Review of Archangel Protocol
Sep
08
2008

Archangel Protocol
by Lyda Morehouse
352pp (Paperback)
My Rating: 8.5/10
Amazon Rating: 4.5/5
LibraryThing Rating: 3.54/5
Goodreads Rating: 3.14/5


Archangel Protocol is the first book in the AngelLINK series by Lyda Morehouse (who also writes the Garnet Lacey series under the name Tate Hallaway). This book is followed by Fallen Host, Messiah Node, and Apocalypse Array, which are supposed to work as stand-alone novels even though they are set in the same universe as the first book. Unfortunately, the books in this series are out of print, although new copies can be found at Dreamhaven (which is where I got my own signed copy of the first book at regular price). Lyda Morehouse is currently writing an AngelLINK prequel called Resurrection Code.

Just after the midway point of the 21st century, the destruction produced by the terrible Medusa bomb led to the official movement of America from a democracy to a theocracy. In a world with drive-through churches in which it is a crime not to belong to some sort of organized religion, the presidential candidates are Rabbi-Senator Grey and Reverend-Senator Letourneau, who is claiming to be the second coming of Christ. These claims appear to be justified with the appearance of the LINK-angels, awe-inspiring angelic beings who appear within the cybernetic virtual reality almost everyone is connected to. Since the LINK-angels cause a strong emotional response when sighted–something that is impossible to do through technology–it is believed that they are a miraculous sign from God.

Deidre McMannus went from being a successful detective to a struggling private eye after her investigative partner Daniel publicly murders the Pope. For the offense of her association with Daniel, Deidre is excommunicated from the Catholic church and disconnected from the LINK, meaning it is hard for her to find work and access to credits. While undergoing a particularly bad day due to the loss of a client, Deidre is visited by a drop-dead gorgeous cop in jeans and black leather by the name of Michael Angelucci. Michael would like to enlist Deidre’s aid in exposing the would-be messiah Letourneau and his supportive LINK-angels as a fraud. In return, he promises to give Deidre access to the addictive LINK.


Archangel Protocol is hard to define since it incorporates a diverse blend of genres – I suppose you could call it a cyberpunk mystery romance socio-religious/political adventure. This is part of what made the book stand out to me since anytime I’ve tried reading cyberpunk before, it has bored me. I tried to read Snow Crash since it was supposed to be a fantastic cyberpunk book and gave up eventually. I struggled through Neuromancer and came away from it with the feeling that it was the longest 200 pages I have ever read. These books were all about the tech and the cool hacker characters that I had no attachment whatsoever to. Yet Archangel Protocol had the cyberpunk feel and the technology as a core component of the story without compromising characters or plot. In addition to this, it had a plausible future scenario containing interesting prospects about the complete removal of the separation of politics and state.

Deidre is a sympathetic character – a social pariah because of a crime she did not commit with a sense of left-over Catholic guilt preventing her from simply joining another religion just to become a part of the real world once again. She even finds some comfort in the preacher who rants outside her window every day since “at least someone thinks I’m worth saving.” Other characters are not as fleshed out as Deidre, but I found them likable in spite of not feeling they were particularly deep. Michael seems like a typical nice guy, but I did find his brother Morningstar intriguing when he did show up.

This book is rather fast-paced and getting involved in the story was effortless. It was one of those books that captured my attention in the first chapter and held it all the way to the end, making it very difficult to put down.

The story is told from the first person perspective of Deidre and the end of each chapter has a newspaper article or other relevant interludes such as political interviews or religious essays. Some of these were serious, others were amusing, but they all added to the story being told and did not feel out of place.

The main complaints I have about this book is that some of the romance did seem a bit cheesy (which is hardly unusual) and although I enjoyed Deidre’s character she did seem to be a bit slow at times. I suppose if such unusual events happened to me, I’d be a bit hesitant to believe it as well, but she had all the pieces of the puzzle at times but later would seem to forget what she had known just a little while ago.

Archangel Protocol is a very enjoyable novel combining a fast-paced plot, a fairly well-developed main character, some romance, religious themes, and a fun mystery.

8.5/10

Review of Wanderlust
Aug
31
2008

Wanderlust
by Ann Aguirre
320pp (Paperback)
My Rating: 8/10
Amazon Rating: 4.5/5
LibraryThing Rating: 5/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.34/5

Wanderlust, which just came out this past Tuesday, is the second book in Ann Aguirre’s Jax series following her debut novel Grimspace. Grimspace did have the distinction of being the most entertaining, easy to get into and most difficult to put down book I had read this year – at least until I read Wanderlust, which I liked even better. Fair warning for those who haven’t read Grimspace yet: some spoilers follow.

