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Archangel (Samaria, Book 1)
by Sharon Shinn
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Ace (1997-04-01)
ISBN: 0441004326
EAN: 9780441004324
Dewey Decimal #: 813.54
Binding/Media: Paperback - 400 pages
SKU: M9-C68I-JK45
Condition: As New
Comments: Mass market paperback from ACE Science Fiction, this is Archangel by Sharon Shinn, (Samaria, Book 1). Clean and tight, like it jumped off the shelf from your local drugstore paperback shelf. {chk dups}
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
A tale of the distant future by the author of The Shape-Changer's Wife brings readers to a world in which the fate of all life rests on the voice of an angel. Reprint. K. AB.
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Amazon.com Review
Set in a society founded as an egalitarian utopia but now tainted with vices and inequity, Sharon Shinn's love story is plotty and calamitous. Rachel and Gabriel have nothing in common beyond wishing that the god Jovah had ordained they wed other people, yet they must cooperate in singing a mass to the god on the occasion of Gabriel's elevation to Archangel. Upright Gabriel has enemies among both mortal and angelic peoples who prefer to risk world destruction over his restoration of the old order.
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Customer Reviews
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Magnificent world building, great writing
Rating  (5)
Date: 2010-07-05
This was the first book by Sharon Shinn that I ever read, and it continues to be one of my favorites. Shinn is a talented writer with a deft touch for narrative descriptions and for building interesting characters. The dialog can be just a bit wooden, but that is largely because she makes no attempt to insert slang or colloquialisms in her characters' words. On the other hand, there also aren't a lot of made-up words or faux foreign phrases to plod through, as is often the case with a fantasy novel. Overall, the story of Rachel and Gabriel unfolds beautifully. The longing that each begins to feel for the other becomes almost palpable, even as they refuse to admit to themselves (much less each other) that they're falling in love.
One aspect of Shinn's writing that I particularly enjoy is that she does not include gratuitous violence in her stories. Instead, she maintains the story's pace and advances the plot by showing the tensions between what a person's head tells him to do and what his heart insists he do, and what happens as a result of those tensions. She also has a strong focus on character development, and her characters are generally very likable so a reader feels that time spent getting to know them is worth it.
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Not about Religion, but about Faith.
Rating  (4)
Date: 2010-05-27
On the far off world of Samaria, all the peoples must unite and sing a Gloria dedicated to the God to show that the land lives in harmony. Without this token, the God will send down his fire and destroy the land and all the peoples on it. Each year the Gloria is led by the Archangel and his wife, appointed by the God himself. And so the story opens, with Archangel-elect Gabriel attempting to win over an unexpected choice of bride, Rachel the tempestous and angry slave girl who had been raised among the free wandering tribes of the Edori before being captured by the villainous Jansai slavers.
I've read a lot of reviews of this book, both praising its richly detailed fantasy/sci-fi world and slamming its selfish and stubborn heroine. But no one has said the book is not complex, and so no review should focus on just one aspect and ignore the rest.
A science-fiction disguised as a fantasy, with a central plotline that is essentially a romance. You may not buy into the hot-cold love between central characters Gabriel, the stoic Archangel elect who can do no wrong, and Rachel, his intended bride who lives to tell him how his whole life is wrong. You will find their romance to be frustrating, to say the least, filled with deliberate misunderstandings and anger-masking-affection interactions. However, a small bit of satisfaction is to be had in the final few pages, if you can bear to make it so far. I'll unashamedly admit I skipped to the end to read the final reunion between the two in order to ease my frustration, before picking back up where I had left off to finish the book.
But that is only shallowly investing oneself into a story that is so much more. Many reviews have also berated the author for shoving religion on them. However the story, rich in biblical inspiration and yet completely original in its distinctly non-biblical setting, is really about faith. The other portion of the plot, which few people mention, is the current Archangel Raphael who is on the verge of stepping down from his lofty position after twenty years of rule over the people of Samaria. His character is likeable and yet sly, and though one finds himself distrustful of his deceptive easygoing attitudes and lack of conviction or concern, it still comes as shock when the depths of his depradations are revealed. Men of faith (though probably not strict Christians, who would find the books concepts distasteful) will be totally affronted by man who could so casually throw it aside, abuse it, and otherwise bend it and twist it and never let it into his heart. As the faith of the Samarian people is challenged, so is the faith of the reader. Compelling questions enter into your heart, and leave much food for thought.
