Shinn, Sharon Books

Fortune and Fate

Sharon Shinn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Sharon Shinn hasn't lost her spark 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Great action, magic, plausible love interest, incredible angst regarding a soldier's duty. In short, Ms. Shinn can still write a great novel. The only thing I didn't like was the switch to Senneth's point of view every few chapters, without warning. I realize the need for the background story, and the secret of Wen finally being disclosed. However, it seemed to disrupt the flow of Wen's story.

Editorial Review:

The compelling new novel in the national bestselling “superior fantasy series” (Publishers Weekly).

National bestselling author Sharon Shinn’s “lyrical and entertaining” (Kirkus Reviews) Twelve Houses books have captivated readers and critics alike with their irresistible cocktail of fantasy, romance, and adventure. Now Shinn returns with a new novel set in the same world, where a troubled Warrior Rider named Wen faces her greatest challenge in the last place she ever expected: behind the walls of a great family estate known as Fortune, where Wen has been hired to guard the young heiress. Once there, she will find that fate has other plans for her…

Archangel (Samaria, Book 1)

Sharon Shinn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 139 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Painful 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Gabriel, a future Archangel, has been told the name of his bride. He is to go to where she is enslaved, bring her home, and marry. Rachel, his intended, is not crazy about the idea but concedes. This is the basic plot in ARCHANGEL.

Miss Shinn does a great job building her world in which the book is set, but I found myself offended with some of her liberties. Setting that aside, I focused on the characters. Rachel and Gabriel were annoying and as easy to embrace as a cactus. They fought throughout the entire book and were constantly finding reasons to be apart from each other. As much as I tried, I never reached a point where anything about them endeared them to me.

Editorial Review:

Set in a society founded as an egalitarian utopia but now tainted with vices and inequity, Sharon Shinn's love story is plotty and calamitous. Rachel and Gabriel have nothing in common beyond wishing that the god Jovah had ordained they wed other people, yet they must cooperate in singing a mass to the god on the occasion of Gabriel's elevation to Archangel. Upright Gabriel has enemies among both mortal and angelic peoples who prefer to risk world destruction over his restoration of the old order.

Mystic and Rider (The Twelve Houses, Book 1)

Sharon Shinn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Enjoyable characters, but not much to remember 3 out of 5 stars.
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This is a so-so book, although Shinn's writing is fluid and easy to read. The characters are engaging, and I cared what happened to them. The backstory of the world was mildly interesting, although Shinn could have invested a big more there.

The magic system felt weak to me. It isn't clear (for example) what keeps "shiftlings" from simply transforming the enemies weapons into something harmless, or for that matter the "moonstones" into something harmless. (To be fair, I think a sympathetic reader can overlook things like these, but it would be nice to get some kind of explanation into the text.)

The relationships between lords and their vassals seem highly idealized and not very plausible for an agrarian economy. Shinn has transported twentieth century ideas into a (nominally) medieval setting in a manner all-to-familiar in the fantasy genre.

Nor is the story particularly interesting. We start out with a quest to find out the state of the southern provinces. We learn quickly that the state is "not good", and the rest of the book basically confirms that without adding much. The real story is the changing relationship between the characters. This is fairly well done, but the result is essentially a fantasy romance with a weak plot.

Despite all that, I enjoyed it, but... there isn't much to think about when the book is done. I struggled with how many stars to give, because I enjoy Shinn's writing, but I don't think I can justify more than three.

Editorial Review:

Award-winning author Sharon Shinn has been hailed as "the most promising and original writer of fantasy to come along since Robin McKinley" by Peter S. Beagle. Now, she weaves a new world wrought with magic and mayhem, in which the fate of a troubled land may rest in the hands of those few who would remain loyal to their king-and each other.

The Truth-Teller's Tale (Firebird)

Sharon Shinn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Lived Happily Ever After 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book is good for kids that like a story that follows the same plot line as the traditional fairy tale with a few twists. Happy endings all around, and mixed up identities told in a way that isn't too funny that it destroys the tale, but makes it interesting. This is different than the first book (the Safe-Keeper's Secret), but has more characters and depth to the story, making it a much better book than the first.

