Customer Reviews

Archangel Protocol

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If for some unfathomable reason William Gibson and Andrew Greeley co-wrote a book and took a few plot suggestions from Nora Roberts, that book might have turned out like Archangel Protocol. There is a dark dis-utopian future. Government is a Theocracy. Citizenship is controlled by access to a cyber world called the Link. The Link may be haunted by Angels. The hero is an excommunicated Irish Catholic Cop with good soul and lost faith. There are a whole flock of ethnically diverse Angels who use multiple and revolving pronouns when they talk about God. To top everything off there is a nice romantic subplot.

None of this should work together, but it does. Wonderfully. Morehouse has woven all these elements with a deft hand. This is a novel where the action never stops, but at the same time she has characters who are more than cardboard and even tosses in some ideas for you to think about.

As I neared the end of the book I found my self in the reader's dilemma of wanting to read slowly so it would last longer and at the same time unable to slow down because I wanted to see how it was going to end. I definitely am putting Morehouse on my list of authors to watch for.

It's been a long time since a book has kept me up half the night, but Archangel Protocol succeeded. It is an intriguing mix of religion and technology. In this post-apocalyptic world, the end of the old order came with the Medusa bomb. The effects of this bomb were so horrific that the nations turned against secular humanism, preceived as the philosophy that allowed this science to flourish. The new governments required that each person have a declared established religion in order to be a citizen and to be connected to the commerce and information web of the LINK. One of the harshest punishments is to be deprived of this connection, which is implanted at birth (if the individual is born under comfortable circumstances). The have-nots in this case are a combination of dissenters, criminals and the desperately poor.

Deirdre, the viewpoint character, was a police officer. Now she is an excommunicate private detective eking out a bare existence doing work for barter. The story is told in first person so the reader begins as cut off from information about the current state of the culture as Deirdre is. As the story unfolds, Deirdre meets a cop named Michael who asks her to become involved in a risky investigation.

Deirdre already has her own risky connections though with the leader of a Jewish terrorist cell and Mouse, the owner of mouse.net, an illicit version of LINK that is available to the disenfrancised. Mouse is also the programmer of Page, an Artificial Intelligence that is one of the two recognized as closest to humanity. Page operates as Mouse's presense online hence the name-- as in Home Page.

Sly humor, fast paced action and the ability to convey suspence make this book one of the best reads I've had in Science Fiction this year.

Archangel Protocol is a fast fun read. CyberPunk with a sense of humor, the book starts when detective Deidre McMannus is asked to take a new case. Her prospective client has the name of an angel, looks to die for, and a profession that makes Deidre very nervous. He's a cop. A former officer herself, Deidre hasn't had the best relations with her fellows since a scandal involving her partner cost her her badge, her faith, and her access to the LINK -- the computer system that runs the world. Since a person can't even buy a cup of coffee legally without the LINK, she's been living on the fringes of the law ever since. Now, maybe, just maybe she has a chance to get some of her own back. A world divided into theocracies, a murdered Pope, and a senator who seems to be God's own choice for the next U.S. president add spice to the mix. Pick up a copy, put up your feet, and settle in for a good story.

Archangel Protocol is a fast-paced, science fiction fantasy hybrid with a noir cyberpunk flavor. Because it touches on so many genres and sub genres, as well as the subject of the fate of humanity, there really is something for everyone in this book.

Lyda Morehouse has developed a cast of wonderfully believable and fascinating characters, complete with goals, dreams, and, most importantly, flaws. Unlike some books with many key characters, the protagonist is well developed and likable, rather than simply relying on those in supporting roles to inspire interest and sympathy.

The world has a complex history and political system, all of which have been built without an excess of techno garbage usually associated with cyberpunk. The new and unfamiliar is explained smoothly and succinctly, keeping the story from getting bogged down in definitions and description. The pace of the story complements the rapidly unfolding plot, making it an extremely tough book to put down.

There are moments of beautiful imagery, giving the reader a vision of this future world and the people who live within it. It is a world which I hope to be able to visit again, and I strongly look forward to reading this author's next book.

Okay, comparing it to "Left Behind" is a little unfair, as "Archangel Protocol" is way, WAY better written. But for those who enjoy unusual takes on religious ideas, this book rocks. The angels in this novel would not make good models for dewey-eyed Precious Moments figurines...to put it mildly. The story is told with a biting sense of humor; the heroine is tough, funny, and engaging. Read it; this book is well worth your time.

This book rates a five for concept, a one for integration. The writing is about average, so everything works out to a three. Morehouse has some very interesting ideas, but the book reads like a second or third draft, where various bits have been added to make the plot flow, or make better sense, but haven't been very well integrated yet. For instance, the disjunction between the heroine's continual doubts about what is going on and the author's rather heavy-handed foreshadowing/intimation becomes tiresome. Little riffs on human enhancement, apparently to make the angels appear more human and therefore support the heroine's doubts, read like afterthoughts. All in all, interesting, almost worth a read, and certainly worth a more careful edit. And just a note to the number one reviewer--it is a Medusa bomb, not a Plasma bomb.

This was a great read! Very fast paced. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend.

The world that Ms. Morehouse has created is so vivid you feel like you could step right in. What's scary is that we're not that far away from a "LINKED" world like the one in Archangel Protocol.

This book is going onto my "keeper" shelve. Great job Ms. Morehouse, I can't wait to read your next book.

In a world swamped in elves, dragons, and Robert Jordan knock-offs, Morehouse has actually managed to deliver us a refreshingly original concept, and do it with skill.

In what could have quickly degenerated into a gimmick book (cool toys, superpowers), the author holds tight onto the human element in all her characters (even the inhuman ones!), giving the reader a rich experience of the world she's created and the thrilling story she's constructed. Great first book.

In the near future, mankind invents a weapon of mass destruction, the Plasma Bomb that turns anything organic within its wide range into glass. For instance, two decades after such an explosion, The Bronx remains a contaminated zone. Science has lost its lofty esteem with religion taking over the high rung among Americans, as the country has become a theocracy with everyone belonging to a church.

Most people are also hooked up to the LINK, an interactive computer implanted inside the human brain. Deirdre, a former cop, is disconnected from the LINK because the Pope excommunicated her, but she still knows about the mysterious LINK Angels. Agents of the Church and the government believe they are real and signify the Second Coming. Deirdre believes they are a fake, but even she feels shaken when the Archangel Michael visits her office to request her help.

Lydia Morehouse delivers a blunt message in her debut novel ARCHANGEL PROTOCOL that the Internet is a form of an addicting high no different than alcohol or drugs. The future is bleak and repressive in an Orwellian-like society. The repartee between Michael and Morningstar (Lucifer) is fascinating, but the mortal Deirdre owns the show as she adapts to angels visiting her (after the initial shock passes). This science fiction novel will keep readers glued to the very end, but keep a religious artifact like a crucifix or a Star of David handy.

Harriet Klausner

I just finished this book, and I found it enjoyable and thought provoking. You can focus on the technological aspect -- false on-line identities, what some of the consequences of having a network connection directly to the brain might be -- or the religious aspect -- the nature of god, His/Her/Their relationship with humanity.

I appreciated that the book could handle these subjects and not have any easy answers; and at the same time, the plot of the story is an engaging adventure story that moves at a good pace without getting bogged down to get a religious or technological point across.

An enjoyable read.