Heat (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Angel) ebook

It is getting harder for me to finish reading some of the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" books I have been reading as of late. Part of the problem might be the prolonged depression now that all of Joss Whedon's series are no longer in production, but I think that there are some larger concerns to be considered, and Nancy Holder's "Heat," which involves both "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" provides an appropriate context for ruminating in search of some deep thoughts.

In the episode "She" from the first season of "Angel" he met up with Jhiera, an inter-dimensional hunter who was trying to protect the women of her culture from being stripped of their emotions. Angel feel victim to her heat (hence the title of this novel) but returned to her own dimension. Now Jhiera is back and looking for a young woman who could be the key to stopping an inter-dimensional war that involves not only the terra-cotta army of Chinese warriors you might remember from President Ronald Reagan's visit to China and other news stories, but a powerful ancient Chinese sorcerer. The terra-cotta warriors just happen to be on display in Sunnydale, right near the good old Hell Mouth. Ironically, given the penultimate line of dialogue on "Angel," there be dragons involved as well.

Several things kept occurring to me about both this particular novel and other "BtVS"/"Angel" novels as I read "Heat." First, there always seem to be continuity problems with these books in terms of events. "Heat" takes place during the seventh and final season of "BtVS" and fourth season of "Angel," at a point when the First is playing with Buffy and Cordelia is with Connor instead of Angel. Yet none of these rather significant developing story lines matter much to this narrative. I have found the best "BtVS" novels have been those written pretty much outside the show's continuity, such as "The Gatekeeper Trilogy" and "The Lost Slayer" serial novel, and I would not mind stories that plugged holes in the show's chronology. But stories like this, which are sort of in limbo, strike me as being problematic.

Second, having now read a couple of "BtVS"/"Angel" crossover books I really find them problematic because the cast of characters involved is just too large. Giving everybody something to do means few people get anything substantial to do in terms of the story. Holder approaches this problem by coming up with a solution that involves everybody to pair up and go off to do something. There are a couple of interesting moments with some of these pairings (e.g., Anya and Connor, Wesley and Willow), but these are just passing moments as we jump from scene to scene as the complicated end game plays out. Holder is usually pretty good at capturing the characters, and "Heat" is one of the few times I have not been bothered by Anya, but she is just juggling too many characters. I really do not want to see another one of these crossover novels unless the focus is on just a few characters: I would love to see a Willow & Wesley novel. Not just because Alyson Hannigan and Alexis Denisof are married, but because of the fascinating character arcs they have gone through over the course of these series.

Third, all of the Chinese stuff about Qin, First Emperor of China, the Year of the Hot Devil, the terra-cotta warriors, Flamestryke and the rest are really interesting, but I am not sure they had to be part of a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" novel (it makes more sense for "Angel"). Overall the best parts of "Heat" are those involving these Chinese elements when the crossover casts are not even around. I had a similar concern with Holder's "Blood and Fog," where Jack the Ripper was worked into the plot even though he was not necessary and the story would have been better without. This time I found myself thinking that the novel would have worked better if it had nothing to do with either series or just involved the "Angel" crew.

There is a justification for this being a Buffy and Angel novel, which is where we start off in the Prologue to "Heat." But that connection is pretty much lost until we get to the end of the novel. At that point Holder provides a pretty good scene with Buffy and Angel dealing with their plight as star-crossed lovers in an unfair universe. But by that point my immediate thought was, okay, we have these pretty good scene that could be potentially great and all we have to do is jettison all of the Chinese elements that are the main plot of this novel, keep the focus essentially on just these two characters, and come up with a better way of setting up this payoff.

Mabye the problem is that hardback "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and/or "Angel" novels have to be big in scope and that one of the ways of doing that is to bring both casts together, which is not working well, and/or to have another Armageddon as the threat. At some point we have to pass the threshold for playing that particular card and I am inclined to look over my shoulder to make the case we are long past that point. Then again, with both series over and done it could just be that the spark is gone. Whatever the case, it has been a while since I was really excited about one of the novels based on the hit television series created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt.

