hen a meteor strike destroys the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, people worldwide who are looking for signs of the Apocalypse seize upon the calamity, citing it as proof positive that the end of the world is finally nigh. What is more obviously inevitable, as a result of the destruction, is rising political tension in Israel. As the situation worsens, military forces worldwide move to a war footing. Then other important prophecies regarding the Apocalypse appear to come true, leaving even skeptics to wonder if the coming battle might not be the long-prophesied finale for humankind.
In the midst of these volatile events, the Archangel Michael is trying to pursue an ordinary life on Earth, patching things up with his human lover, Deirdre, and striving to become a better father to their daughter, Amariah. As the hints of a coming apocalypse continue to mount up, they impinge on Michael's existence in catastrophic ways ... particularly when the prophet Elijah turns up at a seder and declares that Amariah is the messiah he has been seeking for centuries.
This bombshell shatters the already delicate relationship between Michael and Deirdre, but they are given no time to sort out their differences over their daughter's religious education and eventual fate. Soon a host of angels is demanding custody of the child, not to mention Michael's return to heaven, and the inquisition is breaking down the seder door. Chances seem slim that the archangel will be able to save his daughter from the forces bidding to take her away from him—even if, somehow, the Apocalypse does not come!
A cyberfantasy with unrelenting kick
Lyda Morehouse's Messiah Node is the third installment in a stylish cyberpunk fantasy that blends a snazzy future Internet with the stuff of Christian mythology. God and his host of angels are indisputably real in this setting, co-existing with cyber-criminals, war veterans, deranged cultists and an artificial intelligence who is a devout follower of the prophet Mohammed. It is a world where most of the major political powers are theocracies, where every citizen is required by law to practice a religion and where Interpol has melded with the inquisition to produce international law enforcement officers ... cops whose cybernetic implants make them nearly impossible to kill.
Many authors shy away from religious themes. Morehouse, obviously, all but rolls in them, synthesizing elements of Christianity, Judaism and Islam to provide an intriguing picture of opportunists like Lucifer working to bring an Apocalypse to fruition. She deftly delivers plot twists and action scenes with so much verve they will have readers gasping, first with surprise and then—as the implications set in—with delight.
At the same time, the big picture never overwhelms the important character arcs of the piece: The characters in this series are outstanding, and their stories play out in eminently satisfying ways.
Messiah Node functions reasonably well as a stand-alone novel, but readers entering the series at this point will probably want to go back at some point and read Fallen Host and The Archangel Protocol to pick up the characters' backstories. By the time Messiah Node opens, a lot of ground has been covered already, and seeing it happen, rather than inferring past events from this third book, is a prospect too delicious to pass up.
