ARCHANGEL by Sharon Shinn

Well, I made the mistake of starting this book this past weekend. And well, I had to finish it. Simple as that. So, rather than working on my family law outline that I vowed to have finished by Friday, I read and read until I finished the dang thing. Wow. Loved it. :) Guess it's time to work on homework after this. LOL.

Brief Synopsis: Gabriel is six months away from taking his place as the Archangel, the highest amongst the angels and the one who serves as an intermediary between the people of Samaria and Jovah, their God. In order to secure his position, he must sing with his angelica at the Gloria. Should he fail in this task, Jovah will smite the world with his wrath. Only problem is that Rachel, the one chosen to marry Gabriel, his angelica, isn't what you would call cooperative. In addition, the current Archangel, Raphael, isn't ready to step down and is attempting to thwart Gabriel's ascension.

Gah...as always...that sucked. LOL. However, I did manage to work in the word "smite" which has always been a personal goal of mine. ;)

Okay, where to begin. First of all, I LOVED this book. Wait, I said that already -- but heck, it bears repeating. I've never read a book about angels (well, other than a couple of Frank Peretti's books) and I really didn't know what to expect. I want to preface this review by saying I know nothing about angels and whatever mythology/etc. surrounds them. Therefore, I'm completely unable to judge whether anything in this book would be offensive to certain religions, etc. However, as one friend pointed out, the angels in this book do get married and engage in *cough*sex*cough* and aren't exactly champions of monogamy or marital vows. So, be forewarned.

One of the things I loved most about this book is the world Shinn created. It was just so...vivid. I had no problem imagining myself walking through the stone buildings atop Eyrie or the crowded marketplaces of Velora... I could almost feel cool wind through my hair as I flew high above Samaria with Gabriel. If I closed my eyes, I could hear angelic voices raised in harmony... Man, it gave me goosebumps. If anything can be said about Shinn, it's that she knows how to turn a phrase--knows how to make you feel things in the marrow of your bones.

Rachel was a great character and her flaws made her real. The tragedies in her life made me empathize and care for her. Even so, at various times throughout the book, I found I wanted to shake, hug, comfort, throttle, or just plain murder the girl...All at once. (g) But man, she was definitely someone I could get behind. Shinn, I've found, often takes a long time to reveal her characters' true motivations. Rachel was no exception, and in the end I really felt like I understood her. Not that this made me want to hurt her any less during certain parts of the book. (g)

Gabriel... oh man. First of all, y'all know I'm partial to that name. And yes, my mind sing-songed "Gabe the babe" many a times during the book. (g) I can't help it. I thought he was wonderful -- and I'm not just saying that because of the fetching leather briefs he ran about in. He had his surly moments--moments when I would think, "What a jerk!" But by the end, he had blossomed like a flower. (VBG) Nah, really -- he was tough, but fair. Stubborn, but flexible when it mattered... There was never a moment I doubted his character.

The two of them together -- Le sigh. At times I wanted to send them to their corners to think about what they'd done or said to the other -- at other times, I wanted to smack them upside their heads and say, "Don't you know you love one another!!" Yeah, true to Shinn form -- their relationship started out a bit rocky and grew throughout the book... man, it was GOOD.

Now, I must admit that the whole "we must sing together on the Gloria" or Jovah will smite the world was a bit...well....sketchy to me. It seemed so...well, silly. (g) But once I allowed myself to sink into and accept the rules of this world, it was a wonderful ride.

I'm not sure I really understood Raphael's agenda in trying to stop Gabriel. Overall, his character was a little weak -- a bad guy who's being bad...for the sake of being bad. He was a bit undefined and my biggest complaint about this book is that she didn't take more time to flesh out why he chose the path he took. But obviously it wasn't a deal breaker for me.

Overall, man....a great book.

Buy or Rent? BUY. NOW.

Blog List

I tried to update my Fellow Writer's blog/livejournal list tonight. Blah. If I'm missing you, please let me know. I was practically going cross-eyed trying to compare my two lists. LOL. So, if I left you off -- totally unintentional. And if you'd prefer NOT to be listed, that would be good to know, too. :)

Thanks!

I'm Alive

And when I say that, I mean just barely. (g) It's been a CRAZY week, topped off with a 4am ride to the airport this morning. I am so beat, even my toes ache.

