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5.0 out of 5 stars
Hand-to-Neck Combat, Sep 20 2002
It is business as usual for the Angel team. First, take out a Krinj demon living in a homeless shelter. Make a quick stop to help out at a traffic accident. Drop in at the office and get a job offer from Wolfram & Hart. That's right, Lilah Morgan, VP in charge of dirty business, shows up at the Hyperion hotel to offer Angel a job that even the world's nastiest lawyers can't handle. Lilah wants Angel to retrieve an artifact so evil that its user could destroy the human race. Apparently, even Wolfram & Hart know that is bad for business.The artifact is the Serpent's Hand. This gruesome relic rumored to be one of the limbs the Snake lost in the Garden of Eden. It is capable of totally corrupting its wearer. In this case, the wielder is Lilith (Adam's other wife). Working under the name of Lily Pierce, Lilith is using the guise of a motivational speaker to assemble a huge following. Angel's job is simple, snatch the Hand (and turn it over to Ms. Morgan, of course). Well it would be simple if it wasn't for the fact that the immortal Lilith is a powerful sorceress, protected by a horde of antediluvian demons. Right away you know this is not going to be fun. When the team makes their move they unleash a series of events that leaves none of them untouched. Angel tries to kill every demon in Los Angeles, Lilith tries to wipe out the entire human race, and everyone else limps to cover. I only have two minor complaints about the novel, neither enough to effect the over effect. The first is that this is an extremely violent novel. Even if most of the victims are demons, it still gets a bit out of hand. The other issue is that a very different Lilith has already appeared in 'Dust Waltz' an original graphic novel in the BTVS series. In that story, it is clear that Angel had known Lilith even earlier, but this is never mentioned in 'Vengeance'. For those readers who like consistency, this may be a bit irritating. In spite of these qualms, this may still be the best Angel novel of 2002. Scott Ciencin and Dan Jolley have created an extraordinarily intense story, far darker than the norm, even for the Angel series. Each of the characters must deal with changes and make decisions that stretch their ability to cope. Cordelia is a particular focus, as she shows surprising maturity during the crisis and in her developing (?) relationship with millionaire David Nabbit. In many ways, this is an imaginative and thoughtful story masquerading as blood bath.
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