Review: Archangel by Sharon Shinn

Title: Archangel
Author: Sharon Shinn
Genre: Fantasy
Grade: A-

Synopsis: In this book, we are introduced to the world of Samaria, which is ruled by angels, who can intercede for their people to their god, Jovah. Gabriel, one of these angels, has been groomed to take up the post as archangel, and now, six months before everyone on Samaria gathers to sing the gloria in praise of Jovah, Gabriel must find his angelica, the woman chosen by Jovah to sing at his side. However, Gabriel’s angelica is not the sort of woman he’s expecting. A farmer’s daughter, Rachel’s family was killed and her village destroyed, and she was adopted by the nomadic and slightly heretical Edori. However, the last few years, she’s been a slave, and on the eve of the day she is to be set free, she meets Gabriel.

My Thoughts: I enjoyed this book. It wasn’t one of my best reads of the year by any stretch, but it was quite pleasant, and I will definitely be reading other books by Shinn.

I really loved the characters, and in fact it’s Rachel who brings this book up the few paltry points from a B+ to the A- I’ve decided to give it. She’s an incredibly strong woman. She’s not easy to like, and often I really wanted to shake her, but at the same time, I understood her, and I respected that she wanted to keep her independence. And she really did, unlike in some romance novels where the feisty heroine stomps her feet and declares she wants independence only to happily swoon into the hero’s arms and produce eight kids in the epilogue. There was none of that for Rachel, and I got the sense she and Gabriel were always going to have struggles in their relationship, which made it more real.

I am also glad Shinn chose to explore faith in her books, and I enjoyed the brief lapses into theology. Each of the characters struggles with faith in their own ways, but the book is far from preachy.

Also, I loved the secondary characters. They were well-nuanced, and even the ones it was hard to like had glimpses of depth. And I have to say that I totally would have gone for the charming angel Obadiah over Gabriel any day, although, of course, I do see why Rachel wouldn’t.

I read a review online that compared these books to Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series, and while I can see the similarities (McCaffrey praises Shinn on the back cover, and it’s clear that she is one of Shinn’s influences) they didn’t bother me. There was enough here that was all Shinn that I didn’t feel the work was derivitive at all, even though it might be interesting to compare the two.

I really don’t have any major quibbles with the book. It’s a very pleasant book, and if you like slightly girlie fantasies, (which I do) then you should read this book. It’s thought-provoking, but very easy to read, and I'm looking forward to the rest in the series.