Shinn, Sharon: Archangel
Archangel (1996)
Written by: Sharon Shinn
Genre: Romantic Science Fantasy
Pages: 390 (Mass Market Paperback)
Series: Book One
So far, so good: save for January's book club selection, I've officially read every selection in the January poll. Woot! Well, one of those books was a DNF, but we all knew that was bound to happen, right?
At any rate, I'd always noticed Sharon Shinn's books in the store, but didn't play them much mind. The obvious religious connotations in the titles had me a little leery, because it's rare that I see speculative fiction mixed beautifully with religion (and you know I mean real religions, right? Not made up ones?). However, a good friend from my master's program highly recommended the book, and given my shopping habits of the time, that was enough for me to pick it up from the store. Since then (I bought it in May 2008), it's languished in the TBR piles, only to be rescued by you book clubbers, and I'm glad you rescued it!
The premise: ganked from BN.com: Through science, faith, and the force of will, the Harmonics carved out for themselves a society that they perceived as perfect. Diverse peoples held together by respect for each other and the prospect of swift punishment if their laws were disobeyed. Fertile land that embraced a variety of climates and seasons. Angels to guard the mortals, and mystics to guard the forbidden knowledge. Jehovah to watch over them all... Generations later, the armed space cruiser Jehovah still looms over the planet Samaria, programmed to unleash its arsenal if peace is not sustained. But an age of corruption has come to the land, threatening that peace and placing the Samarians in grave danger. Their only hope lies in the crowning of a new Archangel. The oracles have chosen for this honor the angel named Gabriel, 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...
Review style: There's a lot to be said about expectations: what the premise promises and what you get; theories while reading and what you get; preconceived notions about Old Testament religion and what you get; genre expectations and what you get. I want to examine expectations and see how they work in the book's favor (but sometimes don't). No spoilers though (save for what's in the premise above), because it's been a while since I finished reading and I'm feeling charitable. ;)
In a nice bit of serendipity, I happened upon a blog post at Book Smugglers that sort of featured this book and the series. By sort of, I mean a guest blogger talked about some of her (?) favorite books that she's read in 2010, and not only did she name Archangel, but she referred to the series as her favorite one that featured angels. I liked this. I know more than one person who's admitted to angel burn-out due to their popularity in YA paranormals, which isn't surprising, given that angels in YA paranormals tend to focus more on the romance and less on everything else, even if everything else has its own interesting story.
So to anyone who's feeling burnt out on angels, but still hungers for a well-told story featuring angels, I say give this book a shot. For starters, it was published long before the current YA trend even thought about coming into being, and second, it's mixing and blending subgenres in such a way that makes for fascinating storytelling, even if you only get half of a story if you don't read the blurb.
It's a funny thing: I really, really, really wish someone had made me aware of this book while I was in the process of brainstorming and writing my grad school thesis. Not because my thesis was a story about angels, but because like Sharon Shinn's Samaria, the story existed largely based on science fictional events before the story ever started, and the story itself felt more fantasy than not.
It's a hard thing to explain. But let's put it this way: read the premise of the book. Right away, you know it's SF. Jehovah is a spaceship, and angels are genetically engineered. Okay, so the particular premise I quoted doesn't reveal ALL of that, but the Wikipedia summary page sure does. At any rate, these are very science fictional concepts, all vital to understanding the world-building for the current story.
Only, if you never read the blurb and only read the book, you don't get that at all.
Oh, if you're paying attention, and still thinking "I was told this was science fiction," you're going to notice clues. Like how the oracles interact with something very much like a computer when communing with the god Jovah. Then the story of the one oracle who went mad after finding a way to visit Jovah's place directly, and the description that follows, if you're already thinking in this direction, is very much that of a spaceship. Then there's the devices that allows the angels and humans to play back arias that are hundreds of years old, sung by singers long dead and gone.
There's clues. But I will venture to say that if you come to this book not realizing it's at least science fantasy, I think those clues would either be easy to miss or confusing.
Because this feels so much like a fantasy. How can it not? There's angels! And then there's the setting itself and the level of technology that people live with. It's not much. The whole atmosphere of the book as a very Old Testament vibe to me, and that's not just because of the angels, but because of the names used for characters and the notion that the god they worship is a vengeful God who must be appeased.
And surprisingly, this worked quite well for me. Maybe that's because the author handled it so smoothly, or maybe it's because I'm not quite as brushed up on my Old Testament lore as I used to be, and can therefore not get distracted.
Whatever the cause, there's plenty to admire. I loved the story of Lucifer, the archangel who brought Jovah down from the heavens to be met by the masses, who then became so jealous that Jovah was more popular than he that he demasked the god as a fraud, a fraud he'd created because he didn't go to Jovah after all. I love this story because it's both original and in keeping to the roots of the name and character. Lucifer is a deceiver, and no matter what story you hear, that remains the same.
And that's just a single example.
The setting also lends itself to the great desert communities read about in the Old Testament. We have groups of people who are in conflict with each other, and what seems to be a promised people (the Edori, who seem to be a cross between the Jewish nation and gypsies) who have what is a mythical, promised land of safety (Ysrel). I love the similarities and the differences. To some, the parallels may be too obvious and therefore eye roll inducing, but to me, a person who's more cynical of religion than not these days, I found the parallels delightful.
