Sharon Shinn, author of the wildly brilliant and deceptively simple Archangel brings us back to the planet Samaria with her latest book, Jovah's Angel. The wonderful, almost Wizard of Oz quality of the cosmology is made further manifest here, in that the face of the "god" that watches over them all becomes visible to the readers and to one faithful angel.

If this doesn't make you shiver, go back and read Archangel -- it's worth it. If you do know what's going on, you know the beauty of the setup as is described on the back of Archangel: "Through science, faith, and force of will, the Harmonic [Christer]s carved out for themselves a society that they perceived as perfect. Diverse peoples held together by respect for each other and the prospect of swift punishment if their laws were disobeyed. Fertile land that embraced a variety of climates and seasons. Angels to guard the mortals, and mystics to guard the forbidden knowledge. Jehovah to watch over them all ..."

The human colony on Eleison, the canon reads, migrated to Samaria to escape war and persecution, destroyed all memory of the technological and historical past (all the way back to Earth, long forgotten save by the computer of the ship that brought them), and lived as simple, "god" fearing folk, united by their belief in the One God and the annual ritual of singing in harmony called the Gloria. It's a great concept, once one gets past the cloying Judaeo-Christianity of it. The concept of an angel presents such graphic possibilities (humans being shielded by angel wings as good, and the beating of renegade angel wings being bad providing some of the strongest imagery in the books), that Shinn is able to play with our popular perceptions of divinity to suggest rather than say in so many ways as to make it an enduring tapestry of science fiction lore -- a primitive society guarded and guided by technology millennia ahead of what exists now. It's almost ... familiar ...

The characterization in this book is phenomenal, even better than the limited scope of Archangel, which allowed fewer characters the spotlight. The newly designated archangel Alleluia crosses her fingers and freestyles her way to success, never sure of it until she gets there, and the reader is hanging on at every swoop and turn with her. The reader also will find themselves following the analytical mind of Caleb Augustus in looking behind the Wizard's curtain to see what's really there (which is heavily hinted at in Archangel but finally brought to light here). The wayward archangel Delilah, the lovestruck nomad Noah, the quietly patient Samuel ... all shine brilliantly in this pantheon of characters that make this snapshot of Samarian history brilliant, and a step above the already shining Archangel.

Is Shinn working on another installment? We can only hope so! (Suggestions being a prequel featuring the first Archangel Uriel, the exodus from Eleison, etc.) With work like this, Shinn is definitely on the road to being a highly spectacular sci-fi talent.