Since there aren't a whole lot of threads here to discuss the Angel novels I figure this one could serve as a general Angel novel discussion thread.
I've just finished reading my first one, 'Fearless' today.
This concept came off to me as really clever and upon realizing it was Doranna Durgin was even more anxious to read as she blew me away with her beautiful and perfect portrayals in at least two 'Ghost Whisperer' series novels.
Unfortunately I wasn't as impressed here. While there were some smart points explored such as a vulnerable Angel fearing being unable to protect his son there was some repetitiveness, lack of development, loose ends and mild characterization flaws.
The keeper's dialogue opposite Angel was exactly the same in almost every one of his scenes down to how it was worded and though a validation was attempted at the end of the need to keep the rest of Team Angel out of the loop it didn't work for me. I'd appreciated Angel's response to this, his strong attitude towards the need to maintain the trust factor between himself and the rest of the team. The same happened with the Connor thing, a few too many mentions all with the exact same wording.
Fred above all other characters wasn't accurately portrayed for the time period. We're clearly in mid season three here with Connor still an infant and his existence period means it's post-'Fredless' when she officially clicked in as part of the team. So we shouldn't have been seeing her so awkward and not quite in place here. There was a similar flaw with Gunn in the beginning when he was shown to not have a complete trust of Angel. I'm willing to believe that there was always a wariness of Angelus in him given his nature and history but the way it was done here had me thinking it was set in early to mid season two. The first mention of Connor was what told me otherwise.
The secondary demon of focus had so little development that it's final act before being slayed (which I won't disclose as it gives away one of the main issues of the story) was all that made sense of it. This is also where the loose end was, there wasn't proper closure to that case especially since a client paid them for it and an assumption made by Cordelia regarding the slaying unsettled me because there was no evidence to support it.
My biggest issues were with key elements that were highlighted but we don't actually seem much of them in the TV series; Angel's difference in healing ability and the team taking his lack of vulnerability for granted. In the TV series Cordelia is shown patching him up on more than one occasion and him feeling psychical pain.
By far the best element of the story was Cordelia's closeness to Angel and his reactions to their interactions. While few they were beautifully displayed here.
Overall an interesting but not really a satisfying read.
I'm anxious to read more of the novels but gotta wait to receive Amazon gift cards, good thing my birthday is close.
Shame, when I'd ordered 'Fearless', I'd also ordered 'Dark Mirror' but it never showed up so I had to get a refund.
I've just finished reading my first one, 'Fearless' today.
This concept came off to me as really clever and upon realizing it was Doranna Durgin was even more anxious to read as she blew me away with her beautiful and perfect portrayals in at least two 'Ghost Whisperer' series novels.
Unfortunately I wasn't as impressed here. While there were some smart points explored such as a vulnerable Angel fearing being unable to protect his son there was some repetitiveness, lack of development, loose ends and mild characterization flaws.
The keeper's dialogue opposite Angel was exactly the same in almost every one of his scenes down to how it was worded and though a validation was attempted at the end of the need to keep the rest of Team Angel out of the loop it didn't work for me. I'd appreciated Angel's response to this, his strong attitude towards the need to maintain the trust factor between himself and the rest of the team. The same happened with the Connor thing, a few too many mentions all with the exact same wording.
Fred above all other characters wasn't accurately portrayed for the time period. We're clearly in mid season three here with Connor still an infant and his existence period means it's post-'Fredless' when she officially clicked in as part of the team. So we shouldn't have been seeing her so awkward and not quite in place here. There was a similar flaw with Gunn in the beginning when he was shown to not have a complete trust of Angel. I'm willing to believe that there was always a wariness of Angelus in him given his nature and history but the way it was done here had me thinking it was set in early to mid season two. The first mention of Connor was what told me otherwise.
The secondary demon of focus had so little development that it's final act before being slayed (which I won't disclose as it gives away one of the main issues of the story) was all that made sense of it. This is also where the loose end was, there wasn't proper closure to that case especially since a client paid them for it and an assumption made by Cordelia regarding the slaying unsettled me because there was no evidence to support it.
My biggest issues were with key elements that were highlighted but we don't actually seem much of them in the TV series; Angel's difference in healing ability and the team taking his lack of vulnerability for granted. In the TV series Cordelia is shown patching him up on more than one occasion and him feeling psychical pain.
By far the best element of the story was Cordelia's closeness to Angel and his reactions to their interactions. While few they were beautifully displayed here.
Overall an interesting but not really a satisfying read.
I'm anxious to read more of the novels but gotta wait to receive Amazon gift cards, good thing my birthday is close.
Shame, when I'd ordered 'Fearless', I'd also ordered 'Dark Mirror' but it never showed up so I had to get a refund.
