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LINK Angel #2
Fallen Host
In the sequel to Archangel Protocol, three unlikely participants--an A.I. who dreams of Mecca, a warrior of God confronting temptation, and a fallen angel searching for his true destiny--embark on a race to discover their own personal truths in the light of the impending Second Coming. Original.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 2002
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160 people want to read
About the author
Lyda Morehouse
21 books60 followersLyda Morehouse writes about what gets most people in trouble: religion and politics. Her first novel Archangel Protocol, a cyberpunk hard-boiled detective novel with a romantic twist, won the 2001 Shamus for best paperback original. Apocalypse Array was awarded the Special Citation of Excellence (aka 2nd place) for the Philip K. Dick award.
This author also writes paranormal under the name Tate Hallaway.
This author also writes paranormal under the name Tate Hallaway.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 22, 2018
I picked up the first book because it was 3$ and looked silly, and it turned out okay. I do love angels, though, so I went ahead and bought the second book since it was in stock.
Really, really glad I did. This book is 100% better than the first, and just stunningly good... compared to the last, but it is also quite good in general. While I was reading, I kept telling everyone about how stunned I was at the quality.
In a nearly stand alone story, three protags narrate a strange story of the future. The devil is trying to determine if an AI is the antichrist, while a papal police lady seeks to discover if that AI has a soul. Later, a partly robotic girl in a polka band has her cult following get a little out of hand.
I would love to try and break this down into sections, and organize myself a little if I can.
SETTING:
A great thing about this book is that it is way easier to follow. Archangel protocol had many confusing moments, as well as several action scenes that were hard to keep track of and broke the flow of the story. Fallen Host is a lot simpler. The LINK and the actual world are a lot simpler to imagine and make sense of, especially since in the last book we saw near nothing of the LINK, a location deathly important to the presence.
The LINK was still a bit confusing, being a mix of real world everything but a couple internet based 2D elements as well. Message boards, but also 3D marketplaces.
CHARACTERS:
Boy! I had a good time. I was expecting to have at least one of them drag, most likely the human police gal, but to my surprise none of the three viewpoints get too boring. Each had their own story to follow that was of some interest. By the end, actually, the least interesting one was probably Morningstar, who started as one of the more interesting guys.
Morningstar is the devil, and is fairly fun to follow, if only because he gets to interact with angels and demons.
Page is my favorite, everyone's favorite. We all love Mouse. Mouse is love. Page is similar to Mouse, but their differences are fascinating. I love having a computer program viewpoint, and all his strange thoughts.
Emmaline is the police. She doesn't lead a very unique life compared to the other two, being again a police main character who sleeps with a supernatural one at some part in the story, but I like her more than Deidre. She has more quirks to her, from VR sculpting to an extensive love of opera. Oh, and ties to the mafia.
Mai gets a mention. I loved her. She was ridiculous, and at her first appearance, I didn't believe she would become a main character. But she did, and I loved her naive personality and sheltered approach to things.
PLOT:
MAN. What a ridiculous plot to summarize. But still, better than last book, and fun to follow. I wanted to know what was going to happen, and generally, nearly everything that happened delighted me. It got a bit hairy at the very end, but the questions asked were good and the plot itself was just... good.
SPECIAL MENTION:
The diversity in these books, and open mindedness, continues to delight me. But again, I keep thinking these were written in the 80s. Something about the vision of the future gives me an 80s vibe.
I like that our main love interests in BOTH books can be considered bi, which is rare for a hetero love story. I like that the angels don't have a real concept of gender/sexuality either, and that God is described with many pronouns, including the gender neutral 'they'. Urial/Ariel, as I thought, is confirmed to most likely be trans, but even if they are just a crossdresser, it is still a unique thing.
Page is genderless, and fluid in his presentation. Neat.
Non white characters also continue to show up and exist, nicely.
The treatment of religion in this book is really great too. I don't really care for religion all that much, but the way this book approaches every major religion and sort of acts like they're facets of one is very neat. It is also quite respectful of the different faiths, and well researched.
Really, really glad I did. This book is 100% better than the first, and just stunningly good... compared to the last, but it is also quite good in general. While I was reading, I kept telling everyone about how stunned I was at the quality.
