Angelmass (completed)

This is really rare. I have actually found another book where it kept me up till three in the morning to read more of the book. Only other books that have done so before is City at the End of Time. Yep, with this, I can certainly cliam that Greg Bear and Timothy Zahn have become my two favorite authors. But enough of the babbling, on with the summary.



Over the course of about four days of reading, everything turned upside down. At first, I believed that Kosta and Chrandris are in a team but instead, Kosta is the offical spy while Chrandris is just running away from her psycho lover/killer and just happens to go to the same planet as Kosta. In addition, both Chrandis and Kosta are actually forced to dive into Emphryean culture and blend in with the civilains in order to know more about the angels. In the beginning, I thought that angels were an alien species where in fact they were really entites that are as small as a little gemstone and are inserted into the necklaces that political leaders of the Emphryean empire wear to make it impossible for them to lie. Amoung these leaders, however, is a soon-to-be politician named Forcystus who's father was famous because he resigned his position as a political leader due to his belief that the angels were slowly taking over the Emphyreans, these beliefs being passed onto his son, so it's pretty obvious not everyone is happy with the angels. Another key aspect in this story is that Kosta is accepted in the Institute of Angelmass Studies (Angelmass being the small blackhole that ejects the angels) and learns that many scientists have applied numerous theories onto what the angels are and how they affect humans. That's the thing that I found so attractive in this story: Zahn has managed to take a fanatasy universe and inserted his own list of space physics that make this fantasy universe feel like that it actually exists and that he is simpy doing an autobiography about this universe. Chrandis, on the other hand, has managed to become a member of one of the the hunterships (the ships that are constantly going to Angelmass to collect angels), even though she is highly suspcious. This is expalined by the fact that the owners of the ship have a secret angel they kept on board in order to change the hearts and lives of thiefs and criminals alike by turning them into good citizens plus the fact that Chrandis has a natural talent for spaceships. After all introductions are made and the characters get comfortable with their new lives, the Pax, the Earth force that wants to retake the Emphryean empire, starts their invasion on the Emphyrean system. Adding onto the list of problems Kosta has, he has also confirmed that the angels are actually living beings inside the little gems and they are controlling the Angelmass black hole to eject dangerous amounts of gamma rays and can also move by itself. If this were to continue, Angelmass would pick up enough speed to swallow the whole planet. Being the hero, of course he succeeds in stopping Angelmass' movement and saves the day and all but the story doesn't end there. When all of this confusion is over, Kosta gives up on his duty as a spy and decides to stay with the Emphryeans because he still has one more duty to complete: he must oversee the return of all of the angels to Angelmass. The reason behind this is that Kosta concludes that the only reason that Angelmass has been dangerous recently is because the number of angels is decreasing, reulting in the angels being scared and forced to fight for in self-defense. In order for Angelmass to calm down, Kosta proposed that all of the angels be returned to the black hole. When a character argued that without the angels, peace would be broken amoung the leaders but Forcystus told him otherwise, claiming that in reality, the angels are the ones who enable to calm down the leaders and said that humans should be able to look after themselves, not rely on some unknown force. Not only was this book fantastic, Zahn was able to bring in a little moral into this epic adventure, which is nice compared to common books such as Eragon and Harry Potter, where the point is all like "hey, hero, learn this cool ability and you can beat the bad guy!" An enjoyable book, one that shows why Timothy Zahn is one of the greatest sci-fi wirters of all time.