Editorial Review:

Innkeeper’s daughters Adele and Eleda are "mirror twins"—identical twins whose looks are reflections of each other’s—and their special talents are like mirrors, too. Adele is a Safe-Keeper, entrusted with hearing and never revealing others’ secrets; Eleda is a Truth-Teller, who cannot tell a lie when asked a direct question. The town of Merendon relies on the twins, no one more than their best friend, Roelynn Karro, whose strict, wealthy father is determined to marry her off to the prince. When the girls are seventeen, a handsome dancing-master and his apprentice come to stay at the inn, and thus begins a chain of romance, mistaken identity, and some very surprising truths and falsehoods.

The Safe-Keeper's Secret (Firebird)

Sharon Shinn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A Tale of Two Children 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 11 people found this review helpful.

The Safe-Keeper's Secret (2004) is a standalone fantasy novel. One night, the King's own Safe-Keeper came riding through Tambleham, stopping at the Safe-Keeper's house on the other side. There he left a baby and a secret.

Safe-Keepers exist only to keep secrets, some for just a short while and others for all eternity. Conversely, Truth-Tellers exist only to relate the literal truth. Dream-Makers exist to fulfill wishes through their magic, but cannot control the gift.

In this novel, Elminstra the herb witch comes to the Safe-Keeper's house early the next morning with food and milk. She knocks on the door, calling out to the two sisters, then pushes it open after no one responds. Angeline comes to answer the knocking with a child in each arm, telling Elminstra that the girl is her sister's newborn and the boy has been left in their care.

Angeline is the Safe-Keeper for Lowford. She has come to help deliver the child of her sister Damiana, the Safe-Keeper for Tambleham. Damiana will raise the two children as if they are both her own, although the whole village knows that only one is hers. In fact, everybody else thinks that Reed is the illegitimate son of the King.

Reed and Fiona grow up as if they were twins. They even look alike. But Reed is full of energy, while Fiona is much more sedate. She remains calm even when Reed brings in a snake to show her and even looks for a box to keep it in for a pet. Yet Fiona always goes out to see any new thing that Reed finds in his roaming.

Reed isn't sure what he wants to be, but he is willing to try anything once. Fiona has always known that she will be a Safe-Keeper like her mother and grandmother. Thomas the Truth-Teller tries to tell Fiona that she will not follow in her mother's footsteps and she hates him for it. Like most people, she seems to hate disagreeable truths.

Fiona and Reed love the annual gathering in Damiana's house. Angeline and Thomas always come, as does Isodora the Dream-Maker. They make wreathes to burn on a great bonfire in the front yard and cook feasts to devour until they are all sated.

In this story, Fiona and Reed live together with Damiana as their mother until death takes Damiana away. Then Elminstra insists on her granddaughter Allison moving in with Fiona, even though Reed is away learning new trades much of the time. Every time he returns, Fiona feels like a missing part of her life is now
filled.

This story is without adventure, has very little suspense and almost no conflict. Deaths occur, but only Damiana's passing is dwelled upon and, even then, only for its affect on Fiona. This story is mostly about the growth and development of two children and their relationships with older friends. Nevertheless, it is a deeply satisfying story with a very moving conclusion.

This story is very much a fantasy without any chance of being mistaken for reality. Yet one can only wish that it were true. Some things should be real, even if only for a little while.

Highly recommended for Shinn fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of loving relationships and surprise endings.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Editorial Review:

Damiana is Safe-Keeper in the small village of Tambleham. Neighbors and strangers alike come one by one, in secret, to tell her things, knowing that Damiana will keep them to herself. One night, a mysterious visitor arrives with an unusual secret— a newborn baby. Damiana names him Reed and raises him side by side with her baby daughter, Fiona. As the years pass and the two children come of age, they must come to terms with who they are—and who they may be. The Safe-Keeper’s Secret is the first of a satisfying, beguiling trilogy.

