After book 4 I didn't know what to expect from book 5, but it is the best in the series (or at least tied with Jovah's Angel)!

The romance is strong and believable and loving and scary; the "nitty-gritty" of an angel-seeker's life is strong and believable and scary. The characters' growth is believable.

Of the 5 books, this one has the most mature romance - we actually have some (albeit carefully worded) consumation of love, which does not really happen in any of the other novels in this series.

But there is no real "plot"... it's more a straight-up romance and exploration of the lifestyles of two groups (Jansai and Angel-Seeker) than a fantasy story (i.e. the story behind Samaria and the god and etc is not explored at all). ( )

The fifth and final book in the Angel series, this is the first book to have as its protagonists a Jansai woman, Rebekah, and an angel-seeker, Elizabeth. As readers of the previous books know, Jansai men are greedy and cruel nomadic traders who oppress and cloister their women and hate angels for keeping them from enslaving the gentle Edori race. Early in Gabriel's reign (shortly after the close of the first book, Archangel), unlikely but not impossible events lead Rebekah and an angel to fall in love, with dangerous consequences. This story finally shows Jansai women and men as more than unpleasant stereotypes.

Meanwhile, another young woman, Elizabeth, has fallen from a position of wealth to being a servant in her cousin's home and becomes an "angel-seeker" to improve her position -- that is, she seeks to have sex with angels until she has an angelic child (an unlikely event) so she can live a life of ease and status in an eyrie. The reality of being an angel-seeker and what she learns of the outside world cause her to question her plan.

Unlike the fourth book, Angelica, this adds to the first three novels by making members of despised (or seemingly insignificant groups) into sympathetic, although imperfect, main characters. ( )

This novel, set a few years after Archangel, follows the stories of two women of Samaria. The first is Elizabeht, an unlikeable woman who in her unhappiness decides to become an angel-seeker, mortal women who chase after angels in order to bear their children. The second is a rebellious Jansai girl who rescues an angel.
I think this one is most interesting because it focusses on two types of women that haven't been featured in the Sameria novels before, although they have been mentioned. Angel-seekers, virtually prostitutes, are looked down on by most people although their necessity is known as the world needs more angels. Jansai women little is known about as they are hidden from the world by the men of their families. However I think having the Jansai story so early in the history of the world is a mistake as I can't hep but wonder why there aren't more ex-Jansai women as the world develops more.

This is book 5 in the series, but book 2 chronologically, in that it directly follows book 1 and the others are set hundreds of years in the future. I so love this concept! We are in 'biblical times' somewhere, with angels who communicate with their god through singing. However in the last book the arch angel became corrupt and there was a dark and terrible outcome for him. Now we are dealing with the aftermath, and various parties are not happy with the new administration, especially the Jansai who have a very particular culture. Their women are sequestered and only men have dealings with the outer world. And yet one of these women manages to meet an angel... I loved her story. The second story, about Elizabeth the angel seeker was less engrossing for me. Elizabeth escapes from a life of unpaid servitude and decides that bearing an angel child will give her the future she wants, and life is what happens as we go along with our plans... I liked her story, but Rebekah's story felt more mysterious and engaging to me. ( )

This is the 5th book in the Samria series, but the story actually takes places just after the 1st book Archangel .

The title of the book, Angel-Seeker, refers to young women, groupies really, who are seeking out the Angels to have a sexual relationship with them. Angels are superior beings who act as intercessors for humanity with their god who floats above the land.

The people of Samaria are the descendants of the remnants of people who came in a space ship to settle the new planet. They have lost touch with their home world, and with most of the technology that brought them there. Angels are biologically altered humans.

Life is hard and mostly pastoral, and young women with no family or ties dream of producing an 'Angel Baby' to insure they will have a place to live and be taken care of for the remainder of their lives.

The Angels are aware of them, but don't object. It is difficult for Angels to reproduce and they are expected to attempt to do so quite regularly. Echoes of the distasteful female drudges who provide sexual favors in Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern series. Young women often die in childbirth when they bear an Angel baby, but they still try.

This story focuses on 2 women, one who is an Angel-Seeker, and one who is not, but meets and falls in love with an Angel.

The young woman who falls in love is from a very restrictive society that treats females as inferior, property and the bearers of male honor (can we say Muslim).

The writing is good, the story is told well, if a bit predictable and distasteful. The setting is done well as is the depiction of the Angels and their relationships with each other, and different types of humans. I liked the characters and came to care about them.
There are perhaps too many coincidences that are required to make things work out, but that is often the case in many books that have plotting that isn't straightforward. ( )