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Much like Star Wars, the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it's spin-off, Angel have spread into many other mediums, including novels. Only in Buffy and Angel's case, these novels do not really further the plot line, but rather tell new and interesting "one-shot" stories that our heroes could have endured had the season been a tad longer. Thankfully, it is not hard to become engrossed in these stories. Notwithstanding, like in all books, there are spectacular stories and there are duds...and the worst place to start reading is a dud. That is what makes Angel: The Longest Night, Vol. 1 the best place to start.
Angel, if you don't already know is the former love of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He is also a vampire who after killing many people is cursed with a soul, forcing him to deal with his past deeds and left to atone for these wrongs. Angel has moved away from Buffy to Los Angeles where he has opened up a private investigations operation that deals with the strange and supernatural, more specifically vampires and demons, the creatures of the night.
This story takes place on December 21, on the winter solstice-the longest night of the year. Since the entities Angel fights rampant mostly at night, the employees of Angel Investigations are asked to stay in over night. But no one in this pseudo-family can guess what's truly in store for them. Set up in an anthology format, this story follows the gang hour by hour, as they struggle their way through one seemingly endless night fighting an assortment of creatures and running into past friends and acquaintances. Each hour's story is written by a different writer, including such popular Buffy and Angel writers as Christopher Golden, Nancy Holder, Jeff Mariotte, Yvonne Navarro and Doranna Durgin.
Now, before we praise the great points of this story, let's take a small moment to ridicule the bad points, just to get it out of the way. Most of the stories in this anthology are spectacular and plunge right into the format of the TV series, while several, as expected, were less than satisfactory. It is clear that Angel: The Longest Night, Vol. 1 takes place in the beginning of season three, mentions are made towards thing that happened further on in the season-a mistake that can annoy picky fans like me. Another flaw comes in the form of the format of the story. At times, it becomes unbelievable that certain stories could have actually taken place over the course of an hour. At other times, the overall plot of the tale gets lost in the transition from story to story. The beginning of one story does not pick up believably from the end of the next and so on.
However, thankfully, most of the time it does. Overall, the story is a fast and entertaining read, blessing Angel addicts such as myself with cameos, by much loved characters such as Lilah, Lorne, Virginia and even Buffy Summers. Readers will also enjoy the humor found in the television series through such spectacular scenes as Angel dressing up as Santa Claus in order to get a child to invite him into his house so he can save his life. Yes, even good vampires cannot enter without an invite!
The story perfectly captures the attitudes of all of the characters. The writers understand Angel's shy side as well as his toughness and intelligence, Cordelia's smarminess and her newfound sense of caring, Wesley's bumbling intelligence, Gunn's tough exterior and nervous interior, and Fred's neuroticism. In addition, there is plenty of great action as the gang takes to the night and keeps the city safe on evil's favorite night of the year. It also drags you in with the characters, giving you a dose of the Christmas spirit as well...not bad for a book I read in June.
Send your comments and or questions about this article to Manzanos@netzero.net.