Too many details to go into, but it was a good time. Had lots of fun with the fam--we shopped, hung-out, played cards...slept very little. :) They kept me busy carting them around--so much so that I got nothing accomplished. No writing, no studying. You know I'm just heartbroken over the latter. (big wink)

At any rate, I'm sort of in recovery mode today -- BUT, it seems my "creative mojo" has been somewhat replenished. I had a really cool, vivid dream this morning. A lot of it was disjointed, but there were some real gems throughout that could turn into a nifty story. I'll need to work on it a bit to flesh it out, but hopefully this means I'll be revved up to continue work on revisions. Of course, I may need a nap first. LOL.

Anyway, just thought I'd pop on quick to give a feeble lil' wave atcha all. I should be back more regularly--at least until finals kick in.

Happy Turkey Day!!

I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday filled with turkey, family, and football. (g) I'm out until at least Friday--off to the g'parents house to mingle with the crazy relatives. I may or may not return sane--if I ever was to begin with. :)

See you soon!

Halloooooo

As expected, my family is keeping me fairly busy. So much so, that I haven't finished my project that's due tomorrow. (g) Oh well, I can get it done in about four hours -- I hope. LOL.

Anyway, nothing too much going on right now -- just chauffeuring the fam around and doing a lot of shopping. My mom took me to church yesterday...i.e. Barnes & Noble, and I picked up a few more books. Man, love it when she comes to visit. She suffers from the "I only see you once every year or so, so I must buy you things" syndrome. (VBG) To be fair, I had every intention of paying for an outfit yesterday -- until she snatched it out of my Kung-fu grip and scampered over to the check-out line. Hehe.

Anywho -- I may not be too active on the blog this week, but I had to mention a comment I received on one of my book reviews. Some kid said (and I know where you're from!) that he thought MYSTIC & RIDER was a stupid book, but that I really helped him with his book report. ROFL. Dude, I'm the blogNotes of the internet -- well, at least for this guy. (g) Maybe that should be Jen's Notes...hmm. :)

WHOOOOOOOOT!!!

I'm super excited by some news I just received from a writer friend... You go, girl!!! :)

(Not saying what or who -- she will in her own good time -- just couldn't contain myself though!!) (VBG)

*VICARIOUS SNOOPY DANCE*

Immediacy

Things in my life are pretty nuts right now. I've been rather stressed out and it's all having a negative effect on my motivation to keep going on my wip's. Unfortunately, it's a bit more than visiting family, but alas, too upsetting to really blog about at this time. At any rate, let's just say that Jen is stressin'.

New words haven't really been an option, so instead I decided to take a look at the final confrontation scene in BTPM. I haven't really looked at it in a while -- as I've been concentrating on the front end of the book. It was an eye-opening experience. LOL. I realized that the way it is now is very telling. There's no immediacy to it... it's all so...so...distant. Blah.

I would post snips of it for comment, but man, talk about spoiling the ending. LOL. At any rate, here's the thing....

I KNOW the rules of how to pump up the tension in a fight/scary scene. Short sentences...quick pace...blah blah blah. But, to be frank, I feel very few people really pull it off well. LOL. I find, 9 times out of 10, that they sound choppy to my inner ear. That said, my scene is falling in the majority. Le sigh. Because I take such issue with most of these kinds of scenes, I gotta wonder if it's just ME. LOL. Maybe my scene is fine as is...doubt it. (g)

So...my family arrives tomorrow. I have a huge project due on Tuesday...big Thanksgiving plans beginning on Wednesday, including my grandparents 60th anniversary party...and well, I don't forsee much time to work on anything new. My concentration will simply be too split with all this and much much more going on. So...my goal for the coming week is to tear this scene apart and rewrite it. The bones are there...they're good bones... but it needs more...oomph. My second goal is to tear apart the outline of FI and figure out what remaining scenes need to be written, and start tackling them one by one. Systematic as I can get. (g)

I'm way behind on my word count goal, but if I can get some things accomplished while my family is here, I'll be very happy. My first final is on the eighth, so progress in December is going to be slow until after my last--on the 17th, I think. Blah. I hate this time of year, but I'm hoping that my inspiration will kick up a notch with studying/finals looming. It always does. (g)