Samaria series

Archangel
Jovah's Angel
The Alleluia Files
Angelica
Angel-Seeker

I don't want to fill up the entire front page of the blog with Sharon Shinn books, so I'm going to talk about this series collectively.  It's her longest running series; the first volume, Archangel, was her second novel ever (copyright 1996), and the fifth and latest, Angel-Seeker, came out just a couple of years ago.  The first three form a loosely connected trilogy, and the two others are stand-alone stories set in the same world.  The first one reads like a fantasy, with its angels praying in song to a very hands-on god; only in the second volume, Jovah's Angel, does the series turn out to be science fiction after all.

I am a long time fan of Shinn, so of course I was aware of this series, but for a long time the first chapter of Archangel totally failed to grab me.  Some time recently I bought my own copy at the best local second-hand book store, just so I'd have it lying around the apartment if I was ever in the mood for it.  A couple of weekends ago I shrugged and opened it, and proceeded to fall into it headfirst.  I had to go to the library where I work on my day off to get the next volume, and should have just checked them all out while I was there.

As always with Shinn, colorful world-building, convincing action, and a goodly helping of romance in each book.  Reading them all one right after the other, though, they started to sound a bit alike, especially since in three of the first four the main romantic plot involved the ruling Archangel's search for the person the god Jovah had decreed he (or she) should marry.  The fifth volume does not involve direct contact with Jovah at all, and may turn out to be my favorite of the lot.

All excellent, however, and it definitely pays to read them in order.

Originally posted at MySpace 9/16/06