That's due in part to the fact that once you start reading, you're immediately immersed in the world and its rules. There are angels. There is a God. There are traditions that must be followed to appease the God (that fortunately do not involve human sacrifice). I was a little worried at first, as my copy of the book has rather tiny text, but the book read quite easily in spite of that. I delighted in the science fictional clues as well as the parallels to Old Testament religion. I loved the interplay and focus of two main POVs: Gabriel and Rachel. I loved how distinct these two characters were, how frustratingly human they were (ha, ha, in regards to the angel, right?), and how their relationship was so full of highs and lows. This is the kind of love story that really works in the end for both non-romance readers and romance readers alike. There's no outpouring of physical affection, and the two characters don't fall in love with each other right away, and when they do fall in love, they sure as hell don't admit it to themselves, let alone each other. You get to see how it all plays out based on their interactions with each other and other characters.
The primary focus of the book, however, isn't that of a love story, though it's part of the tale. That's what makes this book such a pleasure to read: it mixes science fiction, fantasy, and romance in such a way to create a unique thumbprint, not just some random mash-up of all-too-familiar tropes. I labeled this book as "Romantic Science Fantasy" because that's the only term I could think of that would do this book justice and highlight all the different parts that make up the whole.
Then there's the music. Once upon a time ago, in a land far, far away, I was a music major. A voice major, to be exact. For eight years of my life, choral and solo singing was the focus of my existence, as well as being one of the best darn singers I could be. Long story short, I got burnt out in the end, and in truth, music isn't exactly something that compels me when it comes to finding it in fiction. Partially due to the burnout, yes, but also because when I hear music described, it ticks me off that I can't listen to it instead. This is especially true for music that doesn't actually exist, as found here in the pages of Archangel.
That said, I loved Shinn's treatment. Partially because I understood the lingo, but also because she focuses a lot on how the music makes the listener feel, and that's something that's very easy to relate to. Oh, sure, I wanted to actually hear these damn songs and the gorgeous voices, but I was very pleased with Shinn's description, which gave me a chance to experience the music without having a complete and total hissy fit that I couldn't actually hear it.
As for the story itself, I'm not going to get into details. But in broad strokes, it's a story about finding love (in one's self, in other people, in one's personal god) and it's about the test of faith, the discovery of whether or not that faith is misplaced. If you've read the premise, you'll have a good idea of how Jovah really works based on this, so some of the more climatic moments of the story aren't quite tense as they would be as if this were pure fantasy. That said, there's a lot of little things hinted at in the world-building that I hope later books expound upon. Because knowing that Jovah (the god) is really a spaceship is fantastic, and juxtaposing that with faith as real as that of Christian's today is fascinating, because the questions are the same: why does God let certain things happen? Or, a more interesting question would be: why does God even care?
Due to the nature of this series, from what I can tell, anyway, we're not going to get a succession of direct sequels. The books focus on a different generation, which makes me really hope that with each generation, we learn more about the history of this world and what it means that Jovah is a spaceship and not really a benevolent and vengeful God. I wonder about my own expectations for this series: it seems clear from summary that we can expect some kind of love story with each book, but if Archangel is any indication, it's not a traditional or easy love story by any means. But I wonder how far my desire to know the scientific truth behind God (rather the man behind the curtain) should go in terms of what the characters experience. There's a part of me that wants someone, like an angel, to discover Jovah the spaceship and learn the truth, because I'm morbid and I want to see what that does to the faith. But there's another part of me that's content in putting things together based on the clues given in the story firmly set ground-side, in that while the angel and people never learn the truth of Jovah, the readers can glean it for themselves.
I do need to stress, though, that this is not a flawless book. Questions were raised about the specific story that I don't think are answered, like how the main antagonist knew that Rachel would be a threat when she was SO young. And sometimes, I didn't care for the glimpses of obvious evil, but for the most part, these did not detract from the overall story. There were also moments where I was absolutely certain I knew how certain events would play out, only to learn I was wrong, and that's a rather nice surprise. Sometimes I was close in my theories, and other times, I was just simply off the mark. Again, that's a pleasant experience.
At any rate, I'm beyond pleased with this, and wish I'd discovered it much sooner.
My Rating
Must Have: What else can I say here that I haven't said in the full, non-spoilery review? How much I found myself immersed in a story that mixes science fiction, fantasy, and love story with ease? I was immersed in this book by the end of the second page and already looking up the sequels. Should I talk about my love of the juxtaposition of religion and science, and how cleverly and believably the author handles this? Or the way this book alludes to the Old Testament without, in any way, being preachy and awkward? I'm no longer the most religious person in the world, but this book didn't offend in any way (though that's not to say that a super-hard-core atheist wouldn't pick this book apart because they can). For people who are tired of angel stories, let me stress this: let this book be your exception. It was written LONG before the YA paranormal angel craze took over, and you can bet it's going to be a lot more mature that what's currently popular in the market now. This is a book that reads like a fantasy, that has delicious science fictional clues to its world-building, and also has a mature, non-traditional love story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, and look forward to one day getting to the sequels.
Cover Commentary: I'm not wholly sold on this cover. While I normally enjoy John Jude Palencar's art, this doesn't work for me. For starters, Rachel's hair is described as golden far too often, and the model's looks brassy, copper. And while I know she's supposed to be singing on the cover, it looks a little too orgasmic for my tastes, but then again, I don't like such poses on covers, even when I don't mind the content between the pages (not that my interpretation of the pose has anything to do with what's actually in the pages!). Then there's the props: I understand the symbol of the feather: it's her tie to the angels. But the glowing blue ball? Aside from a joke about sexual frustration, I can only guess it's meant to symbolize the world that Rachel's been given power over. However, this scene is NOT in the book, and I can't say I care for it at all.
But we do get Gabriel in the background! I think it's him, anyway. He's too far away to tell for sure, and he's cloaked in white, which is misleading.
Next up: Batwoman: Elegy by Greg Rucka
EDIT: Jo Walton likes my review! Link added for prosperity's sake here.