Archangel (Shinn novel)

Infobox Book |
name = Archangel
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Sharon Shinn
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Samaria series
genre = Fantasy novel
publisher = Ace Books
release_date = 1997
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages =
isbn =
preceded_by =
followed_by = Jovah's Angel

"Archangel" is a 1997 science fiction novel by Sharon Shinn. It is the first book in the Samaria series of novels.

Plot summary

Samaria is a planet that has been settled with colonists from a different planet some time in the past. The colonists made the journey in a spaceship named Jehovah, which possesses artificial intelligence. Geneticists aboard Jehovah created a race of angels in order to keep the peace on Samaria. Angels have the ability to communicate with Jehovah. Jehovah can modify weather patterns, send medicinal drugs, and do other things. This gives the illusion of a religion with an omnipotent god. In order to bring together all peoples of Samaria together in peaceful harmony, Jehovah commanded that a Gloria be sung by all the people of Samaria. If the Gloria is not sung, it would destroy a mountain. Three days later, if the Gloria was still not sung, it would destroy the city of Semorrah. Three days after that, Jehovah would destroy the world. With the passing of time, Jehovah is worshipped as a deity, with only a select few, the Oracles, who know the truth.

There are certain divisions of the population on Samaria. Angels were once human but were then genetically modified in Jehovah's labs. According to the holy book, the Librera, the angels were made by Jovah to oversee Samaria, and also to control the temperamental weather elements. Angels have beautiful voices in order to pray to Jovah. Angels have wings, are larger, more muscular, stronger, with enhanced metabolisms and respiratory systems. The Edori are the wandering humans. The Manadavvi are highly cultured and wealthy. They are an aesthetic people, obsessed with money and the wonders that it buys. The Jansai are calculating and greedy merchants, and are the primary motivators of the Edori slave trade in the novel.

The next archangel-to-be, Gabriel, is reluctant to marry. He is shocked to find that his bride Rachel, is an Edori slave. She has grown to hate the angels because of what they had done to her family when she was younger. Gabriel also has to deal with the corrupted soon-to-be-ex Archangel, Raphael. Raphael doesn't want to step down and doesn't believe that there is a Jovah. This is heresy and Gabriel must immediately take control over Samaria for the good of the people but his bride, Rachel, keeps making his life difficult. Even with all their troubles, Gabriel and Rachel finally realize that they love each other and Samaria is saved, for now.

Samaria Series

* "Archangel" (Ace Books, 1997)
* "Jovah's Angel" (Ace Books, 1998)
* "The Alleluia Files" (Ace Books, 1999)
* "Angelica" (Ace Books, 2003) Although this is the fourth novel in the Samaria series, it is set before the first book "Archangel".
* "Angel-Seeker" (Ace Books, 2004)

External links

* [http://www.abc.net.au/wa/stories/s928548.htm "Archangel" review from ABC.]
* [http://www.scifi.com/sfw/books/sfw2219.html "Archangel" review from Sci Fi Weekly.]