ARCHANGEL
This is probably my favorite book, and considering how many other books I like, that's saying quite a lot. Archangel is, oddly enough, a hybrid of a lot of things I dislike: science fiction, religion, angels, and romance. Samaria is a very vividly realized world with an economy, legends, traditions and religion. The premise is that angels were originally scientifically altered humans to have wings and beautiful voices to communicate with Jovah, a huge spaceship that presumably rescued humans from Earth. However, all this is summed up in the cover blurb; the book itself reads like a straight fantasy. I love the characters, and the book just has the unique ability to come alive for me. I came close to crying at several parts because of its sheer beauty.
JOVAH'S ANGEL and THE ALLELUIA FILES
These are sequels to Archangel, though they are set about a hundred years after each other; the science fiction elements really come into play. The main characters find out that Jovah isn't really a god, but a spaceship and are shocked, relationships come and go, etc. I didn't find them nearly as distinguished as Archangel, but Sharon Shinn thought that her characters in the latter two were easier to relate to than the stubborn and contrary Rachel, but I beg to differ...
THE SHAPE-CHANGER'S WIFE
Don't read this book for a plot. If you have any clue what the plot is like for Beagle's The Last Unicorn, you'll have a clear idea already. However, this is a singularly beautiful and lyrical piece of fantasy that further expounds upon the true meaning of humanity and other deep issues without being intrusive. Wizard Aubrey goes to learn the magic of shape-changing from a sinister wizard in a strange house filled with strange people...and the strangest of all, his wife Lilith. Who-- or rather what is she?
WRAPT IN CRYSTAL
This is another hybrid-- combination police/mystery/sci-fi/romance. Yeah. Anyway, I don't really recommend this one, because while the story-telling is as smooth as ever, there are SO many mistakes in the supposed hybrid Spanish/French/Italian (?) that it interrupted my reading pleasure. Umm...she should really have checked out use of command subjunctive forms, the difference between the tu (sorry, don't know how to get the accent mark) and Ud. uses and the gender of nouns. Hello-- luna is feminine, which would make it Hijos de la Luna, not Hijos del Luna...It really bothers me when people don't bother to do the requisite research, and even more that the editor didn't catch it.
HEART OF GOLD
This is another hybrid romance/sci-fi by Shinn that poses some fairly weighty questions about racial and sexual discrimination. Although one of the races is never fully explored, the two main characters are very sympathetic and the technology of the world is consistently imaginative and believable.
SUMMERS AT CASTLE AUBURN
Shinn at her lightest yet, set in a fairly generic medieval world with fairly little social commentary (unlike earlier novels). It's light and fun, but it has a dark side, and I thought the ending was extremely clever. A few loose threads dangling, but overall a nice coming of age story.
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