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lottpoet's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
hornyforbooks's review
5.0
Queer Angels, AIs without gender and a date between Satan and an Inquisitor. How could you possibly go wrong with this gorgeous novel by Lyda Morehouse?
crowcaller's review
5.0
I picked up the first book because it was 3$ and looked silly, and it turned out okay. I do love angels, though, so I went ahead and bought the second book since it was in stock.
Really, really glad I did. This book is 100% better than the first, and just stunningly good... compared to the last, but it is also quite good in general. While I was reading, I kept telling everyone about how stunned I was at the quality.
In a nearly stand alone story, three protags narrate a strange story of the future. The devil is trying to determine if an AI is the antichrist, while a papal police lady seeks to discover if that AI has a soul. Later, a partly robotic girl in a polka band has her cult following get a little out of hand.
I would love to try and break this down into sections, and organize myself a little if I can.
SETTING:
A great thing about this book is that it is way easier to follow. Archangel protocol had many confusing moments, as well as several action scenes that were hard to keep track of and broke the flow of the story. Fallen Host is a lot simpler. The LINK and the actual world are a lot simpler to imagine and make sense of, especially since in the last book we saw near nothing of the LINK, a location deathly important to the presence.
The LINK was still a bit confusing, being a mix of real world everything but a couple internet based 2D elements as well. Message boards, but also 3D marketplaces.
CHARACTERS:
Boy! I had a good time. I was expecting to have at least one of them drag, most likely the human police gal, but to my surprise none of the three viewpoints get too boring. Each had their own story to follow that was of some interest. By the end, actually, the least interesting one was probably Morningstar, who started as one of the more interesting guys.
Morningstar is the devil, and is fairly fun to follow, if only because he gets to interact with angels and demons.
Page is my favorite, everyone's favorite. We all love Mouse. Mouse is love. Page is similar to Mouse, but their differences are fascinating. I love having a computer program viewpoint, and all his strange thoughts.
Emmaline is the police. She doesn't lead a very unique life compared to the other two, being again a police main character who sleeps with a supernatural one at some part in the story, but I like her more than Deidre. She has more quirks to her, from VR sculpting to an extensive love of opera. Oh, and ties to the mafia.
Mai gets a mention. I loved her. She was ridiculous, and at her first appearance, I didn't believe she would become a main character. But she did, and I loved her naive personality and sheltered approach to things.
PLOT:
MAN. What a ridiculous plot to summarize. But still, better than last book, and fun to follow. I wanted to know what was going to happen, and generally, nearly everything that happened delighted me. It got a bit hairy at the very end, but the questions asked were good and the plot itself was just... good.
SPECIAL MENTION:
The diversity in these books, and open mindedness, continues to delight me. But again, I keep thinking these were written in the 80s. Something about the vision of the future gives me an 80s vibe.
I like that our main love interests in BOTH books can be considered bi, which is rare for a hetero love story. I like that the angels don't have a real concept of gender/sexuality either, and that God is described with many pronouns, including the gender neutral 'they'. Urial/Ariel, as I thought, is confirmed to most likely be trans, but even if they are just a crossdresser, it is still a unique thing.
Page is genderless, and fluid in his presentation. Neat.
Non white characters also continue to show up and exist, nicely.
The treatment of religion in this book is really great too. I don't really care for religion all that much, but the way this book approaches every major religion and sort of acts like they're facets of one is very neat. It is also quite respectful of the different faiths, and well researched.
Really, really glad I did. This book is 100% better than the first, and just stunningly good... compared to the last, but it is also quite good in general. While I was reading, I kept telling everyone about how stunned I was at the quality.
In a nearly stand alone story, three protags narrate a strange story of the future. The devil is trying to determine if an AI is the antichrist, while a papal police lady seeks to discover if that AI has a soul. Later, a partly robotic girl in a polka band has her cult following get a little out of hand.
I would love to try and break this down into sections, and organize myself a little if I can.
SETTING:
A great thing about this book is that it is way easier to follow. Archangel protocol had many confusing moments, as well as several action scenes that were hard to keep track of and broke the flow of the story. Fallen Host is a lot simpler. The LINK and the actual world are a lot simpler to imagine and make sense of, especially since in the last book we saw near nothing of the LINK, a location deathly important to the presence.
The LINK was still a bit confusing, being a mix of real world everything but a couple internet based 2D elements as well. Message boards, but also 3D marketplaces.
CHARACTERS:
Boy! I had a good time. I was expecting to have at least one of them drag, most likely the human police gal, but to my surprise none of the three viewpoints get too boring. Each had their own story to follow that was of some interest. By the end, actually, the least interesting one was probably Morningstar, who started as one of the more interesting guys.
Morningstar is the devil, and is fairly fun to follow, if only because he gets to interact with angels and demons.
Page is my favorite, everyone's favorite. We all love Mouse. Mouse is love. Page is similar to Mouse, but their differences are fascinating. I love having a computer program viewpoint, and all his strange thoughts.
Emmaline is the police. She doesn't lead a very unique life compared to the other two, being again a police main character who sleeps with a supernatural one at some part in the story, but I like her more than Deidre. She has more quirks to her, from VR sculpting to an extensive love of opera. Oh, and ties to the mafia.
Mai gets a mention. I loved her. She was ridiculous, and at her first appearance, I didn't believe she would become a main character. But she did, and I loved her naive personality and sheltered approach to things.
PLOT:
MAN. What a ridiculous plot to summarize. But still, better than last book, and fun to follow. I wanted to know what was going to happen, and generally, nearly everything that happened delighted me. It got a bit hairy at the very end, but the questions asked were good and the plot itself was just... good.
SPECIAL MENTION:
The diversity in these books, and open mindedness, continues to delight me. But again, I keep thinking these were written in the 80s. Something about the vision of the future gives me an 80s vibe.
I like that our main love interests in BOTH books can be considered bi, which is rare for a hetero love story. I like that the angels don't have a real concept of gender/sexuality either, and that God is described with many pronouns, including the gender neutral 'they'. Urial/Ariel, as I thought, is confirmed to most likely be trans, but even if they are just a crossdresser, it is still a unique thing.
Page is genderless, and fluid in his presentation. Neat.
Non white characters also continue to show up and exist, nicely.
The treatment of religion in this book is really great too. I don't really care for religion all that much, but the way this book approaches every major religion and sort of acts like they're facets of one is very neat. It is also quite respectful of the different faiths, and well researched.
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