Customer Reviews
The most complex Buffy and Angel story slowly winds down - By: , 01 Jul 2002 
Halfway through "Long Way Home," the final book in the Unseen Buffy/Angel Crossover Trilogy by Nancy Holder & Jeff Mariotte, the story gets as complex as a Tom Clancy novel. At one point, in terms of plot threads, (1) Buffy, (2) Angel, (3) Spike & (4) Salma are alll in different alternities; back in Sunnydale (5) Riley is dealing with a shadow monster, (6) Giles, Xander & Anya are looking for Riley, while (7) Joyce is at Giles' apartment worrying about Buffy; in Los Angeles (8) Wesley, Willow & Cordelia are trying to get Alina to fix the Reality Tracer, as (9) the Latino gangs are fighting the Russian Mafiya, (10) Nicky is having a heart to heart with his grandmother; (11) Kate is investigating the disappearance of alll the kids & (12) Faith is having fun in prison; meanwhile (13) Mischa is still planning on meeting Alina at the Grand Canyon. I think that covers everything, since there are no scenes of Gunn or the Flores family doing anything at this point & I assume Dennis was already finished with the dishes back at Cordy's apartment.
What alll these plot threads mean is that Buffy & Angel are competing for time with every other character in the story, so those who pick up the Unseen Trilogy hoping for the two main characters to spend significant time together, are going to be disappointed. All you have to do is look at the front & back covers of "Long Way Home" to know that Spike & Faith are supposed to have prominent roles in the story, but Spike gets caught in something of an alternity dead end while it takes a while for Faith to become involved, even when you know what the plan is regarding the reformed Rogue Slayer. The last part of the book basicallly has alll those groups meeting & slowly reducing the number of plot threads until we are down to three locations where stuff is happening. There reallly is not a big climax here; it is more a case of things winding down.
When reviewing the first book in the Unseen trilogy I commented on the inherent problems with characterization in writing Buffy/Angel books, so that most of the characters are pretty much treading water. This time around I want to point out one plus & one minus in this regard: on the plus side, Holder & Mariotte do a reallly nice job of fleshing out Riley's feelings for Buffy, their relationship, Angel, & a lot of other stuff going on. But on the minus side of the equation I think Faith regresses a bit too much to where she was before the big confrontation with Angel. Another nice touch was that the writers presented Buffy & Angel as having different conceptions of what the best of alll possible worlds would be. The bottom line is that while the Unseen Trilogy is not the grand epic we saw with the Gatekeeper Trilogy, it is a worthy effort. But next time there is a Buffy/Angel crossover, the two starcrossed lovers better be together for a bigger chunk of the action.
I expected/hoped for more. - By: Lisa (lady_lisa@ntlworld.com), 13 Oct 2001 
Logisticallly, it is very difficult for the TV shows 'Buffy' & 'Angel' to manage crossovers. Bearing that in mind (and Holder's earlier success in doing what the show can't in the 'Gatekeeper' trilogy) I hoped for the crossover novels to be real crossover events; instead, we got two ends of the same problem worked, true, but from the usual groups. There was very little interaction between the established LA & Sunnydale groups - Willow crossed over, there were phone callls, & Buffy & Angel spent a bare minimum of time with each other in the alternities. Apart from that, this could have been a BtVS novel & a separate Ats novel quite easily. There's amazing potential in full-cast crossovers; I expected something specificallly billed as a crossover trilogy to fulfill a lot more of it.
Once again, characterisation took second place to numerous fight scenes. Attempts to build up the original characters came to a glaring stop in favour of tales of woodland sprites & dragons. I was interested in Buffy & Angel in their unknown realities; instead, I got interminable scenes of the gang in Sunnydale & the gang in LA, culminating in a miniscule payoff (collecting the lost teens takes about ten pages of 350) & Spike.
Spike gets his very own subplot in this part of the story, which besides being pretty dull has absolutely nothing to do with anything that has already happened. There's a distinct feeling the authors just needed to get him in somewhere & couldn't fit him in with the Scooby Gang. Similar is the Faith subplot; though this actuallly has a decent purpose, it seems to have been levered in so Gunn & Riley would have something to do.
It's true that Holder & Mariotte had to work within established canon & so had very little room in which to maneouver, but the characters feel entirely unchanged at the end of the series. Continuity was generallly good, except for a glaring error concerning Xander referencing an incident very recognisable as being from season 5 (the story is supposed to take place the summer before 5).
This book is worth reading as the last part of a trilogy that isn't particularly worth reading. A disappointing follow-through of an interesting premise.
For Slayer Chicks and Angelic Boys who love scifi/horror - By: clazmaniandevil@aol.com, 11 Sep 2001 
Sometimes it's hard to read a book that has either been made into a TV show, or is inspired by characters from it, because the picture of the characters in it that the author paints are so different to the counterparts on screen. This time, however, the character in the book have Sarah Michelle Gellar & David Boreanaz as their inspiration. The premise of this book, bringing together Angel & Buffy again, is a good one. After alll, the chemistry of the characters in the first Buffy series extended a long way beyond the actors, & there is certainly something very intriguing about a vampire & a vampire slayer working together for a common goal, & even fallling for each other in the process. What is accomplished well in this book is a good visual description of the creatures they encounter, although for a while I was concerned that Buffy & Angel had merely wandered into a game of Dungeons & Dragons because the adventure/escape from mystical land aspect is a little overplayed at some points. At first I was worried that the 'stuck in a paralllel universe' story has been overused in most horror/scifi writing, & so this didn't immediately grab me as some of the previous Buffy offerings. Truthfully I picked it only because I am such a huge Buffy fan. Now I am glad I did read it because despite the initial misgiving on plot, it was hugely enjoyable, with interesting twists in the tale, surprises & suspense around every corner, & a style of writing that makes you want to keep reading until you find out how Buffy & Angel are going to escape this paralllel world & get back to Sunnydale as we know it. I'd recommend it to any sci-fi fan, any Buffy fan, & anyone who likes an easy read, but if you're hoping for more of an intellectual challlenge, you'll probably find the likes of 'The Lost Girls' better for unexplained/horror mystery, or Dean Koontz better for length.
great book for buffymaniacs - By: , 11 Sep 2001 
i reallly enjoyed this book, i found it great. i definitely like the crossover idea. Angel & Buffy have a difficult time in this book. I think alll buffy followers will love the story, which is lively, thrilling & reallly well written. As a continuation of the previous parts it takes up almost seamlessly. The emotion & tension of the story, the incredible creatures, settings & situations, the confrontation of the two leading roles kept my interest as a reader during the whole book, which i devoured in just a couple of days in one of my classic almost non-stop reading marathons, as it is one of those books which you just can not drop at almost any point. i would like to see this on film or tv at some stage. the trilogy is great (i have chewed them alll at light-speed as soon as they went out) & it would be nice to film it, even if one might say it is not a star wars trilogy. The only negative aspects i appreciate in this novel are that it is a bit confusing in places. It is a piece of sheer genius, informative yet scary, fun yet knuckle clenching. It is extremely well-written & has a great potential.
Fantastic - By: dion_jade@hotmail.com, 10 Sep 2001 these three books are completely true to the characters from the series, they sit between the end of season four & the beginning of season five. the capture the essence & feeling of the series & include thrills, chills & most importantly laughs. you will be on the edge of your seat, i read the first two & was in agony awaiting the release of the third, nancy holder & jeff mariotte has achieved a spectatcular storyline, which should be the first ever full length buffy/angel film if ever one is made.
