It's
perhaps an indication of my waning interest in the series that Impressions
was the first Angel novel I'd read in seven months. Unfortunately,
it didn't really inspire me to kick-start my reading of the range.
Impressions
opens with a young Tuingas demon accidentally releasing a powerful Warrior
Stone from the pocket universe in which the race normally lives. Containing
all the emotions felt by the warrior who wore it, the stone ends up in
Los Angeles where it starts to drive the city's demon population slowly
mad. Before too long, even Angel is starting to feel its effects while
even Caritas isn't immune to its power.
Of
course, the stone isn't the only problem that Angel Investigations have
to deal with, as there's also a caped crusader attempting to help Los
Angeles' needy. His name: Angel. But this imposter only helps to make
those who need the real Angel's help even more distrustful.
Despite
the cover, the whole Angel Investigations crew are present and correct,
although Fred doesn't really do that much. And, unlike some other authors,
Doranna Durgin doesn't fall back on using Wolfram & Hart as a threat
to Angel Investigations, instead relying on the AI team, Lorne and the
novel's original characters.
One
of my perennial problems with the Angel novels is how they fit
into the television series' continuity, and Impressions seemed
a bit of a puzzle on this score.
The "historian's note" bit tells us that the novel takes place during
season three. Fair enough, although Pocket Books choice of a long-haired
Cordy on the cover despite numerous references to her short hair throughout
the text is a bit of a cock-up.
However,
Cordy having short hair surely places the story later in season 3 than
certain other continuity references - notably Fred's reluctance to leave
her room and the complete absence of Connor. I know I seem to moan about
this with every Angel novel, but what's the point of spinning
novels off a series like Angel when you don't use one of the series' strengths
- the fact that its characters do change and develop over time.
Impressions
was an okay read, but not one I every really felt I got into. If one benchmark
about a novel is how well you remember it afterwards, then it's decidedly
average - not bad enough that I remembered really hating it, but certainly
not good enough that much of it stuck in my memory. You could almost say
that it didn't make much of an impression on me (sorry). back
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