After exposing the corruption and deception of the Farwan Corporation, Sirantha has been sequestered from the rest of the crew and questioned for many days. Because of this, she is expecting more interrogation when she is summoned to the conference room. Instead Sirantha finds herself reunited with her telepathic boyfriend March and ship’s mechanic Dina and offered a job as an ambassador for the Conglomerate. If she accepts her first task is convincing the bug-like aliens on Ithiss-Tor to join the Conglomerate, since Sirantha is in the unique position of having befriended one of them, the bounty hunter Velith who was sent to kill her in the last book.

Although ambassador is not Sirantha’s first choice of jobs, it is difficult to refuse the money, especially after discovering her despicable husband wiped out all her funds when she was declared prematurely dead. To further complicate matters, Sirantha’s mother shows up and says someone has threatened to kill her unless her daughter takes the job. The would-be assassins consider Sirantha the only acceptable candidate; they are opposed to Ithiss-Tor joining the Conglomerate, and think Sirantha has an excellent chance of screwing up negotiations. In spite of the danger, Sirantha, March, Dina and Vel begin the journey to Ithiss-Tor with several mishaps along the way.


Wanderlust was never difficult to get into but the earliest chapters did not immerse me into the book quite as quickly as its predecessor did – mainly since there was a lot of recap interspersed with new plot in the first chapter. The viewpoint is first person from Jax’s (often humorous) point of view so when she kept interjecting thoughts that would be very obvious to her by now about March being a telepath or how Kai died, it did not seem natural. Chapter 1 is short, as all the chapters are, and this was not something I noticed much after that so this was a minor quibble, especially considering there was enough introduction to the new book in this section to keep me interested.

Once I got past the first couple of chapters, it was very difficult to put the book down. It’s very fast-paced and I always ended the chapter wanting to read the next one to find out what happened next. Sirantha’s perspective is told in present tense which just adds to the urgency when she or one of the other characters is in danger.

In spite of a lot of action and adventure, this is not a book that is all about the plot and equal time is dedicated Sirantha herself and her relationships with the other crew members. Sirantha, our mouthy, bald, and scarred heroine, has lost a lot and deals with paranoia from being the center of so many conspiracies. She’s tough and sarcastic on the outside but vulnerable to the core. Reading about interaction between the crew members is as much fun as reading about their adventures. Sirantha and Dina are constantly ragging on each other but are obviously good friends in spite of the way they sound. March and Sirantha have a complicated relationship and Vel’s attempts at learning human customs make him quite endearing.

Although the characters are not particularly deep or complex, they are interesting and very likable. Everyone seems to be fighting the demons from their past and present. March had a difficult time adjusting to his telepathic abilities and has a dark side that comes out at times, and Dina was a member of a royal family until her parents and siblings died. In addition to the humans, there are some interesting alien species and one of the more intriguing characters is the bounty hunter Vel, known as a “Slider” because he can wear human skin and slide into someone else’s life, appearing indistinguishable from the real person he’s imitating.

From start to finish, Wanderlust had me hooked with its submergence of fast-paced action, humor, and enjoyable characters. I read this book in a day, which I almost never do anymore, but I always had to read “just one more chapter.” Highly recommended to anyone looking for a light and diverting story that draws you in easily and keeps you reading.

8/10

Read the first chapter online

Reviews of other books in this series:
Grimspace (#1)

Update
Aug
29
2008

After finishing The Cipher one week ago, I’ve finished 3 more books (it helps that I’ve had the last 3 days off from work). Here are the next books I need to review and some short impressions of them:

The Cipher by Diana Pharoah Francis (of course) – This one started off somewhat good (although never that great) but by the end, I really didn’t like it very much at all. I won’t be continuing with the Crosspointe series.

Archangel Protocol by Lyda Morehouse – This is the first in a series I definitely will be continuing with – a cyberpunk story about not just the tech but religion with an interesting female lead and a mystery. Any time I have tried reading cyberpunk I haven’t liked it because the character and story always seemed secondary to the cyberpunk aspect of it but this one didn’t have the same problems.

The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia – A lovely, well written story using the character of an intelligent automaton to explore social inequality.

Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre – I read this in one day. That is something I have not done in forever but this was very difficult to put down. I liked it better than the first book in the series, Grimspace (which I also couldn’t put down). It was very fast paced with lots of adventure yet still had focus on character interaction (this one was more about friendships than the romantic relationship although there was some of that too).

Now I’d better read some longer books while I get caught up on all these…

Iain Banks Q&A
Aug
29
2008

Part two of the Q & A with Iain Banks is up on his site. Readers emailed him questions about the books, writing quirks, video games, and what kind of tattoo based on his books he’d get.