In a nearly stand alone story, three protags narrate a strange story of the future. The devil is trying to determine if an AI is the antichrist, while a papal police lady seeks to discover if that AI has a soul. Later, a partly robotic girl in a polka band has her cult following get a little out of hand.
I would love to try and break this down into sections, and organize myself a little if I can.
SETTING:
A great thing about this book is that it is way easier to follow. Archangel protocol had many confusing moments, as well as several action scenes that were hard to keep track of and broke the flow of the story. Fallen Host is a lot simpler. The LINK and the actual world are a lot simpler to imagine and make sense of, especially since in the last book we saw near nothing of the LINK, a location deathly important to the presence.
The LINK was still a bit confusing, being a mix of real world everything but a couple internet based 2D elements as well. Message boards, but also 3D marketplaces.
CHARACTERS:
Boy! I had a good time. I was expecting to have at least one of them drag, most likely the human police gal, but to my surprise none of the three viewpoints get too boring. Each had their own story to follow that was of some interest. By the end, actually, the least interesting one was probably Morningstar, who started as one of the more interesting guys.
Morningstar is the devil, and is fairly fun to follow, if only because he gets to interact with angels and demons.
Page is my favorite, everyone's favorite. We all love Mouse. Mouse is love. Page is similar to Mouse, but their differences are fascinating. I love having a computer program viewpoint, and all his strange thoughts.
Emmaline is the police. She doesn't lead a very unique life compared to the other two, being again a police main character who sleeps with a supernatural one at some part in the story, but I like her more than Deidre. She has more quirks to her, from VR sculpting to an extensive love of opera. Oh, and ties to the mafia.
Mai gets a mention. I loved her. She was ridiculous, and at her first appearance, I didn't believe she would become a main character. But she did, and I loved her naive personality and sheltered approach to things.
PLOT:
MAN. What a ridiculous plot to summarize. But still, better than last book, and fun to follow. I wanted to know what was going to happen, and generally, nearly everything that happened delighted me. It got a bit hairy at the very end, but the questions asked were good and the plot itself was just... good.
SPECIAL MENTION:
The diversity in these books, and open mindedness, continues to delight me. But again, I keep thinking these were written in the 80s. Something about the vision of the future gives me an 80s vibe.
I like that our main love interests in BOTH books can be considered bi, which is rare for a hetero love story. I like that the angels don't have a real concept of gender/sexuality either, and that God is described with many pronouns, including the gender neutral 'they'. Urial/Ariel, as I thought, is confirmed to most likely be trans, but even if they are just a crossdresser, it is still a unique thing.
Page is genderless, and fluid in his presentation. Neat.
Non white characters also continue to show up and exist, nicely.
The treatment of religion in this book is really great too. I don't really care for religion all that much, but the way this book approaches every major religion and sort of acts like they're facets of one is very neat. It is also quite respectful of the different faiths, and well researched.
September 25, 2012
Before I even started reading this book I knew I was going to have trouble reviewing it. Not because there is anything wrong with it - in fact, it is a great book - but because it is so different from anything I've read before. (Well, except for Archangel Protocol which is the book before it in the series and that I read before I started doing these reviews.)
It is the latter half of the twenty-first century; after a catastrophic war in which a terror device called Medusa was unleashed, humanity has turned away from the sciences and virtually all governments are now theocracies. What we know as the Internet has become the LINK, an all invasive network that individuals can access through implanted hardware. Two fully sentient artificial intelligences traverse the LINK, as do angels. In Archangel Protocol, Deirdre McMannus exposed the LINK-angels as a high-tech fraud and met a real angel - the Archangel Michael, no less.
Fallen Host is told through the first person point of view of three main characters. Page is an AI created by the same computer genius who programmed the LINK-angels. After helping expose his "father" in the previous book, he is trying to make his own way on the LINK. A Muslim, he also dreams of visiting Mecca. Emmaline McNaughten is a Papal Inquisitor, a maverick who has been sent to discover if Page and the world's second AI, the Dragon of the East, have souls. The third main character has chosen to call himself Morningstar. He has been known through history by many names; the Fallen One, the Adversary, Iblis, Lucifer, Satan.
