Don't read this if you're a Tepper virgin. I've read it four times and still don't quite get it. I'm just having trouble actually picturing certain characters and aspects of it. Not that Tepper's unclear, she just... Look, just read it and find out for yourself. It's still my fave Tepper novel and I will read it again. ( )

"A slow start, a good middle, an ending that wasn't totally satisfying" is the way I'd sum up this book. ( )

While I eventually enjoyed this story a great deal, it took a long time to get started.

The plot of this book is complicated enough that I don't think I can summarize it without giving away important parts, so I'm not going to try.

Tepper is a good storyteller, but as frequently happens in her novels, this story gets buried behind the message. Even though I agree with her ideas of environmental responsibility and women's rights I think she's sometimes irritatingly preachy. In A Plague of Angels, this tendency shows itself the most in the chapters set in Artemisia, a land of peace and plenty where men and women have broken out of the old patterns of sexuality and patriarchal rule and are therefore able to live as equals.

Overall, I'd say that A Plague of Angels is worth reading, but only buy it if you already know that you like Tepper's style. ( )