Another superb book in the Samaria series, again building on history and themes from the earlier books. ( )

When Archangel and Jovah's Angel first came out in the late 90s, I read and loved them both. Recently I discovered that The Alleluia Files was a 3rd book in the series; I reread the first two books, then followed up with this one.

I wish I hadn't.

The Alleluia Files is not a bad book by any means, it's just not nearly as good as the first two. As others have commented, the author put in 2 romances and neither of them are as good or strong as the single romances in the other novels.

The story is rushed because Shinn was trying to flesh out 2 romances and instead of making a new "bad-guy" she just took the power-hungry "stock" character from the earlier books and made him a fanatic.

There was a nice little twist in the story, but it comes very late (4/5 of the way through) and is followed by a section that sounds more like a non-fiction discussion of religious fervor than a fantasy romance novel.

Anyway, it's still a decent read, just don't taint the beautiful book of Jovah's Angel by reading this one right after it. ( )

Tamar is a Jacobite, one of a band of rebels who a hundred years after Jovah's Angel have come to believe that Jovah is not a god, but a spaceship. Meanwhile, the angel Lucinda is discovering the wider world off her island - and they are discovering her.
While I enjoyed rereading this, I think the split romance detracts from my enjoyment as I'm really only fond of one of the two romances, and am constantly annoyed when their chapter ends.

This book forms the third in Sharon Shinn's Samaria trilogy, being preceeded by Archangel and Jovah's Angel. I still think Archangel is the best of the set, though The Alleluia Files is a fairly decent book.

The Alleluia Files again contains many trappings of romance, though there are two romances this time, and consequently neither is as well developed as previous books'. For me, the one in Archangel is still my favorite, which I realized is probably because of the way Shinn weaves music throughout the romance and the rest of the book. It's still a very important part of this book, but not to the same degree as in Archangel.

I'm afraid I'll have to do the majority of my discussion of the book below a spoiler warning, since I don't want to spoil either this or Archangel for those that have not read them.

Spoilers below.

The development of technology in The Alleluia Files doesn't feel to me to be completely believable, but Shinn mostly paints it in broad brushes, leaving plenty of room for readers to supply their own details.

Mostly, I continued reading to see how the story developed; to see what would happen. I did enjoy following the characters, hoping they would be okay and wondering how the world would take the truth of Jehova, but I was more enraptured by the sheer tension of not knowing how the story of Archangel would turn. I suppose I'm committing the error of not letting a book stand on its own merits, instead comparing it to preceeding works, but for me, Archangel very much overshadows The Alleluia Files. Well, it's still a good read.

One thing did bother me, though. An earlier book claimed that Samaria was uninhabitable by humans in its normal state, and only unceasing care by Jehova kept it livable, with the Gloria serving as a renewal of its instructions. In that explanation, the thunderbolts that would fall to destroy mountains and cities were natural features of the planet that had to be counteracted by human (well, angel) intervention. For this book, that somehow turned into Jehova using the Gloria as a metric for the harmony of people, counting their presence on the Plain of Sharon by their Kisses, and firing its weapons on the people if they didn't behave properly. There are problems with each explanation, of course, but it's very disconcerting to have such inconsistencies between books.

I really enjoyed this one. Here the culture of the world expands, introducing groups who do not follow the common religious group. The characters in this one are quite fun as well. ( )