In the first chapter, Morningstar meets with Jibril, the Archangel Gabriel, who obliquely reveals that the End of Days are upon the world. That leaves Morningstar with a quest - to find the Antichrist. He believes this to be Page and attempts to contact and recruit the AI. Emmaline is also looking for Page and the three protaganist's stories soon become inextricably entwined. This book ends with this section of the story complete the scene set for the third book, Messiah Node.
I was a little dubious about this series. As a Christian, a Catholic in fact, I want my beliefs to be treated with respect in the books I choose to read. So long as that is the case, I am perfectly happy to explore an author's 'what ifs'. This is exactly what Lyda Morehouse has done. She has begun with the premise that the God of Judaism, Islam and Christianity does indeed exist as in the One True God. From there, she has explored how the Second Coming might happen in our own near future.
This is a work of fiction, sprung from a lot of research (she discusses her research in the FAQ on her website), scientific extrapolation and a great imagination. It is a science fiction story about religion, not a religious science fiction story. I enjoyed it immensely and I'm looking forward to fitting the next one into my packed reading schedule. However, the bad news is that Fallen Host is currently out of print, although the other three books in the series are readily available. I recommend starting the series with Archangel Protocol, although this isn't necessary to follow the story. And if you think you might like these books, go and find a copy of Fallen Host now, while there are still some around.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 25 September 2012]
It is the latter half of the twenty-first century; after a catastrophic war in which a terror device called Medusa was unleashed, humanity has turned away from the sciences and virtually all governments are now theocracies. What we know as the Internet has become the LINK, an all invasive network that individuals can access through implanted hardware. Two fully sentient artificial intelligences traverse the LINK, as do angels. In Archangel Protocol, Deirdre McMannus exposed the LINK-angels as a high-tech fraud and met a real angel - the Archangel Michael, no less.
Fallen Host is told through the first person point of view of three main characters. Page is an AI created by the same computer genius who programmed the LINK-angels. After helping expose his "father" in the previous book, he is trying to make his own way on the LINK. A Muslim, he also dreams of visiting Mecca. Emmaline McNaughten is a Papal Inquisitor, a maverick who has been sent to discover if Page and the world's second AI, the Dragon of the East, have souls. The third main character has chosen to call himself Morningstar. He has been known through history by many names; the Fallen One, the Adversary, Iblis, Lucifer, Satan.
In the first chapter, Morningstar meets with Jibril, the Archangel Gabriel, who obliquely reveals that the End of Days are upon the world. That leaves Morningstar with a quest - to find the Antichrist. He believes this to be Page and attempts to contact and recruit the AI. Emmaline is also looking for Page and the three protaganist's stories soon become inextricably entwined. This book ends with this section of the story complete the scene set for the third book, Messiah Node.
I was a little dubious about this series. As a Christian, a Catholic in fact, I want my beliefs to be treated with respect in the books I choose to read. So long as that is the case, I am perfectly happy to explore an author's 'what ifs'. This is exactly what Lyda Morehouse has done. She has begun with the premise that the God of Judaism, Islam and Christianity does indeed exist as in the One True God. From there, she has explored how the Second Coming might happen in our own near future.
This is a work of fiction, sprung from a lot of research (she discusses her research in the FAQ on her website), scientific extrapolation and a great imagination. It is a science fiction story about religion, not a religious science fiction story. I enjoyed it immensely and I'm looking forward to fitting the next one into my packed reading schedule. However, the bad news is that Fallen Host is currently out of print, although the other three books in the series are readily available. I recommend starting the series with Archangel Protocol, although this isn't necessary to follow the story. And if you think you might like these books, go and find a copy of Fallen Host now, while there are still some around.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 25 September 2012]
September 21, 2023
Oh, how do I love this book? Let me count the ways! Okay, let me not. But this book has a character I adore--Page--and a lot of stuff about identity, free will, and the nature of soul/self.
[edited 3/29/23]
So, this is still one of my favorite books. If you liked my short story "Saving Alan Idle" I think you'll enjoy this one. There are multiple plot threads, but most relevant to "Saving Alan Idle" is the AI Page, his relationship with his "father" (programmer), and his AI bestie, The Dragon.
One of my favorite tropes is Learning To Human, and Page is struggling with who he is without his "father," how to observe his faith without a body, and all the hubbub of people trying to determine whether or not he has a soul, whether he is the Antichrist, etc. Without spoiling, I cried at the end. <3
(Page? Definitely a person.)
