Archangel Down (Archangel Project, #1) by C. Gockel

Archangel Down (Archangel Project, #1) Reviews

• 
  ✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans)

  
  
  💀 DNF at 39%.
  
  I was going to write a fantastically fantastic (not to mention fascinatingly fascinating) crappy non-review for this most entertaining little book here, when I realized that a) I have other shrimps to fry puny humans to sacrifice and b) this lovely reading experience can be quite efficiently summarized thus:
  
  
  
  And also:
  
  
  
  So tada and stuff.
• 
  Lindsay

  I went on a long drive with a friend who likes SF and he chose this one for us to listen to. It was ok.
  
  Commander Noa Sato is a pilot in the Galactic Republic Fleet, but while taking leave on her home planet of Luddeccea, finds herself imprisoned and tortured in a hellish POW camp. Luddeccea, always a religious and anti-technology planet seems to have gone full on paranoid and totalitarian. During Noa's escape she encounters Professor James Sinclair who is a complete enigma. He has some of the memories of a history professor who specializes in the 20th century, but he has the capacities of a killer cyborg and he looks a lot like Noa's dead husband.
  
  Noa and James hatch a plan to get off world and back to the Galactic Republic to let them know about the millions of people that Luddeccea is abusing in prison camps. This involves stealing the Luddeccean's original colony ship, the Ark. (Just in case that's not obvious enough for you, the second book in this series is called
  Noa's Ark.
  
  First, the good stuff. The world-building here is solid enough and a descent of this sort of society into a totalitarian nightmare makes a lot of sense. Noa and her attitudes towards the planet and her family make sense and are treated with some nuance. The sexbot 6T9 is a rare example of a male sexbot in SF and has an excellent part providing some hilarious comic relief (particularly as performed by the excellent narrator Emily Woo Zeller) as well as some small profound parts.
  
  Unfortunately a lot of that is outweighed by the bad stuff. There is no answer to the central question surrounding the "Archangel" and who or what James actually is. Given that this is so central that it is in the title of the book, some element of that mystery should have come out by the end. Similarly, the bizarre actions of the Luddeccean government isn't explained anywhere. You only get the propaganda that they're spreading even when you do get a little insight into the ruling council at the end. As a reader I feel like there's an embargo on the information needed to make sense of what's going on, and not just because I'm closely following the characters who don't know what's going.
  
  Finally, the biggest issue I had with it was editing. Not the copy-editing which was quite competent, no obvious typos or anything, but the actual editing for content, or lack of it in this case. Noa and James are unbelievably repetitive, constantly going over the same emotional beats and internal questions across an array of circumstances, and just not moving forward with any of it. The author jams in stuff about 20th century movies that James and Noa end up watching and then endlessly referring to for the rest of the book. All of this should have been cut. It's not cute; it's derivative. It's also unbelievable that centuries later people would be quoting Star Wars at each other.
  
  Despite spending so many hours with these characters with none of the central mysteries even slightly resolved, I feel no urge to continue with the series.
• 
  Matt

  I’ve read few novels that were as boring, confusing and with so many outside influences as Archangel Down. Essentially The Expanse meets The Martian Chronicles without the interesting characters or a coherent plot line. A book to be avoided.
• 
  Montzalee Wittmann

  Archangel Down by C.Gockel is an audible book I found confusing in spots, boring in many areas, and needed condensed! I did like some of the science tech it describes. I won't be following this series!
• 
  Dianne

  The year is 2432, the universe is in upheaval and humans are about to discover they are not alone and the universe is about to discover how brutal humanity can be.
  
  ARCHANGEL DOWN by C. Gockel is a science fiction lover’s dream (or worst nightmare), because humanity can still be inhumane.
  
  She has given her all as a commander, but Noa finds herself a prisoner under brutal integration for the mysterious Archangel Project, something she knows nothing about. In a desperate attempt to flee her captors, at that very moment she is about to be overtaken, she is rescued by an Earth man who claims to be a history professor, but there is something “other” about James Sinclair, something “more” in his strength, his abilities and in the fact that he has no true memory of his life. He just knew he had to rescue HER…
  
  Together these two will do the seemingly impossible-survive, because not to could destroy the universe.
  
