Jovah’s Angel, and Angelica, by Sharon Shinn

Two more books in the world of Archangel. I like the world, and its exploration of questions of faith and science (and particularly the question of whether a world designed for faith is sustainable), but the plots started to run together, always being about an angel man and a human woman, assigned to each other by the god, then falling in love. Yes, yes, romance and all that, but some variation would be nice. They were moderately diverting, but I’m glad I got them at the library.

Wildside, by Steven Gould

After enjoying Gould’s book Reflex, I saw this at the library and decided to give it a chance. Blech. Terrible uncreative work. It starts with a reasonable scifi premise (a portal to an alternate Earth where humans never evolved), but does nothing interesting with it. No characterization, no clever plans to exploit the alternate Earth, no memorable dialogue. I don’t even know why I bothered finishing reading it except that it was mercifully quick and I figured it had to get better. It didn’t. Spare yourself.