Holiday Book Reading Project
Okay, so I was talking to Jessika the day before yesterday (suprise, suprise, heh) and we were talking about books, since we're both pretty avid readers. I mean, I LOVE to read. Always have. Anyway, I mentioned that I buy books way more often than I read 'em, so I have shelves full of non-read books.
So, I decided to fix that a bit over the holiday break. Instead of spending so much time just sitting here at the computer, checking the same sites over and over and over again, I figured I should actually, I don't know, READ SOMETHING. I'm not going to say 'a-book-a-day', 'cause while it's been that so far, I'm positive I'm not that dedicated overall. Heh.
Anyway...I'm gonna discuss (or at least mention) the books I read here, and then they'll show up down there on my brand spanking new free component, which I've linked to the Amazon pages where you can buy the books if you're so inclined.
Now, for the actual books - which of course there'll be spoilers, if you're worried about that sort of thing. And yes, I gave up on Heat for the time being. When I reached the Fray mention, I about gagged. I mean, three blatent and unfunny wink-wink, nudge-nudge comments in 65 pages? Uh, no thank you.
On with the show...
Okay, I picked this book up the last time I was in Barnes & Noble, left it in it's bag, and promply forgot all about it. Anyway, to make a long story short, I dug it out and read it. Now for the details:
The Plot: A cross-over novel that deals with an army of pure-blood demons looking to kill off all the half-breeds. No, they're not The Scourge. Anyway, they've been killing in Sunnydale and LA, so the Scoobie team up with AI to fight the good fight. The big-bad is a full-blooded Brachen demon. Axtius. Doyle's father. Yep, Doyle's dad is an asshole. A bad parent in the Jossverse? Never! *snerk* Anyway, he's out to pull all the humanity out of his son - but - Doyle's dead. So, he's out for revenge on the manpire he blames for his son's death.
The Good:
1. Monster Island is Questral, which just happens to be the island that Angel, Cordy, and Doyle were sending the boat full of half-breeds off to in Hero. So, if you love that episode - like me - this book is a pretty damn good tie-in.
2. Angel gets tortured in a newish, and somewhat inventive way...and has to be saved by someone pretty sodding unlikely. Heh.
3. It has a plot, and backstory, without boring you to death with wandering off to read about these new characters all the time. Sure, there's parts - which there has to be - but like some of the other Jossverse books I've read it not quite so overwhelming. Or maybe I just cared, 'cause it's Doyle's dad. Who knows.
4. I was really worried that the 'unexpected guest' that would show up at AI would be Doyle in some shape or form, and I didn't want that to happen. And it didn't. Doyle is mentioned, talked about, and remembered quite fondly by those that knew and loved him (and even those that didn't are curious about him) the way the show never really touched upon. It's really a nice bit of closure, without having to drag ghost Doyle or whatever in. Kudos on that choice.
The Bad:
1. It drags in places, and since almost all the characters play a part, it clutters up the book. Several characters could have been left out of the main plot and it would have still worked.
2. Gunn is a glorified babysitter to a teenager in it, which is not at all surprisingly, very boring.
3. Harry Doyle is in it in the beginning, so it appears she might play a part in the story, but basically never returns except in a phone call. Very odd.
The Ugly:
1. The timeline. My god, what the hell was the timeline? I couldn't figure it out. Everytime I thought I had it, something else would pop up and I wouldn't have a freakin' clue again. So you just have to take it with a grain of salt that it takes place in earlyish of S6 of Buffy, yet Spike, and the B/S relationship, still feels very much like it should be set in S5. And the Ats crew is in S3, but Darla is never mentioned, nor does it feel like how B/A might be after Buffy's return from the dead. So yeah, you have to just throw away the timeline, and forget ever trying to place it between episode 'blank' and 'blank', 'cause it's not gonna work. At least it didn't for me.
So yeah, that's basically it. One of the better Jossverse books I've read so far - but, like I've said a million times, I'm SO biased it hurts where Doyle is concerned.
Next...