  C. Gockel’s storytelling is brilliant! Filled with moments of nail-biting danger, humor, romance, intrigue and the magic of the unknown future, science fiction that is limited only by one’s imagination. Meet a sexbot and its quirky owner, feel James’ confusion at being so positive about what he remembers, yet not sure why he can do what he does. Respect the commitment to her training, as Noa relies on logic and years of leadership when the chips are down.
  
  Will they escape the hell they have found themselves in? Science fiction, dystopia and a firm foundation to what looks to be an incredible series!
  
  Series: Archangel Project - Book 1
  Publication Date: October 19, 2015
  Publisher: C. Gockel
  Genre: Science Fiction | Space Opera
  Print Length: 436 pages
  Available from:
  Amazon
  For Reviews, Giveaways, Fabulous Book News, follow:
  http://tometender.blogspot.com
  
  
  
• 
  Mike

  couldn't finish, yawn
  
• 
  Tony Hisgett

  I really couldn’t get into this book. I took too long to work out what was going on and even though I tried hard to like Noa and James I found I didn’t really care what happened to them. It didn’t help that I found the whole style of the writing a bit confusing, sentences half finished, half the dialogue an internal debate, meandering random thoughts that just pop up for no reason and the over use of flashbacks. The two main characters are both damaged in various ways, the situation is chaotic and the universe created by the author isn’t established soon enough to make sense of the storyline.
• 
  J.N. Bedout

  In the opening scenes, Noa escapes from a concentration camp on the planet of Luddeccea. Elsewhere, James, a supposed history professor, crash-lands on the same planet after his craft gets shot down. They meet in the woods while both are being chased (for different reasons). Once united, they must formulate their escape plan. There’s a mysterious alien invasion going on, too. But it’s all wrapped up in a fundamentalist religious fervor.
  
  And James himself is a mystery, too. Why was his craft shot down? Why does he resemble Noa’s dead husband? The rest of the plot is about their escape from the planet. How are they going to do it? Who will help them?
  
  There are some interesting sci-fi elements at play. Time bubbles and time gates are mentioned throughout. There’s the werfle—and who does not like a cute, fluffy animal that eats rats? A “pleasure” bot named 6T9. Hard-linking; done by plugging cables into “internet” style ports implanted into the person’s brain.
  
  References to “archangel” and “heretic” are sprinkled throughout the text. Until the very end, however, their significance is obscure. Somehow, they fit in with the alien invasion and the religious fervor. While their apparent meaning does become apparent, the significance of these terms does not.
  
  Furthermore, parts of the book are slow, especially in sections where Noa and James argue or go on virtual conversations while hard-linking. At times, that dragged a bit, but the story was still a good read.
  
  It’s like “Escape from New York” but more sci-fi-ish and fleeing a planet instead of a city. I enjoyed it.
  
• 
  Heike

  --------- UPDATE AFTER FINISHING THE TRILOGY -------
  Well worth the read, getting better and better with every book!
  --------------------------------------------------
  
  Noa escapes a concentration camp where she was hold for reasons unknown to her, and meets James, a civilian who got attacked when he shuttled from a space gate down to planet to get ready for a vacation with his family. They join forces, he very reluctantly but driven by an inner force he does not understand, she with the goal to safe her brother and the whole world from a government that seems to suppress the population with the excuse of an alien attack. She does not believe that aliens are taking over, while James has second thoughts how he may be involved since his memory is playing tricks with him. The two protagonists gather a motley crew around them to assist them calling the military from another solar system for help.
  This would be the story in a nutshell. The characters, while interesting, are not fleshed out enough for the reader to understand why they would do certain things. The secrecy around James - who/what is he? feels at times more confusing to the reader than suspenseful.
  The book is well written and one wants to know what happens next, but for a SiFi it has too much holocaust for me to really enjoy it, and the plot line does not reveal much. It was definitely written with the sequel in mind; while it does not end with a cliff hanger it leaves many (important) questions unanswered.
  I will read the next book in the series, hoping that once they are in space I get more of the SiFi feeling.
• 
  Caitlin

  Archangel Down combines elements of both space opera and dystopia to tell the story of a colony world that imposes totalitarian rule in the wake of a mysterious alien invasion.
  