[edited 3/29/23]
So, this is still one of my favorite books. If you liked my short story "Saving Alan Idle" I think you'll enjoy this one. There are multiple plot threads, but most relevant to "Saving Alan Idle" is the AI Page, his relationship with his "father" (programmer), and his AI bestie, The Dragon.
One of my favorite tropes is Learning To Human, and Page is struggling with who he is without his "father," how to observe his faith without a body, and all the hubbub of people trying to determine whether or not he has a soul, whether he is the Antichrist, etc. Without spoiling, I cried at the end. <3
(Page? Definitely a person.)
January 25, 2019
It's so hard to enjoy reading books that are structured in "each episode is a view point of a different character", each time, just as you start getting immersed in the reading and the flow and feel of it you get stopped and slammed into something else.
Generally this book is a lot less cyberpunk and a lot more fantasy style than the previous book. The plot is better, the characters are more diverse and interesting, but I preferred the atmosphere of the cyberpunk/noir rather than urban fantasy.
Generally this book is a lot less cyberpunk and a lot more fantasy style than the previous book. The plot is better, the characters are more diverse and interesting, but I preferred the atmosphere of the cyberpunk/noir rather than urban fantasy.
August 31, 2024
Morehouse continues her AngeLink series with a faster pace, more action, a larger setting with more characters and a heavier cyberpunk feel. The mashup of science fiction and the biblical end of times is a unique blend. The characters in Fallen Host - some returning and some new - are better developed and more diverse than Archangel Protocol. The bouncing between perspectives with each chapter kept things on pace and intriguing. Looking forward to the next installment, Messiah Node.
February 27, 2022
Interesting story, with a long hook -- who is the Antichrist? A little slow in the late middle, but a strong finish. Excellent primary characters -- Satan, Emmaline, and Page the Intelligence. Nice secondary characters: Mai of the Four Horsemen, Mouse, Eion the Priest, and the Dragon of the East. Recommended.
May 10, 2013
This review contains potential spoilers for “Archangel Protocol”
“Fallen Host” is the sequel to Morehouse’s “Archangel Protocol”, and set just a short time after the dramatic conclusion of the first novel. The books were originally published by Penguin USA in the early noughties, and have been re-published by Cheryl Morgan at Wizard’s Tower and given a new lease of life. As a result some of the technology in the books feels strangely anachronistic, some feels prescient, and some doesn’t feel like SF at all, something worth bearing in mind when reading the books.
The story is split into three first person viewpoints – Morningstar, the Adversary, hunting a new Antichrist for the final battle; Emmaline McNaughten, papal Inquisitor and cyborg, charged with deciding whether artifical intelligences have a soul; and Page, son of Mouse, an AI roaming the Link, abandoned since his father Mouse has been imprisoned for creating the LINK-Angels and fooling the world. Imprisoned because he was betrayed, by Page, who is seeking some kind of redemption. Their intersecting stories are brought together by Mai, cellist in a popular Japanese thrash-polka band, who may or may not be what all three of the viewpoint characters are looking for.
Once again, it’s Page and, by extension, Mouse, who are the most sympathetic characters, Page and the Dragon of the East, both Artificial Intelligences, display more humanity than most of the real-life humans around them, and certainly more that the rather obnoxious and self-obsessed angels (actual angels, not Link Angels). Morningstar is as arrogant as history suggests, and his relationship with Emmaline is slightly unconvincing, as was Dedrie’s with Michael in the first book. There seems no reason why otherwise smart, independent, career-minded women should want to leap into bed with the angels as soon as they see them – if it’s some kind of heavenly compulsion that’s not made clear in the books, and to see the steely Inquisitor and the hard-nosed cop simpering like teenagers over their muscular objects of desire is a little unconvincing – the Dragon’s love for Page has more depth and investment than the bedroom interactions between human and human-shaped characters.
Having said that, the romance is the only spot where the book falls down. The SF elements are fun, as is the gentle criticism of organised religion. Morehouse takes complicated ideas about the nature of what it is to have a soul, and to be human (a very Dickian plotline) and condenses them into a chase through real space and cyberspace, culminating in a finale, in Mecca, that manages to be simultaneously tragic and uplifting. It may tie up some loose ends, but it leaves the gate wide open for a conclusion to the series that promises to be both dramatic and explosive.