The Thirteenth House (The Twelve Houses, Book 2)

Sharon Shinn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Publishers Weekly Review: 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The shape-shifter Kirra aids in the rescue of Lord Romar Brendyn, kidnapped by the minor lords before she returns to her home where she learns that her half-sister Casserah has been appointed heir to House Danalustrous. Restless Kirra needs a break at the start of bestseller Shinn's outstanding second novel in her Twelve Houses series (after 2004's Mystic and Rider). Kirra's younger sister, Casserah, provides her one. The newly titled Casserah is supposed to appear at the summer parties thrown by major lords of Gillengaria, but she could care less. Assuming Casserah's form, Kirra sets out on the social circuit in her stead to learn more about the nobles plotting to overthrow the king. Kirra finds herself falling in love with the already married Lord Romar, regent to the princess Amalies. Instead of taking the side of the ostensibly oppressed, Shinn dares to be a royalist, though not without sympathy to the underclasses. She brings back Kirra's companions from Mystic and Rider, adds several enjoyable new characters and paints their journey with a lyrical grace and deep appreciation of camaraderie reminiscent of Diane Duane at her best. I am also reminded of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series. Only the one-dimensional villain (always Shinn's weakest point) and the forehead-slapping stupidity of the infatuated lovers mar this superior fantasy series. (Mar.) --Staff (Reviewed January 9, 2006) (Publishers Weekly, vol 253, issue 2, p36)

Editorial Review:

After joining an unlikely band of soldiers and sorcerers to rescue the kidnapped regent Romar Brendan, the shiftling Kirra returns home to learn that her half-sister, Casserah, has been proclaimed heir to the land. But when Casserah refuses to go on a social tour of great Houses, Kirra shifts into her sister's form and makes the rounds-during which she unexpectedly encounters her former compatriots. The motley group of mystics and warriors faces many dangers-and Kirra places herself in peril when she falls in love with the married Lord Romar. Revealing her true identity to him, Kirra begins a tempestuous affair that places them both in mortal danger, and leads them both into the stronghold of the devious lords of the Thirteenth House...

Jovah's Angel (Samaria, Book 2)

Sharon Shinn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This is a standalone sequel to Archangel, set 150 years later in proverbially interesting times. Samaria is industrialized; the Manadavvi and Jansai are wealthier; the Edori are marginalized, their roaming lifestyle disrupted; and Jovah seems to be turning a deaf ear to his angels' prayers for abatement of increasingly destructive storms. In the midst of all this, Archangel Delilah is incapacitated and replaced by shy, unworldly Alleluia. Alleya must pacify the tribes, calm the weather, make Jovah hear her, forge a reconciliation with Delilah, and find her angelico in order to get married--there's a Gloria due in four months. Unfortunately, the tribes don't want to be pacified, the weather is uncooperative, Jovah is remote, crippled Delilah wants nothing to do with angels, and Alleya's mate is identified only as a "son of Jeremiah.&qupt; If you're stockpiling vacation reading and love a bit of romance (or Anne McCaffrey's writing!), pop Shinn's work in the pile.

Angelica (Samaria, Book 4)

Sharon Shinn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 37 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

In my opinion of the Samaria series, you should read this book first 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

There are two ways to read the Samaria series. The first is to read the books in the order they were written, which goes "Archangel", "Jovah's Angel", "The Alleluia files", "Angelica" and then "Angel-Seeker." If you read them this way then you will experience the inconvenience of reading two books which take place in the past from where the "Alleluia Files" leaves off. I recommend instead reading them in chronological order, "Angelica", "Archangel", "Angel-seeker", "Jovah's Angel" and then the "Alleluia Files." Basically, start with this book.

The planet of Samaria was colonized (from the start of this book) about 250 years before by people who claimed to have been carried to the planet in the hands of their god, called Jovah. To maintain order a race of winged people, angels, pray to the god with their amazing voices for everything from medicine (which falls from the sky) to changing the weather, to calling down a thunderbolt of destruction. Every year on the spring equinox, every race of the planet, from the gypsy almost Islamic Jansai, to the forever wandering Edori and the artisans, merchants and rich landowners must be represented and singing on a particular geographic spot to prove the world is in harmony or Jovah will destroy the world.

