Despite
moving things on in the Unseen trilogy, Pocket Books have returned
to a pre-Hero setting with the latest Angel nove,
Bruja.
Although
it really is about time Pocket Books finally put the Doyle era behind
it - if nothing else, the sheer number of novels they're trying to cram
in in between City of and Hero is getting a bit ridiculous
now - the character is one of the novel's highlights, with the half-demon
given some decent material.
Elsewhere,
however, there's more than a sense of deja vu. The fact that the
current case reminds Angel of his own past was mentioned rather too often
for my liking, rather than allowing the reader to make the connection
them self, and once again, there's a Hollywood producer involved which
has Cordelia dreaming of stardom.
The
plot itself is nothing particularly original, with Doyle's vision of a
young woman in trouble leading him to get a bit of a kicking, while Cordy's
desire for fame and fortune leads her to accept a case from a producer
who's searching for his missing wife.
As
you'd expect both plotlines are linked, as are the attack on a priest
at the start and the mysterious woman in black. Unfortunately, it's
all a little too predictable. Cordelia and Doyle appear amazed when
Angel explains things to them towards the end, but it was all too obvious
from a long way out.
This
might sound totally negative, but Bruja is pretty readable and
is a competent, if unspectacular entry into the Angel novels series.
