Archangel (Samaria Series #1)

by Sharon Shinn

Overview

From national bestselling author Sharon Shinn comes a stunningly beautiful novel of a distant future—where the fate of the world rests on the voice of an angel...

Through science, faith, and force of will, the Harmonics carved out for themselves a society that they conceived as perfect. Diverse peoples held together by respect for each other. Angels to guard the mortals and mystics to guard the forbidden knowldge. Jehovah to watch over them all...

Generations later, the armed starship Jehovah still looms over the planet of Samaria, programmed to unleash its arsenal if peace is not sustained. But with the coming of an age of corruption, Samaria's only hope lies in the crowning of a new Archangel. The oracles have chosen Gabriel for this honor, and further decreed that he must first wed a mortal woman named Rachel.

It is his destiny and hers. And Gabriel is certain that she will greet the news of her betrothal with enthusiasm, and a devotion to duty equal to his own.

Rachel, however, has other ideas...


Winner of the William Crawford Award for Achievement in Fantasy
Nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780441004324
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/01/1997
Series:	Angel , #1
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	4.19(w) x 6.77(h) x 1.03(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Sharon Shinn is the national bestselling author of the Elemental Blessings novels, as well as the Shifting Circle novels. Her first novel, The Shape-Changer’s Wife, was a nominee for Locus’s Best First Fantasy Novel of 1995. She has won the William L. Crawford Award for Outstanding New Fantasy Writer, and was twice nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. She has also received an RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Award and won RT Book Reviews’s 2010 Career Achievement Award in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy category.

What People are Saying About This

Anne McCaffrey

I was fascinated by Archangel. Its premise is unusual, to say the least, with characters as provocative as the action. I was truly and deeply delighted.

Editorial Reviews

"I was fascinated by Archangel. Its premise is unusual, to say the least, its characters as provocative as the action. I was truly deeply delighted."—Anne McCaffrey

"Taut, inventive, often mesmerizing, with a splendid pair of predestined lovers."—Kirkus Reviews

"Displaying sure command of characterization and vividly imagined settings, Shinn absorbs us in the story...an entertaining SF-fantasy blend that should please fan of both genres."—Booklist

"Excellent world building, charming characterizations and a sweet plot...a garden of earthly delights."—Locus

"Completely captivating."—Fantasy & Science Fiction

From the Publisher

Next in line to become archangel in the angel-led dominion of Samaria, Gabriel must lead the next chorale praising the god Jovah, which means he needs a wife--fast--to sing beside him. Guided by the local oracle and the light emanating from the Kiss of the Gods (a homing device in his wrist), he finds his Jovah-selected fiancee in a common Edori slave girl named Rachel. The marriage proves, however, anything but romantic. Far from rejoicing in the sudden freedom that her marriage brings, Rachel quickly becomes a thorn in Gabriel's side, using her newfound influence to help her downtrodden Edori brethren. Displaying sure command of characterization and vividly imagined settings, Shinn absorbs us in the story of how Rachel and Gabriel eventually unite in true love and respect. With place-names such as Gaza and Jordana, she tantalizingly hints at her Samaria's connection to an ancient Israeli past, and she tempers the angelic milieu with talk of her angels' technological heritage in an entertaining sf-fantasy blend that should please fans of both genres.

Carl Hays

An odd, science fiction/fantasy hybrid from the author of the 1995 paperback The Shape-Changer's Wife. Flying angels have been ordained by the god Jovah to watch over the people of Samaria. At the next Gloria, or festival of song, the angel Gabriel will take over the duties of archangel from old Raphael, so he asks the oracle Josiah, who Jovah has decided will be his bride. Josiah announces that Gabriel's bride shall be Rachel. But when Gabriel goes to claim her, he finds the remote village long destroyed, with no sign of Rachel. Then, quite by accident, he comes upon her in the house of a rich nobleman, where she is a slave. Though Gabriel plucks her from slavery, the two fight at once, since Rachel sides with the servants and Samaria's downtrodden folk and distrusts angels; neither will she reveal whether she can sing, a talent vital to a successful Gloria (Gabriel, of course, sings like a dream). Raphael, meanwhile, no longer believing in Jovah, refuses to watch over the people and encourages every sort of wickedness; to prevent the Gloria, he is willing to capture or even kill Rachel. Gabriel, who knows that Jovah will hurl firebolts should the Gloria fail, has other ideas. And the big question remains: Will Gabriel and Rachel ever stop fighting and get together?

Taut, inventive, often mesmerizing, with a splendid pair of disaffected, predestined lovers. Only in the final quarter does Shinn's control slip into flabby, annoying repetitions. Highly encouraging work overall.

Kirkus Reviews