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Buffy: Seven Crows by John Vornholt check out website: www.simonsays.co.uk
As a regular contributor to this 'ere Nest I can relate to crows. For the Brits, think 'Magpie' and it all becomes clear. Buffy's old flame, Riley, is investigating down near the border with Mexico. It stinks in more ways than one of a cover-up. Something very bad is coming to the border-towns and the main victims seem to be Mexicans trying to make it across the border to the good 'ole US of A.
At the same time, her young man thinks a little Slayer help wouldn't go amiss and thereby hangs the tale. The star-crossed lovers meet at the airport and the four investigators all put their lovely heads together. This is a pretty straightforward outing with yet another variation on the team. There is plenty of scope for revisiting the past for all four of them. Sam proves surprisingly like Buffy - sharing her taste in men and vampires. There's a little something to spice up the mix. With the rumour that the real Buffy is unlikely to be appearing now in Angel Season 5, they may only be getting together between these (book) covers. Fans will grasp at the chance to see how they interact. Disappointingly, Angel is rather thinly drawn once again relying on his TV persona. In fact, none of the characters are other than sketched from their TV outlines. Let's face, it the books are never going to satisfy in the same way. At least, in this story, everybody gets to do something a little different. Samantha gets to go on a 'date' with Angel and finds that despite vampires having no body heat there is quite a lot generated. Riley gets to spend some time with Buffy in what appears to be the Old Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo. I expect she feels right at home in there! There's a few things in here I want to query: Does Angel really shave? According to this book he does it very well considering he can't use a mirror but I've never seen him with a five o'clock shadow in the series even though he spends days in a demon dimension when rescuing Cordelia. He does do a nice 'tash in the Dido video for White Flag but that's a parallel existence and I digress...everything else is well thought out including how does a vampire operate in the heat of the day? Answer: he gets his snooozies in and goes out at night just like he used to in the series until he ended up with so many human companions. 'Seven Crows' is another in the huge list of titles that are appearing for Buffy and Angel It's no better or worse than the others. It tells the tale competently but is no substitute for the real thing on your television screen. Sue Davies
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OTHER REVIEWS - March 2004
Chasing Science by Frederick Pohl Wolves Of The Calla by Stephen King and illustrated by Bernie Wrighton The Mammoth Book Of Native Americans edited by Jon E. Lewis Changing Planes by Ursula Le Guin Red Star Rising: More Chronicles Of Pern by Anne McCaffrey Three Hearts And Three Lions by Poul Anderson Downward To The Earth by Robert Silverberg Buffy: Seven Crows by John Vornholt The Dragon Of Despair by Jane Lindsjold Gunpowder Empire by Harry Turtledove Barry Trotter And The Unnecessary Sequel by Michael Gerber Fitcher’s Brides by Gregory Frost Mammoth Book Of Best New Horror 2003 The Moon’s Shadow by Catherine Asaro Which Way To The Future: Selected Essays From Analog by Stanley Schmidt
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'One
crow sorrow 
Nobody
much cares about them and the evidence that an extremely large wild
animal is responsible is being swept under the rug. Mrs Riley thinks
they might need a little extracurricular help on this one and decides
to ring Angel Investigations - nothing but the Boss will do. 
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