Sharon Shinn's "Samaria" novels in MSReader (.lit) format.

Samaria: "Samaria was colonized long ago as a religious utopia. An orbiting satellite doubles as a god; people have worshipped and succored it for centuries. A class system developed due to the existence of genetically engineered "angels" who can fly and communicate with the satellite by singing, and who often lord it over the regular folks."

1 - Archangel
The new Archangel, Gabriel, is destined to marry Rachel, whom he has waited too long to seek out. His predecessor, Raphael, an evil sort disinclined to give up power, has done his best to make things difficult. Rachel has some ideas of her own, and is not completely pleased with the arrangements. Gabriel must contend with both Rachel and Raphael as he prepares to meet a deadline for a religious ceremony. The story holds your attention as it moves towards an action filled conclusion.

2 - Jovah's Angel
Jovah's Angel is the "sequel" to Archangel, with a believable evolution of Samarian society after 150 years. The citizens are more industrialized now, but nowhere near the technology level of their ancestors, whose knowledge has been lost throughout the centuries since Samaria's founding. The characters of Caleb the scientist, Alleya the reluctant Archangel replacement, and Delilah, the fallen and broken former Archangel, are all fully developed, and their stories are rich and compelling. Another great read from Sharon Shinn. Too bad she can't write them as fast as I can read them.

3 - The Alleluia Files
Tamar is the child of rebellious cultists, raised in the heretical belief that Jovah isn't a god, but merely a technical device set up by ancestors long ago to control weather and events on Samaria. The rebel group is in retreat, with the Archangel Bael on a rampage to capture and kill off as many cultists as possible. Tamar is determined to avenge her friends and family, to free Samaria from the double stranglehold of angelic power and peoples' fear of the "god." Tamar meets Jared, an open-minded angel willing to help her on her quest, and the two disparate young people form an uneasy alliance.


4 - Angelica
In Samaria angels and mortals share a peaceful world. Guided from on high by a watchful, interactive presence, different tribes live in cities and aeries, or wander the plains by the river Galilee. One wanderer is Susannah, an Edori who loves every aspect of her life and clan, including her lover, Dathan. But when she discovers Dathan's unfaithfulness on the same evening that archangel-to-be Gaaron announces that the god has elected Susannah to be Gaaron's Angelica--his bride--she packs her bags, brokenhearted, and departs to Gaaron's aerie to discover the heart of the reserved but powerful angel leader. She befriends Gaaron's flighty sister Miriam, unknowingly providing means of escape when Miriam does something from whose consequences Garron can't protect her. Meanwhile, Samaria is mysteriously threatened by powerfully armed figures who vanish at will, leaving charred farms in their wake.

5 - Angel-Seeker
Shinn's new novel of Samaria, where angels and humans cohabit, is set in the time of rebuilding after the chaos of former archangel Raphael's fall and is told through the intertwining stories of the mortals Elizabeth and Rebekah and the angel Obadiah. Elizabeth, forced by circumstances to be a servant in her cousin's house, leaves abruptly for the new community of Cedar Hills, where she hopes to take an angel lover. Rebekah, a young Jansai woman, is dissatisfied with her life but sees no alternatives to it. Obadiah is sent by Gabriel to live in Cedar Hills and negotiate with the Jansai over issues surrounding the now-forbidden enslavement of the Elori tribes. Injured over the desert, Obadiah is found by Rebekah, who tends him and has her life turned upside-down. From Elizabeth's discovery that an angel is perhaps not the kind of lover she seeks to the fracturing of Jansai custom when Rebekah nearly dies for the crime of being loved by an angel.