She is one of my very first autobuy/DIK authors, and the one who firmly entrenched my love of fantasy.

I re-read this as often as I do Pride and Prejudice!

One of our hopes in doing -Sharon Shinn week- ? was to tempt people into picking up her books, so it's good to hear that, Rosario.

Well, you’ve certainly tempted me! I read Archangel this weekend and was totally blown away :-)

We’ll be reviewing a couple of the later ones this week. :-)

I love this book; I think it was one of my earlier DIK’s for AAR, and I’ve re-read it a bunch of times since then. I’m looking forward to your interview!

I enjoyed your AAR review and I hope you enjoy the interview.

What was interesting to me about the book was the aspect of faith. In some ways I thought the book was almost like an inspirational – but a more thoughtful one. Of course, when you go on to read the rest of the series, it becomes clear that what is happening is much more complex, but the author still uplifts belief, ceremony, and observance in Archangel. Interesting. And exhilerating.

I didn’t think of Archangel as similar to an inspirational because I didn’t find it preachy, and because the Samarian faith, though similar in some ways to Judaism and Christianity, was different from them in other ways. But I very much liked that Shinn showed that the characters’ faith was important to them. I thought it added another dimension to the characters.

In some romances, it feels like what is most important to the characters is their romantic feelings. In this book, romantic feelings are very important but so are other things, like faith and social justice. I thought that this made the romance more romantic, because it showed that the characters were people with full lives and that made everything about them, including their romantic feelings, feel more real.

And I love Rachel’s little house at the end. I love that she has somewhere to go to be herself and rest and get away from everyone. Even though I totally bought into the HEA between Gabriel and Rachel, it’s clear that their relationship will never be easy. I loved that he had to walk up the hill and humble himself to reconcile with her. Gabriel is such a proud character and has reason to be, but I think Rachel will keep him humble.

I love the house and Gabriel’s walk up to it also. That ending was terribly romantic.

What was interesting to me about the book was the aspect of faith. In some ways I thought the book was almost like an inspirational – but a more thoughtful one. Of course, when you go on to read the rest of the series, it becomes clear that what is happening is much more complex, but the author still uplifts belief, ceremony, and observance in Archangel. Interesting. And exhilerating.

And I love Rachel’s little house at the end. I love that she has somewhere to go to be herself and rest and get away from everyone. Even though I totally bought into the HEA between Gabriel and Rachel, it’s clear that their relationship will never be easy. I loved that he had to walk up the hill and humble himself to reconcile with her. Gabriel is such a proud character and has reason to be, but I think Rachel will keep him humble.

Great book!

the way Shinn developed the relationship between Gabriel and Rachel felt more romantic to me -" in the grand sense -" than more than a few relationships I've read in Romance.

I feel the same way.

Maybe it's because I didn't go into the book expecting that they would end up falling in love, or maybe it was just the way Shinn built the tension between the two, but the way she used the theme of harmony worked really well for me. Because in the end, it wasn't about Rachel and Gabriel singing the same notes, but rather that they blended together such that the unity of their voices seemed greater than the mere joining of individual notes. Their relationship felt the same to me, and I really loved how Shinn could focus on their feelings for one another while still fleshing out the larger project of Samaria and its various issues, problems, and priorities.

The theme of harmony plays a big role in the other books in this series as well, although some of the relationships in the later books are quieter. I think it works very well both on the level of harmony between the different people that make up the society of Samaria and on the level of harmony within a romantic relationship.

One of our hopes in doing “Sharon Shinn week” was to tempt people into picking up her books, so it’s good to hear that, Rosario. :) Also nice to find another fan of Heart of Gold.

I loved the one Shinn book that I read, Heart of Gold (Keishon, didn't we both read it for the group read?),

Yes, I remember. I think I was the only one that didn’t like it :-(

Although I’m not sure how well it would go over with a lot of Romance readers, for some reason, the way Shinn developed the relationship between Gabriel and Rachel felt more romantic to me — in the grand sense — than more than a few relationships I’ve read in Romance. Maybe it’s because I didn’t go into the book expecting that they would end up falling in love, or maybe it was just the way Shinn built the tension between the two, but the way she used the theme of harmony worked really well for me. Because in the end, it wasn’t about Rachel and Gabriel singing the same notes, but rather that they blended together such that the unity of their voices seemed greater than the mere joining of individual notes. Their relationship felt the same to me, and I really loved how Shinn could focus on their feelings for one another while still fleshing out the larger project of Samaria and its various issues, problems, and priorities.

Yes, Dark Moon Defender is coming out today. It’s the third book in Shinn’s Twelve Houses series. I am really looking forward to reading it. I liked Heart of Gold very much, although it took a long time for the hero and heroine to meet. I’m glad to hear that you liked Archangel, Keishon.

I hope you enjoy the book, Dance.

I agree, and yes, that is the correct title. A very interesting book.