The good news is that someone has finally taught Nancy Holder how to write a paragraph more than a sentence long. The bad news is that this novel has too little of Buffy and and much less of Angel. Those of you who like to see Buffy and Angel together will be disappointed. There are many bad guys and half the novel is written from their point of view. And yes, they are predictable and tiresome. At one point the novel comes to a screeching halt when Holder takes an entire chapter (Chapter 11) to write a fairy-tale style backstory about those bad guys. I skimmed through, not wanting to waste my time on that. It was merely a repetition of what had already been established. Lots of repetition--what characters go through, they run to report to others. I was so hoping that the last Buffy/Angel crossover book would be better.

Unlike most of Nancy Holder's work, Heat starts off a bit wobbly, probably to the complicated scene setting needed to provide a backdrop for a story that rambles through Sunnydale, Los Angeles, and Hell, with various side trips on the way. In addition, the necessities of writing a late season Buffy/Angel crossover demand a lot of juggling of details and Holder lets a few inconsistencies slip. But, putting aside my own compulsive perfectionism, the story finally settles in and becomes a rather intricately developed tale of love, cross and double-cross, with an apocalypse or two thrown in for good measure.

The story centers on three 'possessors,' creatures who survive through time by changing to new human hosts as the previous one is burnt out. The three are Qin, once China's most fabled emperor, his primary wife Xian, and their court sorcerer Fai-Lok. Qin in turn is being manipulated to open the earthly plain to Lir, one of Hell's greatest demons, currently frozen like an ice cube. But while Qin tries to take over the universe, Fai-Lok is busy trying to take over Xian. And taking over the universe while he is at it. Just to keep things complicated Jhiera a beautiful (and treacherous) demoness joins the fray with no one quite sure who she is working for. And don't forget Wolfram & Hart. And I shouldn't leave out a visitor from Pylea. Clearly Buffy and Angel were going to have one giant bad hair day.

Qin sets up in an underground temple complete with hordes of Chinese gang members. The plan includes unleashing various exhibits of terracotta Chinese soldiers from Qin's original burial. These have been strategically deposited around the world in important places like Frankfurt, Cleveland, Tokyo, Paris, and, er... Sunnydale [go figure]. If the soldiers march they will cause incredible destruction, while Qin works to have Jhiera melt Lir out of the ice. Fai-Lok helps on one hand while he has his own gangs in the background trying to grab all the gusto there is. Buffy and Angel and their many friends desperately try to figure out what is going on in time to find a way to prevent it. The result really does resemble the fire drill like antics of many Hong Kong martial arts films.

The scale of the story is surprising, and Holder managed to put together a novel which is fun to read despite some BuffyTrivia mistakes. Everything progresses to yet another apocalyptic extravaganza. (Sometimes I think that Sunnydale owns the 'most often nearly flattened' award for the planet Earth) Lots of conflicted emotions make the characters more than just kung-fu puppets as well. Definitely a book to read if you love everything Buffy.

One of the more mediocre Buffy or/or Angel books. Full of inside this and that as if the author (who shouldn't have to prove herself at this point) wants us to know that she is fluent with the Buffyverse. The characters were pretty much cardboard charicatures of themselves. No real life in any of them. The plot was very contrived and didn't work for me. Overall I think she tried too hard and got caught up in her own intricate web.

I have read a lot of Buffy and Angel book. This one is just so SLOW. I am ready to give up. Usually I can polish a buffy book over a weekend. This one last five days, and I am barely half way through.

Granted, some of the dialogue is ok, and have some inside jokes about people on the show are cute.But, the problem is the story is just not moving from chapter to chapter. The villians are not very interesting. Too many non-essential characters running in and out story with nothing to add the story.

Skip this book unless you have problem falling asleep at night.