Lyda Morehouse

[bibliogramma]

I read the first book of Lyda Morehouse's Archangel series quite some months ago, and was enthralled by it. After much waiting for the second, third and fourth books in the series to arrive on my doorstep, I finished reading the series last week:

Archangel Protocol
Fallen Host
Messiah Node
Apocalypse Array

Religious cyberpunk rules. Angels (real and counterfeit), devils (or, if you prefer, fallen angels), AIs, hackers, redemption, faith and destiny - Morehouse deals with all of these issues skilfully in the context of a very carefully constructed future. This is good reading.

Morehouse does a particularly excellent job in developing complex and memorable characters, be they angelic, human or AI.

And Morehouse has, I believe, succeeded where Milton failed - Satan, while still a sympathetic character, does not make you want to chuck all this nonsense about following the good and worship at his feet instead. He doesn't come across as the noble wronged one, which is pretty much what you get from Paradise Lost. You can sympathise, but at the same time, understand why he is the Adversary.