He reminds me a bit of the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast - surly but ultimately kind-hearted. He's not entirely likable either, being arrogant and somewhat bad-tempered at times, but his noble goals with regard to the world he's about to inherit as archangel are admirable. Gabriel, the soon-to-be archangel who was betrothed to Rachel by divine will, inexplicably still loves her despite all her ridiculousness.
But not enough to trash the entire book, because, like I said, there really is a lot to love about it. The most ridiculous is when she complains about how the world is wrong, and yet, given the chance to change the world as the archangel's de facto queen, all she does is run away with a clan of nomads. She whines and yells and complains and doesn't do anything but think about what she wants. Her character is well developed - just extremely unlikable.
This is mostly the fault of Rachel, a stubborn, self-centered, sanctimonious woman who thinks she's right about everything and expects everyone to do what she wants them to, even when she doesn't say what she wants. But much as I enjoyed the world, at a certain point, I kept wondering why it wouldn't end already. Archangel really transports you to another world. Fantastic world building, sweeping descriptions. It may not rank as great literature, but Archangel presents a unique and thought-provoking "alternate world," as well as an ultimately heart-warming romance.įantastic world-building Rachel is stranglable The villains are one-dimensionally villainous, but great foils for the heroics, and the book's climax is memorable. It is true that the main characters are self-centered and perhaps not instantly lovable, but they are courageous and honorable and I enjoyed watching their deepening love and humanity unfold as their adventures heated up. Despite what others have written about Tamara Marston's performance, however, I truly enjoyed her presentation and loved the book all over again. I was dubious about getting the audio version of Archangel both because I know the story and its outcome so well and because I feared bad narration might "spoil" this longtime favorite for me. I thought The Alleluia Files was just OK, and subsequent books in the series seemed like overkill (I never went beyond book 4). Jovah's Angel is also excellent, and is a necessary sequel because it explains the mysteries of Jovah and the hierarchy of life on Samaria. I picked it up at a tag sale among the 5/$1 paperbacks, and to my surprise, it joined my list of all-time favorite books. It was only by chance I read this first installment of Sharon Shinn's "Samaria" trilogy (#1 Archangel, #2 Jovah's Angel, #3 The Alleluia Files) about 10 years ago.
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