Philip K. Dick
“Fallen Host” is the sequel to Morehouse’s “Archangel Protocol”, and set just a short time after the dramatic conclusion of the first novel. The books were originally published by Penguin USA in the early noughties, and have been re-published by Cheryl Morgan at Wizard’s Tower and given a new lease of life. As a result some of the technology in the books feels strangely anachronistic, some feels prescient, and some doesn’t feel like SF at all, something worth bearing in mind when reading the books.
The story is split into three first person viewpoints – Morningstar, the Adversary, hunting a new Antichrist for the final battle; Emmaline McNaughten, papal Inquisitor and cyborg, charged with deciding whether artifical intelligences have a soul; and Page, son of Mouse, an AI roaming the Link, abandoned since his father Mouse has been imprisoned for creating the LINK-Angels and fooling the world. Imprisoned because he was betrayed, by Page, who is seeking some kind of redemption. Their intersecting stories are brought together by Mai, cellist in a popular Japanese thrash-polka band, who may or may not be what all three of the viewpoint characters are looking for.
Once again, it’s Page and, by extension, Mouse, who are the most sympathetic characters, Page and the Dragon of the East, both Artificial Intelligences, display more humanity than most of the real-life humans around them, and certainly more that the rather obnoxious and self-obsessed angels (actual angels, not Link Angels). Morningstar is as arrogant as history suggests, and his relationship with Emmaline is slightly unconvincing, as was Dedrie’s with Michael in the first book. There seems no reason why otherwise smart, independent, career-minded women should want to leap into bed with the angels as soon as they see them – if it’s some kind of heavenly compulsion that’s not made clear in the books, and to see the steely Inquisitor and the hard-nosed cop simpering like teenagers over their muscular objects of desire is a little unconvincing – the Dragon’s love for Page has more depth and investment than the bedroom interactions between human and human-shaped characters.
Having said that, the romance is the only spot where the book falls down. The SF elements are fun, as is the gentle criticism of organised religion. Morehouse takes complicated ideas about the nature of what it is to have a soul, and to be human (a very Dickian plotline) and condenses them into a chase through real space and cyberspace, culminating in a finale, in Mecca, that manages to be simultaneously tragic and uplifting. It may tie up some loose ends, but it leaves the gate wide open for a conclusion to the series that promises to be both dramatic and explosive.
Philip K. Dick
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2010
This is the book that follows Archangel Protocol by Lyda Morehouse. This book could easily be a stand alone book; although it refers to characters and events that happened in Archangel Protocol the main characters in this book are different. I actually liked this book quite a bit better than Archangel Protocol.
The story is told from the viewpoints of three characters: Morningstar the Adversary, Page the Intelligence, and Ema the Inquisitor. Each chapter takes turns rotating through each of the characters. As the book progresses the characters are eventually drawn together.
With rumors of a possible second Messiah being born, as told in Archangel Protocol, the Apocalypse creeps closer and closer. Morningstar is under increasing pressure to find his Antichrist; who he will need the support of the win the coming war. Page is feeling remorseful for turning in his Maker the Mouse and when Morningstar suggests to Page that Page may be the Antichrist Page is confused. Ema is assigned a dubious assignment from the Pope. She is supposed to determine if the two AIs that now function independently of their makers (Page and the Dragon) actually have souls.
I liked this book much better than the last one. The switching between viewpoints was done very well; each chapter was written in a very distinct way that represented the character speaking very well. The suspense in the books builds as the three characters get closer and closer to each other. There was more action in this book than the last one, which was nice. The plot moved along pretty well. There were some parts with Page that got a little boring, but these were brief. The world was detailed and intriguing; I think we got a better feel for it in this book than the last. I loved Morningstar as a character and I though Page's dilemmas as an independent AI were interesting.
The storyline is complex, but seemed to follow through better than the last book. Things are tied up well at the end of the book, but there is still room for the over arcing story to continue in the next book. Once again, this is not a comfortable read. It details what happens when a world is run by religion and this is disturbing to me. My biggest complaint would be that the religious parallels could be more subtle; really the religious context of this book to today's religious beliefs is repeatedly brought up and forced on the reader.
