The Alleluia Files

Sharon Shinn 1998 Buy from Amazon.com

The Archangel Bael is hunting down Jacobites and performing tortures and executions on them to try and destroy the movement. They believe that Jovah is really a space ship called Jehovah, and that the Oracle Alleluia left files proving it.

Lucinda is an angel that was raised away from Samarian society, growing up on a small island called Angel Rock midway between the continents of Samaria and Ysral with her Aunt Gretchen. Tamar is a Jacobite, and has had the kiss installed as a means to disguise her as Jacobites don’t have their children implanted with them, but it is causing strange reactions. There is an old tie between these two that neither know about. Bael knows, and he will do anything to destroy Tamar and bring Lucinda to heel before things get out of hand. His tenure as Archangel is coming to an end and he is reluctant to part with it, hoping to install his human son as the consort of the next Archangel.

When the angel Jared hears of what is happening to the Jacobites, he is horrified that Bael would actually kill people. He sets himself to learn the truth about what is happening, and about the Jacobites, and soon meets Tamar. Despite his best efforts, she does not trust him, and fears for the safety of her friends.

This is a story about how people try to deal with the truth that their god is a machine, and how that will impact on their society. In their time on this planet, everyone has believed the evidence that their god watches them, that angels intercede on their behalf, and his power is manifest. Yet the society that they have created must be strong enough to survive the truth.

The characters in this novel are warm, passionate and committed to their various beliefs. It is easy to sympathise with them and hope for their survival in difficult circumstances.

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