After thoroughly trashing Angel: Sanctuary, I was hesitant about the next book in the series Soul Trade. But to my relief, Soul Trade was not only better, but forced me to forgo my tight schedule just to read it!!!| Current Issue | The Archives | Our Top 5 Articles | Ebay Auctions | The Shoppe |
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After thoroughly trashing Angel: Sanctuary, I was hesitant about the next book in the series Soul Trade. But to my relief, Soul Trade was not only better, but forced me to forgo my tight schedule just to read it!!!
Angel: Sanctuary is another media tie-in novel based on the television series Angel. This time round, the story takes place at the beginning of the first season, a time when the much-loved character of Allan Francis Doyle (played by the late Glenn Quinn in the series), and his wife Harry were still regulars on the show. Reading this novel, I was immediately happy then sad, because I realized how much I missed this character. An added bonus to the plot was Doyle's ex-wife was also thrown into the mix.
The first chapter of this book was honestly quite dull, and I feared that I would be writing another wicked review. However, before I knew it the story had hit full gear, and I realized that the dullness of the chapter had really just been an establishing moment, that was soon used to help the rest of the story along. Thomas Sniegoski had come through for me.
In this novel, Angel, a vampire with a soul, takes the case of a young mother whose child, Aubrey, has suddenly been struck ill by mysterious means. Angel soon discovers that the child's soul has been stolen for use in the ever-growing underground soul trade. Horrified by the idea of trading souls, and haunted by the loss of his own little sister, whom he himself murdered years ago when he was still soulless, Angel automatically takes on this assignment with more than usual convention, as Aubrey constantly reminds Angel of his own inadequacies as a crime fighter.
Throughout his search, Angel manages to face a sorcerer of 800+ years who has found a way in which to steal souls and use them to keep him young, and as a drug for demons called Uforia. But the sorcerer keeps throwing new obstacles in his way. On the road to this young girl's soul, Angel ends up facing, not only this sorcerer but a soul eating demon called a Kugurru whose species was believed to be long extinct, and a bevy of sorcerer-made artificial intelligence named Homunculi. This story also does a great job of mimicking the series. Angel's past comes fully into play in this story, influencing his current predicament in both positive and negative ways.
Another great aspect to this story comes more in the vein of the Star Wars expanded universe. Sniegoski introduces an interesting character who is used in other novels in the series, but who has never appeared on the TV show. This character is Charlie Nickels. Once a Fortune 500 businessman, Charlie played with the Black Arts and lost. Now he's a deformed little troll of a man, who likes musical theatre and gives Angel important information when he needs it. The author's description gives the character so much life, that I can picture him about as well as I can picture those characters that are shown on the television series.
Between new characters, old familiar ones, flashbacks and a stolen soul, you've got quite the story; a story that could've slipped into the Angel season as an episode and no one would've even known the difference. And it's even a little heartwarming! Enjoy this book! I certainly did.
Send your comments and or questions about this article to Manzanos@netzero.net.