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Juvenile
Rating  (2)
Date: 2010-02-15
1 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Well, I got through to the last chapter .. whilst skipping a few pages. In particular, whenever there is a conversation involving Rachel, I found it better to skip those paragraphs, (otherwise I might end up flushing the book down the toilet).
To be fair, the end of the book does go a little way to explaining why the heroine behaves as an ungrateful child, and goes some way to redeeming the character, but not far enough.
The defeat of the badies was a little unexpected, so that was a plus.
I have just discovered another 2 books in the series in my unread collection, and I noticed that neither appears to have a character named Rachel in them, so optimistic that the series will improve.
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RIP OUT pages from Chapters 17 to the end!!!
I have now manged to complete through to the end of Chapter 16. I am so tempted to put down the book and just leave there .. why? .. because she dies!
Yes, the author is trying to make us believe that the main character (that awful spoilt bitch of a downtrodden slave) actually perishes. If you've read this far, both you and I know that some miracle happens (like her husband or another friendly angel comes to rescue her) at the last moment - yawn! BUT, If I read no further she dies, and finally something interesting happens.
It looks like there are 6 chapters left to go - let me tell you how the book finishes: the heroin is rescued, the 'bad' angel is defeated, the 'good' angel becomes Archangel and the heroin and the good angel fall in love.
Please, please tell me I am wrong and it really is worth my time finishing this drivel.
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I'm only just over half-way through, but I cannot see any change occurring, so this review is in case I don't make it to the end.
The good point - she may be a decent writer, and the settings may be mildly original, but there is a youthful innocence and lack of imagination to this book.
- where is the plot? I'm well over halfway through, and nothing has happened. What small incidents that do occur are first described from the author's point of view and then retold in a discussion between characters, hence repeating something that wasn't interesting in the first place.
- where are the characters? The main character (as told by other reviews) is so seriously flawed as to make the book uninteresting by herself. But the other characters are so shallow as to appear to have little or no personality whatsoever. Authors like Peake can get away with releasing a novel with little storyline, because of the depth to which they go to describe the characters and their surroundings. Shinn appears to has little talent in this area.
Do you like Disney? Best way I can't think of describing this is to imagine that you are reading a screenplay for a Disney cartoon. Most of the story is told through conversations between characters. The story is so shallow as to be completely inoffensive to anyone over the age of 3. The characters are so miscast that it appears that Joan Rivers is playing a slave girl and Napolean Dynamite, the heroic angel. (A bit like seeing a hobbit cast as a football hooligan in East London.)
I'm sure that Disney could turn this into a nice 10 minute family movie, but good Sci-Fi/Fantasy it ain't.
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Don't judge a book by it's cover?
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-12-30
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I'm not a huge reader, but my kids are. While waiting for my son to find something to add to his book collection, I was browsing the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section and something about the cover of this book struck me. To this day, I have no idea what about it caught my eye (I am not a religious person, and do not believe in angels), but I bought it. Started it while spending the night at a cousin's house halfway through my long road trip to see my parents, and was enrapt before turning the first page! Since then, I've read the entire series, along with some of Shinn's other offerings, and love her style. She's the only author I've ever recommended to anyone on my own accord; I have several friends who have become hooked on her work, and need to catch up on her latest series, The Twelve Houses.
Shinn's protagonists are strong women, living in times where women as a group are denied basic rights. They are the ones who inspire the saying, "Well-behaved women seldom make history!"
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Heart breaking Love story with a Foolish/childish/annoying heroine
Rating  (3)
Date: 2009-11-18
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
I enjoyed the book generally, I just couldn't stand Rachel the main female character, she was so childish , she does something and expects a certain reaction from Gabriel and if doesn't occur as she anticipates she goes on with her accusation and Tantrum.
She mislead him never opened up to him and yet blamed him constantly.
She is one of the worst female character's i have ever read . She Ruined the Plot.
IF you get irritated easily DO NOT READ THE BOOK.
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