  We meet Commander Noa Sato in a concentration camp where she’s being grilled about her involvement in the Archangel Project. Problem is, she’s never heard of the Archangel Project. She escapes and is found by James Sinclair, an amnesiac Earth history professor whose augments give him superhuman strength and speed, and possibly an inhuman lack of emotion about killing the people after him and Noa.
  
  The central mystery of the book revolves around the alien invasion that the local government has apparently become tyrannical in response to. There are rumors aliens have taken over the planet’s wormhole gate and are taking over humans through their augments, with a strong implication James may be under alien influence.
  
  There’s some interesting world building and characterization in this book: people connect to the internet as well as each other via their augments, and linked people have insight into each other’s emotions and can communicate thoughts and images. The “time gates” that allow FTL travel and antigravity are some neat handwavium. And I especially liked the duo of Eliza and 6T9, her sex bot and robot butler. I thought Gockel invites discussion through these characters of what assistive technology and companion robots for the elderly might look like in the future.
  
  However, there were some prose-related quirks that bothered me. For instance, facial expressions could have used more variety—Noa’s jaw is often clenching or hardened in resolve, which got repetitive. A few cliches also appear in the book. The novel also opens with dialogue, which is generally a no no because it forces readers to work harder to mentally set the scene.
  
  Finally, I wanted to make a note about Noa’s brother Kenji since I haven’t seen a review address this. I’m positive Kenji is autistic. He has difficulty with eye contact, is very focused on technical matters and less on relationships, and has trouble interpreting and showing emotions. Yet Gockel doesn’t make it explicit that he is autistic, and I wish she had because it would be interesting to read an autistic character in SF, especially one whose POV we get to inhabit.
  
  Overall, Archangel Down was a decent series starter for me. The sequel Noa’s Ark promises more intrigue and danger in the Luddicea system, so I will probably check it out.
• 
  Lady

  Failure Is Not An Option
  
  This series must be read in order. This is the first book. I can't wait to find out what is next for Noa&James in the next book!!!
  
  Noa came home to visit her baby brother Kenji... Unfortunately she ended up in a concentration/forced work camp instead of spending quality time with her favorite sibling. She thought life was at its all time low when her husband was murdered. Too bad she was wrong. Knowing she must escape and rescue her brother is the only thing that keeps her going. Why has her homework devolved into Nazi like persecution and insane antitechnology religious zealotry? Why are they railing about heretics and demons as well as aliens? What caused this horrific mix of violence and genocide?
  
  James woke on the planet with no clear idea of how he got there or what transpired before that. All he knows is he has a driving urge to find Noa and save her from those who would harm her. His past is fuzzy and unreal. Why does he feel an overwhelming desire to gain her trust? Why is he always seeing black whenever it seems like something will end her? Will they escape with their lives and sanity intact? Will they be able to find a way off planet to expose the atrocities of the camps?
  
  ***This series is suitable for adult readers who enjoy a little first contact in their futuristic dystopian sci-fi fantasy action adventures with a dash of romance and a heavy serving of horror :)
  
  
  ***I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review***
• 
  Thias Light

  This review is from: Archangel Down: Archangel Project. Book One (Kindle Edition)
  I received an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
  
  This book...it's definitely an adventure! Sure it's set in the future where any sort of physical/racial difference makes you a "throwback" but who doesn't love an underdog? Noa is one of these throwbacks; and though she definitely mulls it over a bit, she never lets it get in her way. She has bigger fish to fry...Like escaping a slavelabor encampment while half starved and figuring out who this guy is who has almost every skill she needs when needed. For that matter this story is also the Professor trying to figure out how he has those skills too.
  