All in all a very interesting and creative read. I am glad that I read this book, even though I didn't like the first one all that much. This book is more a sci-fi/cyber punk and it fits that genre well; it doesn't seem as confused about what it is as the first book was. I look forward to reading the next book, the Messiah Node.
The story is told from the viewpoints of three characters: Morningstar the Adversary, Page the Intelligence, and Ema the Inquisitor. Each chapter takes turns rotating through each of the characters. As the book progresses the characters are eventually drawn together.
With rumors of a possible second Messiah being born, as told in Archangel Protocol, the Apocalypse creeps closer and closer. Morningstar is under increasing pressure to find his Antichrist; who he will need the support of the win the coming war. Page is feeling remorseful for turning in his Maker the Mouse and when Morningstar suggests to Page that Page may be the Antichrist Page is confused. Ema is assigned a dubious assignment from the Pope. She is supposed to determine if the two AIs that now function independently of their makers (Page and the Dragon) actually have souls.
I liked this book much better than the last one. The switching between viewpoints was done very well; each chapter was written in a very distinct way that represented the character speaking very well. The suspense in the books builds as the three characters get closer and closer to each other. There was more action in this book than the last one, which was nice. The plot moved along pretty well. There were some parts with Page that got a little boring, but these were brief. The world was detailed and intriguing; I think we got a better feel for it in this book than the last. I loved Morningstar as a character and I though Page's dilemmas as an independent AI were interesting.
The storyline is complex, but seemed to follow through better than the last book. Things are tied up well at the end of the book, but there is still room for the over arcing story to continue in the next book. Once again, this is not a comfortable read. It details what happens when a world is run by religion and this is disturbing to me. My biggest complaint would be that the religious parallels could be more subtle; really the religious context of this book to today's religious beliefs is repeatedly brought up and forced on the reader.
All in all a very interesting and creative read. I am glad that I read this book, even though I didn't like the first one all that much. This book is more a sci-fi/cyber punk and it fits that genre well; it doesn't seem as confused about what it is as the first book was. I look forward to reading the next book, the Messiah Node.
July 3, 2023
A book with interesting ideas and an intriguing future which fell flat for me due to the writing and a lack of connection to the characters. The author couldn't even make Satan all that interesting for me, though I liked the Dragon AI. Once the shock that came in realizing that I was reading a science fiction novel in which the devil, angels, and God have roles wore off--I'm not used to sci-fi treating religious figures as fact--I settled in for a trudge in which the main question is whether an AI that didn't have much personality for me at all has a soul. Given my reaction to the character of the AI Page, I found that funny, and I wasn't supposed to.
This book also has an arrogant female authority who puts me off as a main narrator. Her arrogance and the trail of innocent bodies she leaves behind have a point by the end, but I just didn't care anymore. Clear her name? Why should she, I asked myself, when she deserved censure, though not for the things she was accused of?
This book also has an arrogant female authority who puts me off as a main narrator. Her arrogance and the trail of innocent bodies she leaves behind have a point by the end, but I just didn't care anymore. Clear her name? Why should she, I asked myself, when she deserved censure, though not for the things she was accused of?
March 5, 2008
So we have Lucifier, a potential Messiah/love interest, and a Muslim artificial intelligence system. Once again, there are a lot of interesting concepts as the series progresses, and I love her vision of these characters.
October 15, 2007
The follow-up to Archangel Protocol and at least as good as its predecessor. Interesting ideas of religion, technology, and where the two meet. A great read, but IMO the last good one in the series.
August 6, 2016
The story is darker and quite well written. I feel a bit disappointed compared to the first book though. And I'm not sure whether or not its depiction on non-Abraham religions are accurate, or if people in the future will still use DOS :)
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February 16, 2013The second in the archangel series. You'll never see lucifer in quite the same light evere again.
June 19, 2013
Queer Angels, AIs without gender and a date between Satan and an Inquisitor. How could you possibly go wrong with this gorgeous novel by Lyda Morehouse?
August 17, 2013
The voices were ALL the same, which was kind of hard to handle. But this was entertaining and a good setup for the third book, which I'm hoping is more exciting/has more distinct voices.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews