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Rating: 
Summary: This very complicated Buffy/Angel crossover comes to an end
Review: Halfway through "Long Way Home," the final book in the Unseen Buffy/Angel Crossover Trilogy by Nancy Holder and 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 and (4) Salma are all in different alternities; back in Sunnydale (5) Riley is dealing with a shadow monster, (6) Giles, Xander and Anya are looking for Riley, while (7) Joyce is at Giles' apartment worrying about Buffy; in Los Angeles (8) Wesley, Willow and 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 all the kids and (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 and I assume Dennis was already finished with the dishes back at Cordy's apartment. What all these plot threads mean is that Buffy and 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 and back covers of "Long Way Home" to know that Spike and 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 basically has all those groups meeting and slowly reducing the number of plot threads until we are down to three locations where stuff is happening. There really 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 and one minus in this regard: on the plus side, Holder and Mariotte do a really nice job of fleshing out Riley's feelings for Buffy, their relationship, Angel, and 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 and Angel as having different conceptions of what the best of all 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 one time starcrossed lovers better be together for a bigger chunk of the action.
Rating:
Summary: This very complicated Buffy/Angel crossover comes to an end
Review: Halfway through "Long Way Home," the final book in the Unseen Buffy/Angel Crossover Trilogy by Nancy Holder and 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 and (4) Salma are all in different alternities; back in Sunnydale (5) Riley is dealing with a shadow monster, (6) Giles, Xander and Anya are looking for Riley, while (7) Joyce is at Giles' apartment worrying about Buffy; in Los Angeles (8) Wesley, Willow and 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 all the kids and (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 and I assume Dennis was already finished with the dishes back at Cordy's apartment. What all these plot threads mean is that Buffy and 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 and back covers of "Long Way Home" to know that Spike and 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 basically has all those groups meeting and slowly reducing the number of plot threads until we are down to three locations where stuff is happening. There really 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 and one minus in this regard: on the plus side, Holder and Mariotte do a really nice job of fleshing out Riley's feelings for Buffy, their relationship, Angel, and 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 and Angel as having different conceptions of what the best of all 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 one time starcrossed lovers better be together for a bigger chunk of the action.
Rating: 
Summary: Long Way Home
Review: The "Unseen" triligy comes to a close as Buffy and Angel are sent to alternate realities in order to find all the missing teenagers. Meanwhile, things get very complicated in our world with gang wars in L.A. reaching a fever pitch and monster activities in Sunnydale getting worse and worse with Buffy and Spike gone. And Faith is broke out of prison (by Riley and Gunn, no less) to help guide Angel and Buffy through the portels.This was pretty good triligy, a little uneven, not the best in the Buffyverse. I liked how some of the characters go here and there to help (Gunn in Sunnydale, Willow helping in L.A.). The action was much better in this volume with the monsters of other worlds to fight (I liked the empty suit of armor to fight Buffy). The best was the Night of the Long Knives, in the first volume, and how the Mexican gang leader tried to bully it out of the wizard. The final fight between all the mobs, psychics, vampires, and Slayers was very cool.
Rating:
Summary: Long Way Home
Review: The "Unseen" triligy comes to a close as Buffy and Angel are sent to alternate realities in order to find all the missing teenagers. Meanwhile, things get very complicated in our world with gang wars in L.A. reaching a fever pitch and monster activities in Sunnydale getting worse and worse with Buffy and Spike gone. And Faith is broke out of prison (by Riley and Gunn, no less) to help guide Angel and Buffy through the portels.This was pretty good triligy, a little uneven, not the best in the Buffyverse. I liked how some of the characters go here and there to help (Gunn in Sunnydale, Willow helping in L.A.). The action was much better in this volume with the monsters of other worlds to fight (I liked the empty suit of armor to fight Buffy). The best was the Night of the Long Knives, in the first volume, and how the Mexican gang leader tried to bully it out of the wizard. The final fight between all the mobs, psychics, vampires, and Slayers was very cool.
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