What book are you reading now?

[Pix]

I'm currently reading Monster Island, a Buffy (early s6)/Angel (early s3) crossover, and so far this is brilliant. It flows well, the characters are spot on, the continuity with both series is excellent, it has the irony, Buffyspeak, and humor of both shows, and each chapter draws me further in (actually I just finished Chapter 4 and I'm about hooked). I've read plenty of Buffy & Angel books but this is the first one that is just so true to both the characters and the feel of BOTH series. It's going to be interesting when both the Scoobies and Angel Investigations join together (Buffy has already decided they're all going to Los Angeles). If you're a fan of the show (especially both of them) then I highly recommend it. mile:

ETA: It also answered a question I'd had about "full blood" demons and True Demons as many who seem "pure" look like they have a lot of human blood to me (and that many can mate with humans also suggests we're of the same species), though it also explains how when demons "adapt" to this dimesnion they also become more & more human looking. It's also been exploring how the various demon breeds & clans (most that have showed up in the TV eps of one series or the other) see each other as well.

I just finished it a few minutes ago. Awesome book, by far the best book in the Buffy/Angelverse I've read so far (and I've read a few, including a few comics). I found the interactions between AI and Scoobies likely and I'm probably qualified to say given that I'm a Buffy geek enough to be annoyed that the Fyarl demons weren't taken out with silver (or at least the magical weapons that were present) and never used their mucus weapon to entrap foes for smashing, not even in a major battle. (Though I'm not geek enough to know whatever happened to Olaf's Hammer which would've been a fun surprise on the bad guys, but maybe that was exchanged for the magic urn that had resurrected Buffy).

It also explored other facets of demon society, and even had an Old One character that was portrayed well, an alien critter who still remembered when humans were just mere pests to them, and had a feel similar to Illyria save It wasn't evil or interested in conquest (but it's view of the cosmos made it too alien to say it was anything). As it turns out, the Island refuge didn't allow vampires (as they're seen as incorrigible psychopaths) and they see the Slayer as the bogeyman (some had lost family and loved ones to her, and she wasn't apologetic about it either), so there was plenty of drama just getting onto the island.

I also liked how it was like many Buffy & Angel eps in having a recurring theme (in this case toxic fathers). And the book not only built on past episodes (though also obviously referenced earlier novels which I haven't read which annoyed me a little) but gave foreshadowing to what was to come in both series. In addition Questral (that the cast calls "Monster Island") is where the demons fleeing the Scourge fled in the Angel ep where Doyle died (and ironically Doyle's father is the Big Bad for this novel who runs his own demonic hate group very much like the Scourge, though the 2 hate groups are too arrogant to ally together, and a bit of complexity to the character was he'd come with discovered sorcery to turn his half-breed son Doyle into a full demon to wipe out the other half-breeds, including vampires, and became especially vengeful when he found Doyle had died, as well as how & why his son had died, while trying to keep his secret shame of having fathered a half-breed son from his troops as he obsessed with revenge, which of course starts a lot of intrigue with some unexpected consequences).

It does get introspective on many characters, which I liked but not everyone does (and the focusing on the Buffy/Angel drama and the purity of Willow & Tara's love did get a bit heavy handed at times, though I did love it when Angel & Buffy were suffering an unintended consequence of a spell filling them with murderous rage for each other and especially loved the reading Lorne gets as Willow & Tara sing at his bar together). And while it did have the "usual epilog" of Buffy/Angel eps it felt a little rushed to me and wished they spent a few more pages on it. And just in case it matters, the Scoobies leave Sunnydale soon leaving Giles, Anya, and Dawn behind so they're not featured much, but they do have an adventure of their own (which I liked) while everyone else was involved in a demon war.