Part one, which was put up in July, is available here. This one has more questions related to the books but if you ever wanted to know what places to visit in Scotland, this is the one to read.

Free Revised Version of Primary Inversion
Aug
28
2008

I signed up for a Catherine Asaro mailing list a while ago when I was desperately trying to find a copy of The Radiant Seas. Yesterday Catherine sent an email to the group to let us know that a revised version of her first novel Primary Inversion is now available at the Baen Free Library. Here is what she had to say about the new revisions:

This is a rewritten version of my first published book. I’m a better writer now, so I went through the entire book earlier this year, polished, streamlined, and updated it. If you’re in the music business, you could say I remastered it 😉

I am curious about the changes since I thought this was already a pretty good book. Primary Inversion was one of those books I couldn’t put down and read in about 2 days (review). Actually, it was the book that convinced me I might like space opera after all.

There are many other titles also available for free at the Baen Free Library.

Guest Review of Before They Are Hanged
Aug
27
2008

Before They Are Hanged
by Joe Abercrombie
539pp (Paperback)
My Rating: 7/10
Amazon Rating: 4.5/5
LibraryThing Rating: 4.24/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.34/5

Joe Abercrombie’s Before They Are Hanged is the middle book in his First Law trilogy, following The Blade Itself and preceding Last Argument of Kings (which has an official US launch date of Sept. 23, but is already available from some outlets). Much like The Blade Itself, Hanged is a book that I enjoyed reading for reasons I don’t entirely understand. When viewed separately its components all seem to be between weak and average, but the whole is more than the sum of its parts and it has left me eagerly awaiting the final book in the trilogy.

Having joined forces in the previous book, Logen (21 lvl. human berzerker), Ferro (23 lvl. fey fighter), Bayaz (30 lvl. demi-human mage NPC) and Luthar (5 lvl. human dumbass) set off on a quest to the literal end of the world. They are seeking a weapon of great power, though exactly what that weapon is only becomes clear once they are well on their way. What is known, though, is that they need the weapon to fight Khalul, a rival of Bayaz who has set himself up as a false prophet in the South and is the power behind the growing Gurkish Empire.

Sand dan Glokta, now Superior of the Royal Inquisition, finds himself on the frontlines of the battle with the Gurkish. He has been tasked with the impossible: defend an isolated city on a distant continent with no money, no reinforcements, and a possible conspiracy among the ruling council to hand the city over to the Gurkish. The reason for the lack of reinforcements is that a second a war in the North is also raging, which is where we find Major West in a different, though almost as difficult, situation. He must defend the northern borders from both barbarian invaders and the vastly incompetent crown prince Ladisla who, for better or mostly worse, has taken control of a third of the defending army.


Before They Are Hanged is a bit of a mystery for me. Without question, it was a fun read. But exactly what made it good is hard to pin down. The story is fairly standard, with no outstanding features or particularly unusual spin to distinguish it from the run-of-the-mill fantasy novel. As I implied above, the characters are also mostly stock. This does not mean that they are without depth and complexity, but even there the depth is the same sort of depth you often find in their character archetypes. I even found the twist ending to be predictable in outcome, if not the exact mechanism used to achieve that outcome.

And yet…I liked it. In fact, I read it from cover to cover in one day. The characters and relationships are well executed, particularly Glokta, who I found to have both the most compelling personality and subplot in the book. While the quest largely turns into an excuse for extended exposition on the backstory of the world and the northern war stalls for time until its conclusion in the next book, Glokta’s political, martial, and personal battles in the city of Dagoska keep the book afloat during all of the setup in the other two major subplots. It is also the closest view Abercrombie gives to the central threat overarching all of the plotlines, the violation of the rules of magic.

In Dagoska we can see the effect of Khalul’s violation of the Second Law and the great power the violation has granted his forces. Bayaz’s storytelling during his quest provides an example of what can go wrong when you violate the laws and shows why his intended violation of the First Law of Magic (which, surprisingly, is not “Don’t talk about magic”) is so dangerous, but only through Glokta’s subplot do we see why the Second Law violation is a threat when it is done correctly. Maybe this is why I see Glokta’s story as the most successful in the book; it advances the larger story through action instead of exposition and does so in a well-paced, interesting way.

Before They Are Hanged appears to be a standard middle book in an epic-fantasy trilogy, but it is well executed and entertaining to read. Though slow in places, there is enough plot progression to show glimmers that the final book, Last Argument of Kings, may break out of this mold and provide an exceptional story that is on par with the execution and writing in Hanged. I’d recommend reading Hanged on its on merits, but if Kings can follow through the series may become a must-read for fantasy fans.

7/10