as the other aspects, especially in the first book in the series. I thoroughly disliked Rachel and found her relationship with Gabriel to be a bit forced. As little time as they spent together, I had trouble believing they had a relationship at all. They mostly avoided each other.
In Jovah’s Angel, I did enjoy the interplay between Alleluia and her engineer, but I have a soft spot for nerds. I did think Alleluia was rather slow in figuring out that he was the man she was searching for.
And finally, the Alleluia Files featured my favorite of the romances — Tamar and Jared — a woman running for her life because the angels wanted her dead and, well, an angel. This created a wonderful tension that really moved the story along. I wasn’t quite as taken with Tamar’s sister’s relationship, but then again, we only got Lucinda’s point of view in that relationship. It felt lopsided.
These books were fun, entertaining, and thought-provoking.
Overall Rating: 4.5/5.0 stars
Recommended to science fiction and fantasy fans who like a little politics and romance.