  This book is worth the read, it's not your typical sci-fi drabble. The author does some amazing work with words on paper (or e-paper). You'll love this, or at least be curious enough to wait for volume 2 ;)
• 
  Lindsay

  I received an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
  
  Archangel Down is a suspenseful science fiction novel! In her previous series, C. Gockel deftly wove Norse mythology into present day - in Archangel Down she weaves our present into a Sci-Fi future.
  In the 25th century, humans are routinely augmented and are connected over the Ethernet through ports in their brains. But on the conservative planet Luddeccea, a mysterious presence that takes control of the Time Gate leads them to revert to earlier technology and an authoritarian government. Fleet officer Noa and history professor James must find a way to get help - before the genocides of the 20th century repeat themselves.
  Gockel's world building is masterful and humorous touches ensure that this suspenseful read is enjoyable from beginning to end.
• 
  Francene Stanley

  Although confusing at the start, the unique approach to the two main character’s thoughts set this novel apart. Noa adapts easily to her changing circumstances, and she holds no grudges, rather, sees the strength in everyone she meets, which makes her a good leader. James keeps the reader guessing with his observations about his own behaviour, which differs from his memories. Together, they assemble a diverse set of followers to achieve their aim.
  
  With focused thoughts, the two main characters impart their knowledge of a possible future. People’s nature remains the same, both good and bad, but technology has advanced and the prospective includes an unknown alien race, whose intentions remain hidden.
• 
  Elizabeth Edwards

  Now this is a totally different read for me personally, Science-fiction, I do not usually go for Alien movie or whatnot .. well I saw ET, but I was never into the Alien movies, they kind of creeped me out or scared me as kid. That being said, I really enjoyed the read. Solid plot, No, NO, no cliffhanger, A Trilogy. I enjoyed it so much. I will be looking more into C. Gockel very very soon. I love finding new author and this is a totally different not my norm genre. Cool book cover as well. LOVE IT!! ( ;
• 
  Eric

  I tripped over this book on Bookbub.com. A freebie. Imagine naming a sexbot, 6T9? Adventure Sci Fi with a history professor as one of the main characters. Insights to the past. Entertaining enough, I bought the next two in the series and have started #2,
  
  Noa's Ark.
  
  Light, mindless entertainment.
• 
  Betsy

  Foams up for Archangel Down!
  
  The first book of this trilogy has certainly left me anxious for the second. C. Gockel has a talent for ending chapters in a way that makes the reader want to continue right into the next chapter. The flow of the story is smooth and the pieces fit together nicely. I'm not a person who reads much science fiction but I did purchase the book because I enjoyed the previous series so much. I'm really glad that I took that Leap of faith.
• 
  More Books Than Time

  Archangel Down is a good story with interesting characters that has too much clutter. C. Gockel writes well but the book bogs down in a few places, not enough to make me stop reading, but enough to notice.
  
  Overall the story is right between 3 and 4 stars, actually quite good but could use some work. The premise is great and some characters are very well done. Please see my full review here:
  http://www.morebooksthantime.com/arch...
• 
  Keith

  While I had hope for elements of this book, as the book went on I found myself bored, uncaring and waiting for it to end.
  
  There were only 2 characters I really liked, and neither of them were human. In fact, neither of them were sentient.
  
  One of those was the small furry animal sidekick.
  
• 
  Bill

  Well done. Plenty of action and interesting characters that are trying to figure out literally who they are.
• 
  Terry

  Wonderful world building that didn't feel like exposition but more organic. The story follows an escaped prisoner who has trouble facing reality and complains when others jump to conclusions.
• 
  Tara

  This book took a while to get going, and I admit I switched away from it a time or two to read something else. I kept being drawn back, though, and by about the half way point I was hooked enough that I finished in one session long into the night.
  
  I think part of the problem for me was the fact that the story itself didn't seem to have a concrete shape. It felt as if Noa was reacting rather than acting, and my engagement suffered for it. As soon as she came up with a concrete plan of action, the story took off and I was hooked.
  
  This novel had a fascinating setting, a complex cast of characters and an escalating scale of complications that kept the tension ratcheted to high. I've already downloaded the next in series.
• 
  Susan Groves

  Well written and exciting to the last. Felt I needed a bit more on the two main characters as I lacked empathy with them. Also tend to want books in a series to be self contained which this really isn’t. Will not stop me getting the others.