Morehouse, Lyda - Archangel Protocol
I got Lyda Morehouse's books at WisCon because she was so cool when I saw her on the Feminist Romance panel.
It's a somewhat cyberpunky thing (I'm probably defining cyberpunk wrong and will get a multitude of comments telling me that, but that's ok) that reminds me a little of Elizabeth Bear's Hammered (because I read it first, even though it was published after Morehouse's book) and Sean Stewart's Passion Play. The entire world is being run by religious governments after a furious backlash against science and the secular humanists due to the explosion of Medusa bombs some decades ago. Also, membership in a religion is a prerequisite for LINK access, which is basically the internet times a zillion. Without the LINK, it's difficult to make monetary transactions and get any sort of information. Recently, LINK-angels have begun appearing, which are taken as a miracle.
I love the first chapter of the book, which describes the protagonist's fall from grace and excommunication, leading to a bitter career in private investigation. Then, of course, a stunner walks into the office and proposes an investigation into the LINK-angels, in return for LINK access.
The best part is, the steely private eye is Deidre McManus, and the femme fatale is actually a homme fatale (if you can say that). There was intense, intense love for that scene along, which was pitch-perfect, down to Dee describing Michael's every physical feature and him perching on the side of her desk to tempt her into some scheme.
I don't actually know, because I haven't read/seen much noir at all, but I don't think the rest of the book follows the noir gender role inversions, as it becomes more sf-y and less noir. Also, the rest of the book focuses much more on religion, which isn't too surprising, given the angels. I liked that Morehouse didn't do a straight "religion is evil!" thing; while she portrays the secular as persecuted, I liked that Deidre is Catholic and is still Catholic at heart, despite her excommunication. Her characters feel like they live in a world in which being religious is necessary, and there's no jarring PC-ness to take me out of the characterization.
All in all, I liked it, though I guessed some of the plot twists. But the book felt a little fluffy, for reasons that I can't quite pin down. I think I wanted something larger and more epic to suit the religious theme (ok, actually, I am just a sucker for Giant Heaven and Hell Battle Epics of DOOM), but I don't think that was the book's fault.
ETA:
oursin's review
It's a somewhat cyberpunky thing (I'm probably defining cyberpunk wrong and will get a multitude of comments telling me that, but that's ok) that reminds me a little of Elizabeth Bear's Hammered (because I read it first, even though it was published after Morehouse's book) and Sean Stewart's Passion Play. The entire world is being run by religious governments after a furious backlash against science and the secular humanists due to the explosion of Medusa bombs some decades ago. Also, membership in a religion is a prerequisite for LINK access, which is basically the internet times a zillion. Without the LINK, it's difficult to make monetary transactions and get any sort of information. Recently, LINK-angels have begun appearing, which are taken as a miracle.
I love the first chapter of the book, which describes the protagonist's fall from grace and excommunication, leading to a bitter career in private investigation. Then, of course, a stunner walks into the office and proposes an investigation into the LINK-angels, in return for LINK access.
The best part is, the steely private eye is Deidre McManus, and the femme fatale is actually a homme fatale (if you can say that). There was intense, intense love for that scene along, which was pitch-perfect, down to Dee describing Michael's every physical feature and him perching on the side of her desk to tempt her into some scheme.
I don't actually know, because I haven't read/seen much noir at all, but I don't think the rest of the book follows the noir gender role inversions, as it becomes more sf-y and less noir. Also, the rest of the book focuses much more on religion, which isn't too surprising, given the angels. I liked that Morehouse didn't do a straight "religion is evil!" thing; while she portrays the secular as persecuted, I liked that Deidre is Catholic and is still Catholic at heart, despite her excommunication. Her characters feel like they live in a world in which being religious is necessary, and there's no jarring PC-ness to take me out of the characterization.
All in all, I liked it, though I guessed some of the plot twists. But the book felt a little fluffy, for reasons that I can't quite pin down. I think I wanted something larger and more epic to suit the religious theme (ok, actually, I am just a sucker for Giant Heaven and Hell Battle Epics of DOOM), but I don't think that was the book's fault.
ETA:
oursin's review