Reviews:
Apocalypse Array Reviews
More "gender-gending angels, a Satan who brings new meaning to the phrase 'sexy as sin,' [and] achingly real characters"* from the award-winning author of Messiah Node...
The Fallen Angel
At long last, Sammael Morningstar has unleashed Armagedon on an unsuspecting world. Unfortunately for the ego of the Prince of Darkness, all the glory belongs to his wife...
The Bride of Satan
Monsignor Emmaline McNaughten has achieved the impossible--brought peace between Jews and Arabs after the destruction of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Now, her gospel is spreading, inspiring secularism in a populace once devoted to theocratic worship, and fulfilling her role of the Antichrist...
The Blessed Daughter
Amariah isn't your typical teenager. Her mother's a legend in cybernetic and law enforcement communities. Her father is the Archangel Michael. Amariah herself just may be the next messiah. And now she's just made some powerful enemies...
ISBN: 0-451-45981-4
PUBLISHER: Roc, an imprint of Penguin Putnam
PRICE: $6.99 ($9.99 in Canada)
Featured Review:
Apocalypse Array, Lyda Morehouse's latest book, is in many ways a delicious satire based on the irony of a world given over to religion as a substitute for science. Although unfamiliar with her previous books, I found it easy to be drawn into this semi glass world of gorgons, gender confused angels and wire wizards - in fact, hardly anyone showing signs of normality as we know it. If only life could be this interesting.
Religious fundamentalism has been taken to its illogical extreme and inflicted on the Judaeo-Christian population according to one-liners from the Bible. What better place for the Antichrist to insinuate her way into hearts and minds after binding Satan to a vow of obedience and sending him out for cappuccinos. While archangels and demons prove to be more complex and ambiguous than popular myth would have it, humans are now ruled by a new look Inquisition that works by compelling people to have their brains wired to receive electronic data. Without the LINK, they do not have access to the necessities of life.
The daughter of Archangel Michael helps her private investigator mother, Deirdre, to track down one of the many young people with brains hijacked by Soul Seeker, an electronic game that also demands to be played in the real world. Dragon, downsized to accommodate the game's voracious capacity, determines to defy her creator.
Apocalypse Array is many layered and fluid, only demanding that the reader believes the Hosts of Heaven and Hell come to Earth to be incarnated into emotionally fraught domesticity. The idea is bizarre but well worth pursuing to the end.
I can highly recommend Apocalypse Array for its original edge, lack of cliché and cleverly spun plot. Reviews in Alphabetical Order Alien Online by Vegar Holman "I am personally quite surprised by the lack of publicity and praise for Morehouse's books. I don't know if her publishers have pushed her books enough, because to me they are refreshing in a genre that sometimes rehashes old ideas and the author has got a writing style that makes reading her books very addictive. I would recommend Morehouse to anyone who likes near future science fiction, give it a try and I am sure that you won't be disappointed." Emerald City Review by Cheryl Morgan "I think that I would have ended up recommending Lyda Morehouse’s cyber-apocalypse series even if she had made a total hash of the ending. To start with, you just shouldn’t be able to get away with what she has done. It shouldn’t be possible to get published with a cyberpunk detective series in which several of the characters are angels. And even if it was you should not be portraying Gabriel as a black Muslim and Uriel/Ariel as a cross-dressing Buddhist. Nor should you have your angel characters consistently refer to God as "Mother". Not in America, anyway. Someone at RoC had a serious case of suicidal bravery when they bought this series, and I’m so glad that they did." GLBT Fantasy Fiction Resources by Finder "The End Times are at hand and the world is abuzz with speculation. Is celebrity Inquisitor Emmaline McNaughton the Antichrist? Who is the messiah? Where are we going and why are we in this hand-basket? Conspiracy theories abound as Morningstar and Monsignor Emmaline carry out their plans for Armageddon in style."
(by magazine or site title):
"An entertaining read, alive with Morehouse's deliciously irreverent humor and a provocative cast of characters."
Internet Review of Science Fiction by A. M. Dellamonica
"The fourth installment of Lyda Morehouse's cyberpunk Armageddon, Apocalypse Array picks up ten years after Messiah Node left off, reuniting readers with a compelling cast of mortal and celestial characters."
NOTE: You will have to subscribe to Internet Review of Science Fiction in order to read the full review. Currently, the subscribtion is free, but it looks as though it will cost in the future.
LOCUS by Carolyn Cushman
"You've gotta love a futuristic fantasy that opens with a lightly humorous church wedding between Satan and the Antichrist...."
Rambles by Jean Marchand
"Apocalypse Array is the fourth book in Lyda Morehouse's series about the end of the world (Archangel Protocol, Fallen Host and Messiah Node). I am pleased to say that I have come to enjoy books in a series. What better way is there to get to know the characters and the author as both evolve over several years?"
Romantic Times by Jen Talley Exum 4 STARS
"In Morehouse's hands, turn-of-the-21st-century Earth is cleverly and carefully built."
SF Site by Victoria Strauss
"Apocalypse Array is as entertaining as its predecessors, with snappy dialogue, a fast-paced plot that serves up some nice surprises, and many well-drawn characters -- Amariah, the teenage Messiah, an engaging blend of stubbornness, uncertainty, and conviction; Diedre, both hardheaded and vulnerable; Mouse, sly and self-serving but as oddly likable as ever (it's really nice to see a sympathetic portrayal of a practicing Muslim); and of course the magnetic Morningstar, notable not just for his demonic powers but for his sardonic sense of humor."