Every 20 years Jovah picks a new angel, an archangel to be in charge of things. As this book opens Gaaron is about to be installed in this role, but first he needs to find his angelica, the women he will wed and who will lead the holy mass to appease the god every year. And she happens to be an Edori, Susanna, unused to living within walls and away from her tribe. But domestic harmony is hardly the only problem to face because there is a mysterious string of fires that destroy all life, and disappearing men who seem to be bent on destroying the harmonious and defenseless culture of Samaria...

Like I said, you should start with this book because not only is it first chronologically but its one of the better written novels in the series, with a complete and complex plot and one of the more fulfilling romances (as Sharon Shinn can be a little dull in that department-suddenly and for no reason people fall in love. This book has something to back that up.) Also reading this first will make a little side comment made in "Archangel" seem amusing. And while the world built here is nowhere near as complicated as others in the genera (Pern for example) its simplicity makes it appealing.

Four stars.

Editorial Review:

Two hundred years ago, the god Jovah created a legion of land-dwelling angels, led by an appointed Archangel. Now, Jovah has a new appointee: Archangel Gaaron. For his life-mate, his Angelica, Jovah has chosen a woman named Susannah. Slowly, an unspoken affection develops between the two. But there is a terrible threat besetting the land--and the true hearts of Archangel and Angelica may never be known.

The Alleluia Files (Samaria, Book 3)

Sharon Shinn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This stand-alone sequel follows Sharon Stinn's other "Angel" books, Archangel and Jovah's Angel in a series reminiscent of Orson Scott Card's Homecoming in tone and structure. Shinn did some interesting world-building here, and The Alleluia Files takes a close look at the history, progress, and society of Samaria.

Samaria was colonized long ago as a religious utopia. An orbiting satellite doubles as a god; people have worshipped and succored it for centuries. A class system developed due to the existence of genetically engineered "angels" who can fly and communicate with the satellite by singing, and who often lord it over the regular folks.

Tamar is the child of rebellious cultists, raised in the heretical belief that Jovah isn't a god, but merely a technical device set up by ancestors long ago to control weather and events on Samaria. The rebel group is in retreat, with the Archangel Bael on a rampage to capture and kill off as many cultists as possible. Tamar is determined to avenge her friends and family, to free Samaria from the double stranglehold of angelic power and peoples' fear of the "god." Tamar meets Jared, an open-minded angel willing to help her on her quest, and the two disparate young people form an uneasy alliance.

Likable characters, a thoroughly realized setting, and a sense of discovery make The Alleluia Files an enjoyable science fiction tale. --Bonnie Bouman--

Angel-Seeker (Samaria, Book 5)

Sharon Shinn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Shows the Author's Ignorance 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

In the context of the US war in Iraq, I found this story about the Jansai reprehensible. I generally love Sharon Shinn, but I was appalled by this book. The Jansai are obviously based on the arab culture, and contain so many stereotypes I laughed out loud on several occasions. In Shinn's mind, there is NOTHING redeemable about the Jansai. This shows the ignorance of the author as well as the lack of complexity the book offers.

SPOILER ALERT: The end had me shaking my head in anger -- at the angels, who are supposedly the heroes. They barge into rooms and houses of women, who have never been seen by men, supposedly to "free" them. The arrogance and violence of this scene so starkly parallels what is going on in Iraq today -- well-intentioned people trying to "liberate" a culture, but doing it in a violent, clueless, ineffective fashion. Shinn unintentionally crafted a beautiful anti-war scene -- the "liberation" by the angels was almost as bad as rape for the Jansai women; they were unmistakenly violated.

That being said, the story is mostly well-crafted, and the romances are fairly entertaining. But had Shinn made the Jansai culture complex, truly mirroring our world, Angel Seeker would have actually been good.

Editorial Review:

The award-winning author returns to Samaria in this richly romantic tale that begins where Archangel left off. In that time, the women who craved the attention of angels were known as angel-seekers, a term used with awe by some--and scorn by others.