A rec from a friend as One of Her Favorite Books With Music In It Ever
(as a swap upon/birthday sort of thing for gifting her/making her read Gayle Foreman's If I Stay and Where She Went)


I did not expect to love this book so much. (Which we've both said.) I was giggling in high heaven at Gabriel within the first two chapters and sending text updates about my reading the whole way, which I'm sure amused her. The music is covered gorgeously, but this book about a certain set of people, the world around them, it's fragile or unbreakable faith, and the groups of people which make up that land, and it managed to balance and weaves these all together in unexpected ways I deeply appreciated.

Gabriel and Rachel of course steal the show in all the ways that matter, Two amazing hard-headed, stubborn, amazingly deeply feeling and quickly acting people, who actually have massive morals and deceptive choices based on invisible, unknown, histories. And how they weave into the very first tales of the Archangel and the Angelica. And how the ending is truly just perfect for these characters, and made my heart so happy. The ending alone deserves a five. ( )

Gabriel, an angel, is in line to be the next archangel when he and his wife sing the Gloria at the upcoming annual celebration. The first problem is that, while Gabriel knows the name of his potential wife, he doesn't know where she is. He has only six weeks to find her before they have to sing together.

Rachel in a slave in Semorrah for five years. She was born a farm girl. When her farm was attacked, she was a small child whose body was sheltered by the dead body of her father. When the attackers finally left, Rachel ran until she was found by the Edori who adopted her and raised her. She found happiness and a young man to love. But then their encampment was attacked by Jansai raiders looking for slaves. Rachel was captured and sold and left wondering about the fate of the rest of her adopted family.

Gabriel is reluctant to give up his search for Rachel in order to attend a wedding in Semorrah but as the next archangel he needs to get along with the wealthy merchants. He is very surprised to find Rachel there. He takes her back to his mountain Eyrie to marry her and make sure that she's ready for their vocal performance.

Rachel isn't pleased with what she sees as Gabriel's high-handedness. She has been filled with rage at her situation for most of her life. She had just convinced a young woman to buy her as her servant and then free her when Gabriel swoops in and wrecks her life again. It doesn't help that Gabriel doesn't have time to spend with her to get to know her. He's busy trying to deal with the consequences of the current archangel's actions which have done nothing to keep that harmony that their god Jovah requires.

So, there is Rachel in the Eyrie where she is trapped since the only way to get to it is to be flown by an angel and she is deathly afraid of heights and suffers from vertigo while Gabriel is off meeting people. There is the jealous rival who has always wanted Gabriel and is doing her best to sabotage Rachel. And there are the music practice rooms where Rachel is introduced to recordings of the great angelic singers of the past. Rachel refuses to sing herself leaving major uncertainty about her ability to fulfill her role at the Gloria.

Then there is the villain of the piece in Archangel Raphael who has held his position for the previous twenty years and who doesn't want to yield power to Gabriel. But the more Gabriel looks into things, the more he sees what Raphael has neglected. Gabriel comes to believe that Raphael doesn't believe in Jovah and has convinced his supporters that Jovah is a myth. Raphael has encouraged greed and lawlessness and is ruining the harmony that Jovah requires.

This was a stunning story quite different than the book summary. It actually reads as a fantasy with some science fiction elements like screens to talk to Jovah used by the oracles and devices implanted in babies which let Jovah know about and keep track of the population. The current generations don't know about the history of their world or about the goals of the founders or the existence of a ship in space. There are winged angels and humans on the world. There is a god named Jovah who can be invoked by the singing prayers of the angels. Jovah can control the weather and sometimes sends down medicinal plants or necessary seeds. Jovah is their god.

I enjoyed this story which is the first of the Samaria series and look forward to rereading and listening to the rest. ( )

Gabriel, an angel, is in line to be the next archangel when he and his wife sing the Gloria at the upcoming annual celebration. The first problem is that, while Gabriel knows the name of his potential wife, he doesn't know where she is. He has only six weeks to find her before they have to sing together.

