ARCHANGEL: Which genre is it? (*SPOILERS*)

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator (Retired)]

This book was nominated a few times in the past, and each time we ended up talking in the nomination thread about whether it's SF or fantasy. So, I thought I'd throw that out there as a first possible topic: do you think it's SF? Is it fantasy? Neither? Both?

Caution: this topic contains spoilers.

[Nikita]

When I started reading this book for discussion here, I was confused at first as I thought it was nominated for SF. From this book alone, I didn't see any real SF elements so I didn't understand why it was allowed to be considered SF. Being a curious person, I decided to find out why it was SF.

It turns out Jovah is a colony ship that orbits their world and they are descendants of those colonists. So I guess in that sense this is an SF book. But these elements are not revealed in this book.

So, in my opinion, if reading Archangel as a stand alone, it's Fantasy. My reasoning, is we don't know or find out anything more about Jovah than he is God. And, their singing can be considered a form of magic as there is no scientific discussion of how it works. And the society is set in a pre-industrial type world.

[Marty]

I consider it fantasy. I agree with Nikita entirely.

[Sandi]

It's been a long time since I read it, but I definitely realized that it was sci-fi that read like fantasy. The oracle immediately struck me as a computer interface. Don't the people also have bracelets or something that identifies them?

I've heard Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series uses the same kind of technique.

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator (Retired)]

There's the spaceship, and Sandi mentioned the oracle, so that's why I consider it SF, but it definitely has a fantasy feel. I think it's possible to read it as fantasy, but you can't deny the presence of SF elements. That's why it's one of those books where you can argue either way.

[Sandi]

I will add that the main genre it fits into is romance. The love story is most important part of not only this book, but each book in the series.

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator (Retired)]

YES! Absolutely. I wrote this on my blog yesterday: "In either case, as far as I’m concerned it’s actually a romance novel masquerading as either SF or fantasy."

http://farbeyondreality.com/2012/02/0...

[MB (What she read)]

I have this series tagged as all 3.

[Marty]

I guess it depends on what elements are most important to you in classifying and whether the presence or absence of those elements adds or subtracts from enjoyment.

[Jon]

Once we visited the oracle Josiah for the first time in Archangel, I thought of this as possibly a science fiction story (perhaps along the lines of Pern?). But the rest of the novel revealed little if anything beyond that scene. Aside form the 'smallness' of their 'planet' in area.

I too eventually interpreted the singing as magical. I also have to agree with Sandi in that (also like Pern) the story is mostly a romance, which I normally avoid like the plague, but in this case I adored it.

I have not decided yet if I will continue this series. I'll have to research my friends' reviews of it and see if it gets better or if this installment is as good as it gets.

[Viv]

When I saw the title of this thread, I assumed the discussion would be whether it would be classified as fantasy or romance. I hadn't even picked up on the science fiction-ness!

The fact that Jovah is subsequently revealed to be a colony ship orbitting their world makes it more likely that I will read on in the series.

[Carolyn]

I've read the series and really enjoyed it! I always thought of it as science fiction (a la Pern or Darkover), right from the beginning when they described the implants that they each are required to get - that is so technological that it pushed it right over into scifi for me. The implants made me think at first of Logan's Run. I also was expecting the Oracle to be some kind of computer interface, but didn't guess about the colony ship and it's continuing role/threat.

[MB (What she read)]

I will say that the SF element is kept fairly low key in most of the books.

I think this series also has a kind of anthropological feel to it, like Kate Elliott's Jaran, or maybe even Sheri Tepper's Grass as well as some others I can't call to mind right now. I.e. put these people on a planet, let decades go by, see what happens and how civilisation changes and how it stays the same.

[Nick]

Is "Romance" -- as played out in novels of the Romance genre -- something that should be expected in "space opera" -- even if it's not the fundamental of the story?

I made the comment in another thread that even Frank Herbert's Dune contained Romance. (Unfortunately, I misspoke on that point, saying that romance was at Dune's "heart" -- which it isn't.) Now "Dune" is a little more thought-provoking and complex than what most would consider "space-opera" -- but given that it does have a lot of swashbuckling moments, I think it could speak to the idea that "Romance" is a necessary underlay in certain kinds of sci-fi.

And therefore we shouldn't look down on a book in the sci-fi genre just because it has elements of "Romance" ala the romance genre in it.

As for the above statements seeing the situation of the novel as anthropological, I can readily see that -- in fact, that's probably Archangel's strongest point.

[MB (What she read)]

I like anthropological SF ! Anyone have suggestions for me? Feel free to send them my way.

[Carolyn]

I'm a big fan of 'soft'-science fiction books as well, and I don't think that a low-tech or agrarian society necessarily has to equate with the fantasy genre.

I'd recommend the Company series by Kage Baker, Child of Earth by David Gerrold, The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper, A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski, The Shore of Women by Pamela Sargent, and Joan D. Vinge's Cat series and Snow Queen series - oldies but goodies! = )

[MB (What she read)]

Thanks Carolyn! I love Kage Baker! I believe I read 'The Gate to Women's Country'--I'm a huge Tepper reader--and 'A Door Into Ocean' a long time ago. It's probably time to re-read. I'll take a look at the others you've mentioned.

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator (Retired)]

MB wrote: "I like anthropological SF ! Anyone have suggestions for me? Feel free to send them my way."

The first book that comes to mind, and I'd call this a must-read if you want to read anthropological SF, is Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C.J. Cherryh. There a few others I'd recommend, but that's the main one.

[Random]

MB wrote: "I like anthropological SF ! Anyone have suggestions for me? Feel free to send them my way."

The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M Robinson. Trust me on this one :D

[MB (What she read)]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I appreciate them. I get stuck in a rut with my reading, so it's nice to have a tasty variety available on my to-read list.

[Suzanne]

I think I would classify the book as romance - at least for the main classification. The fantasy/science fiction question is more difficult. I guess it's a good example of that famous quote about any sufficiently advanced technology feels like magic. I would love to read a story about the origins of the planet, the parameters of the Jovah set-up, and the reasoning behind it.