Okay, I'm not going to go into as much detail with this one, since most of you have either probably read it yourselves or have seen the movie by now. I'm just going to say I loved it more than the movie, which I pretty much adore. Check it out if you haven't yet, it a fantastic story.
So, I decided to fix that a bit over the holiday break. Instead of spending so much time just sitting here at the computer, checking the same sites over and over and over again, I figured I should actually, I don't know, READ SOMETHING. I'm not going to say 'a-book-a-day', 'cause while it's been that so far, I'm positive I'm not that dedicated overall. Heh.
Anyway...I'm gonna discuss (or at least mention) the books I read here, and then they'll show up down there on my brand spanking new free component, which I've linked to the Amazon pages where you can buy the books if you're so inclined.
Now, for the actual books - which of course there'll be spoilers, if you're worried about that sort of thing. And yes, I gave up on Heat for the time being. When I reached the Fray mention, I about gagged. I mean, three blatent and unfunny wink-wink, nudge-nudge comments in 65 pages? Uh, no thank you.
On with the show...
Okay, I picked this book up the last time I was in Barnes & Noble, left it in it's bag, and promply forgot all about it. Anyway, to make a long story short, I dug it out and read it. Now for the details:
The Plot: A cross-over novel that deals with an army of pure-blood demons looking to kill off all the half-breeds. No, they're not The Scourge. Anyway, they've been killing in Sunnydale and LA, so the Scoobie team up with AI to fight the good fight. The big-bad is a full-blooded Brachen demon. Axtius. Doyle's father. Yep, Doyle's dad is an asshole. A bad parent in the Jossverse? Never! *snerk* Anyway, he's out to pull all the humanity out of his son - but - Doyle's dead. So, he's out for revenge on the manpire he blames for his son's death.
The Good:
1. Monster Island is Questral, which just happens to be the island that Angel, Cordy, and Doyle were sending the boat full of half-breeds off to in Hero. So, if you love that episode - like me - this book is a pretty damn good tie-in.
2. Angel gets tortured in a newish, and somewhat inventive way...and has to be saved by someone pretty sodding unlikely. Heh.
3. It has a plot, and backstory, without boring you to death with wandering off to read about these new characters all the time. Sure, there's parts - which there has to be - but like some of the other Jossverse books I've read it not quite so overwhelming. Or maybe I just cared, 'cause it's Doyle's dad. Who knows.
4. I was really worried that the 'unexpected guest' that would show up at AI would be Doyle in some shape or form, and I didn't want that to happen. And it didn't. Doyle is mentioned, talked about, and remembered quite fondly by those that knew and loved him (and even those that didn't are curious about him) the way the show never really touched upon. It's really a nice bit of closure, without having to drag ghost Doyle or whatever in. Kudos on that choice.
The Bad:
1. It drags in places, and since almost all the characters play a part, it clutters up the book. Several characters could have been left out of the main plot and it would have still worked.
2. Gunn is a glorified babysitter to a teenager in it, which is not at all surprisingly, very boring.
3. Harry Doyle is in it in the beginning, so it appears she might play a part in the story, but basically never returns except in a phone call. Very odd.
The Ugly:
1. The timeline. My god, what the hell was the timeline? I couldn't figure it out. Everytime I thought I had it, something else would pop up and I wouldn't have a freakin' clue again. So you just have to take it with a grain of salt that it takes place in earlyish of S6 of Buffy, yet Spike, and the B/S relationship, still feels very much like it should be set in S5. And the Ats crew is in S3, but Darla is never mentioned, nor does it feel like how B/A might be after Buffy's return from the dead. So yeah, you have to just throw away the timeline, and forget ever trying to place it between episode 'blank' and 'blank', 'cause it's not gonna work. At least it didn't for me.
So yeah, that's basically it. One of the better Jossverse books I've read so far - but, like I've said a million times, I'm SO biased it hurts where Doyle is concerned.
Next...
Okay, I'm not going to go into as much detail with this one, since most of you have either probably read it yourselves or have seen the movie by now. I'm just going to say I loved it more than the movie, which I pretty much adore. Check it out if you haven't yet, it a fantastic story.