Resurrection Code

LINK Angel #5

by Lyda Morehouse

North Africa is in ruins after the Aswan dams collapse and a massive flood reclaims the Nile valley. The privileged and the sane have long since abandoned Egypt to the scavengers and the dregs of society. Christian El-Aref is a street rat, living hand-to-mouth. His life is going nowhere fast. Then he stumbles over a dead body carrying revolutionary shareware tech. Now he's being hunted. And if he's not careful, the next dead body may be his own. This action-packed cyberpunk thriller weaves its way through the slums of a flooded Cairo, encountering murderous cults of eunuchs, an assassination plot perpetrated by angels, and an enigmatic street urchin who may or may not be the reincarnation of the prophet Mohammed. Lyda Morehouse tells the anticipated story of how Christian became the Mouse, the father of the underground Internet and the technological hope of the disenfranchised in a dystopian theocratic near-future, in this standalone prequel to her acclaimed AngeLINK novel series. Also Morehouse s AngeLINK-related short story, ishtartu, from the Lambda Award-nominated collection Periphery.

Genres: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Dystopia, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2011

About the author

Lyda 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.

Reviews

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sequel/prequel to Angel LINK tetralogy, I'm a bit ambivalent about, probably because of how badly I read it - quickly, rushed, late at night, skipping ahead, and this book deserves better. I really liked the original books so I'm not sure how the events here fit. Getting Mouse's background story was great, but what was the point of Deidre's presence? "Apocalypse Array" had such a neat ending that wrapped up everything (my absolute favorite plot twist, too), that I'm don't know where the prophet and the new Armageddon fits in. I think I would have enjoyed this better if the story stayed more tightly focused on Mouse's experiences in Egypt and showed up more of that, more of how he built mouse.net, more of Egypt's recovery, more of the world-building (I loved the bits about Russia, and would have liked more of how the world has changed).

In conclusion, I'd like to recommend reading the original tetralogy first, starting with "Archangel Protocol," and please keep reading to "Fallen Host" and on. The 1st book has a romance as a main storyline, but all the books stay very tight (a bit over 300 pages, which is an impressive feat today), humorous, and really fun and unique in the genre of science fiction/cyberpunk.

[S. Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short but fun return to the AngeLink world. I enjoyed learning of Christian’s youth and how he came to be Mouse. Mohammad was an interesting character that explores being transgender in Muslim culture (although I felt it barely scratched the surface). And who could forget Morningstar, as charming and confused as ever? I’m glad Morehouse decided to write another entry. I do miss some of the depth and variety of her earlier novels though.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I'd read none of the previous AngeLINK books, I was quickly captivated by the characters and writing in this book. I enjoyed the prose immensely but found the plot to be a little lacking despite the clear thematic issues. Unfortunately I also had to deduct another star because the numerous copy editing mistakes were distracting.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I preordered this book and stayed up all night finishing it. This is not typical behavior for me, since I'm an overworked sysadmin.

It was worth it.

There are a lot of little things in here that made me squee: From the faux book excerpts (love epistolary stuff!) to Morningstar to Dee going with Mouse. But for me, it's the themes of redemption and forgiveness. These are themes that run through Morehouse's work, which may be why she deals with religion so often. These are also the themes that draw me to her work, and to Mouse. The moment that completely undoes me in Fallen Host is the moment when Mouse forgives Page. The scene that undoes me in Messiah Node is the scene where Mouse risks his life and sacrifices his freedom to save a woman who, a short time before, pointed a gun at him.

I don't mean to make Mouse sound like some boring old saint. He's also a liar, a sneak, and a very funny thief.

So, in this book, Mouse goes to Egypt seeking forgiveness for the sins of his youth. And here's where the spoilery part comes in, so if you really don't want to know, stop reading here.

Are you still reading?

It's actually Morningstar that undoes me in this one. Not that Mouse doesn't have his moments of grace and not that I don't want to scoop him up and cuddle him, but...

And I still feel like I'm not coherent enough to write a review, so I may tweak this review later. Or not. We'll see.

ETA - I really wish Morehouse had been at WisCon this year. There was a panel called, "The Future's Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed." That's probably the defining motif of the AngeLINK universe, and strongly and explicitly addressed here. There's always inequitable distribution of resources, class, and privilege, but this universe is particularly unfair in that regard. And Mouse is their technological Robin Hood.

[Jeffrey Jelmeland]

Amazing how years after reading the original books the characters are still so fresh in my mind. Starting this book was like getting back together with old friends after a long time apart. At first it was a bit awkward and tense, but then everything settled out and the tales started being swapped. As with any such meeting, eventually the reunion must come to an end and you must say good-bye to those friends. Such was very much the case with this book.

Yes, some back history got filled in, and we learned about Mouse's origins. Yes, we got to hang with Morningstar again and see what troubles he was getting into both in the past and in the present of the storyline. Eventually the story came to a cataclysmic conclusion, but somehow, after all this time rather than being an earth-shattering conclusion it kind of whimpered, stood up and snarked at us, daring us to challenge it.

Will there be more? Only the author can answer that question. While the story did not set up for a sequel it certainly left the option open. I know that I would like to see more if there are more stories to tell.

[Eran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finally found the last book in the series, reading it mostly for that.
Nothing particularly interesting, Mouse's background story isn't really compelling, except for the insight into the creation of Page out of stolen military tech which is nice. The incarnation of Mohammed is OK, and the battle of armageddon is not bad.
For now left the extra content of chapters from prvious book and other stories unread.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a novella than anything else, I honestly wish there had been more to sink my teeth into. But considering there are four other books in the series, that's a pretty silly complaint.

[Nicole Zeckner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great read, although I did struggle since it's been 11 years since I read this series. Now that it's on Kindle, I think I need to re-read it.