Rachel in a slave in Semorrah for five years. She was born a farm girl. When her farm was attacked, she was a small child whose body was sheltered by the dead body of her father. When the attackers finally left, Rachel ran until she was found by the Edori who adopted her and raised her. She found happiness and a young man to love. But then their encampment was attacked by Jansai raiders looking for slaves. Rachel was captured and sold and left wondering about the fate of the rest of her adopted family.

Gabriel is reluctant to give up his search for Rachel in order to attend a wedding in Semorrah but as the next archangel he needs to get along with the wealthy merchants. He is very surprised to find Rachel there. He takes her back to his mountain Eyrie to marry her and make sure that she's ready for their vocal performance.

Rachel isn't pleased with what she sees as Gabriel's high-handedness. She has been filled with rage at her situation for most of her life. She had just convinced a young woman to buy her as her servant and then free her when Gabriel swoops in and wrecks her life again. It doesn't help that Gabriel doesn't have time to spend with her to get to know her. He's busy trying to deal with the consequences of the current archangel's actions which have done nothing to keep that harmony that their god Jovah requires.

So, there is Rachel in the Eyrie where she is trapped since the only way to get to it is to be flown by an angel and she is deathly afraid of heights and suffers from vertigo while Gabriel is off meeting people. There is the jealous rival who has always wanted Gabriel and is doing her best to sabotage Rachel. And there are the music practice rooms where Rachel is introduced to recordings of the great angelic singers of the past. Rachel refuses to sing herself leaving major uncertainty about her ability to fulfill her role at the Gloria.

Then there is the villain of the piece in Archangel Raphael who has held his position for the previous twenty years and who doesn't want to yield power to Gabriel. But the more Gabriel looks into things, the more he sees what Raphael has neglected. Gabriel comes to believe that Raphael doesn't believe in Jovah and has convinced his supporters that Jovah is a myth. Raphael has encouraged greed and lawlessness and is ruining the harmony that Jovah requires.

This was a stunning story quite different than the book summary. It actually reads as a fantasy with some science fiction elements like screens to talk to Jovah used by the oracles and devices implanted in babies which let Jovah know about and keep track of the population. The current generations don't know about the history of their world or about the goals of the founders or the existence of a ship in space. There are winged angels and humans on the world. There is a god named Jovah who can be invoked by the singing prayers of the angels. Jovah can control the weather and sometimes sends down medicinal plants or necessary seeds. Jovah is their god.

I enjoyed this story which is the first of the Samaria series and look forward to rereading and listening to the rest. ( )

This novel takes place on an "ideal" planet. The religion is monotheist, with a hiarchy of angels who intercede for the people. The land is called
Samaria, the god is Jehovah or Yovah. The people have come to the time of crowning a new Archangel. His name is Gabriel, and he has been commanded by the god to marry a mortal woman named Rachael. First, however, he must find her. She has been a slave for five years and is not at all interested in becoming Angelica. ( )

After seeing this book at a used book store a year ago, it was in my mind to read it. Finally, I got it from the library and read it. It's an odd book. It appears to be fantasy at first glance - it's about a world of angels and men, living on what appears to be earth, with many of the place names and people's names straight from the Bible. Everyone worships Jovah. There is really no technology, so people live as you might expect people to live in the middle ages.

There's something strange, though. A few whispers of some type of computer technology. Plus, my paperback copy says "a stunningly beautiful novel of a distant future" which clues me in that this might be science fiction rather than straight fantasy.

Okay, but who exactly is this Jovah that they worship? A God or something technological?

I was waiting to read the second book to find out the answers. Unfortunately, there's a big spoiler on the front page of my paperback explaining the back story. No! Don't do that! If I had a first edition, that spoiler wouldn't exist. At least I didn't read it until after I finished the book.

So, yes, I may read the second book anyway. I find this world intriguing and would like to know more about the interaction of the god, the angels, and mankind. ( )