Cursed (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) [Paperback]

Mel Odom (Author)

Book Description

Series: Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Publication Date: November 3, 2003

Spike discovers that someone has put a hit out on him, and sets out to find this person/thing. The trail leads him to LA, where Angel is enmeshed in a case involving a stolen box from a museum. The box is one that Angel recognises from his brutal days as Angelus, as he travelled Europe with William the Bloody, a.k.a. Spike, in tow. Now the two reformed vampires, both of them exes of the Slayer, must team up -- albeit reluctantly -- to find out who from their past is challenging their present.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mel Odom has written over sixty books which include the novelisation of the movie BLADE and original novels for both the Buffy and Angel series. He has written fantasy, game related fiction, science fiction, movie novelisations, horror, young adult, juvenile, computer strategy guides, action-adventure and comics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (November 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743468201
• ISBN-13: 978-0743468206
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,991,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I write in a number of fields, but always with the hope of telling an interesting tale that will incite a reader to think for himself or herself, to examine his or her own place in the world, and offer a little nudge in the direction of dreams, faith, and personal growth in spite of whatever odds a person has to face. I also believe we were all put here for a purpose. Hopefully, several purposes. I'm a father, a little league coach, a teacher, a friend, and a writer. I struggle to keep that balance, as many of us do these days, but I hold tightly to the belief that I'm doing all I can be doing, and doing what I should be doing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting exploration of the romantic side of Spike, January 31, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Cursed (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) (Mass Market Paperback)

After the "everybody in the pool" approach of "Monster Island," the previous crossover novel of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," the relatively simple idea of having Spike travel from Sunnydale to L.A. to engage in a little money making endeavor on Angel's turf, is a refreshing change. The double-edged sword here is that when Mel Odom wrote this book, little did he know that when it hit the stands Spike would have been added to the cast of "Angel," despite having died a grand and glorious death on the final episode of "BtVS." The good news is just as the fans of the television series created by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt were enjoying this casting decision, Odom's book hit the stands with Angel and Spike pictured side by side. The down side is that Angel and Spike spend relatively little time together in "Cursed," and more often than not it is Angelus and Spike running around Europe in 1891. Some of the best scenes in "Cursed" are when Angel and Spike are together in the present going after each other. I just wish there could be more of that, because that is what we were hoping to read based on the cover of this book.

I realize, of course, that there are practical reasons why this could not be. The Historian's Note in "Cursed" points out that this story takes place in an alternative continuity during the 5th season of "BtVS" and the third season of "Angel." That is a pretty good trick, since the former was the 2000-2001 season and the latter the 2001-2002 season. Since Conner is a baby and Spike has yet to get anywhere with Buffy, you can work out the continuity for yourself. The "alternative" is key because Odom has to write a story about Angel and Spike in which nothing really significant happens between them, because that privilege is left to Joss and his minions.

To avoid the very confrontation we would most like to read in "Cursed," Odom has to a pair of double splits on his narrative. Consequently, while Spike is hired to join a gang of demons in retrieving a object, Angel and his agency are involved in their own case, with the reading becoming aware that these stories are two sides to the same coin long before the characters catch on. Additionally, as is usually the case with any narrative that brings Angel and Spike together, there is a plotline in the past, involving Darla and Drusilla, that informs he doing ons in the present. Bridging the past and the present are some gypsies, although, surprisingly, not the same clan that is involved in Angel's curse.

Ultimately, "Cursed" is really Spike's story and his relationship with the strange gypsy woman Lyanka is the book's pivotal one, despite what the cover promises. As we all remember from "Dopplegangland," despite Buffy's attempt to stifle Angel when he disagrees with her observation that a vampire's personality has nothing do with the person they were in real life, that is indeed the case. Buffy's declaration was because Willow noticed that her vamp double was "kinda gay," and you can draw you own conclusions regarding how Liam became Angeleus. But what we know of the William the Bloody before he was turned is that he was an incurable romantic who wrote bad poetry. Odom is the first to deal explicitly with this idea with regards to Spike.

Odom does a nice job of connecting the dots in this regard. After all, Spike's love for the daft Drusilla was his original defining characteristic, and then he spent the last three seasons on "BtVS" falling hard for the Slayer (just do not try to get me to figure out how Harmony fits into the equation, because I do not think she does). As much as I enjoyed the scenes when Angel and Spike finally get together in L.A. in the present and go at it with the choice verbal sparing, it is really the Spike that is revealed by Lyanka that resonates in "Cursed." The funny thing is, I do not think Odom realized the vein of gold he uncovered in this story, because it is really not set up to be the big payoff in the novel. So, the bottom line on this one is that the Angel part of the story is solid enough, but it is what happens with Spike that was well worth the exploring.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the better Buffy/Angel crossover novels, December 12, 2003

By 

C. A. Brown (California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cursed (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) (Mass Market Paperback)

For anyone looking for great Angel/Spike snarkiness, (ala early season five of Angel: The Series), this book will be a slight disappointment. Angel and Spike don't even come together until the third to last chapter in the book. That is, at least, modern-day Angel and Spike.

However, we do get a nice balance of flashbacks with the Fanged Four (Angelus, Darla, Spike and Dru) throughout most of the book. Which kind-of make up for the lack of modern-day interaction between Angel and Spike. Not completely make up for it, but it doesn't leave one totally disappointed, as it could have.

At over 440 pages, this is one of the longer tie-in Buffy books, and Mel Odom's writing doesn't drag, or feel rushed, or over written, at any point. I didn't notice any continuity glitches, which is something that always seems to happen when there is a Buffy/Angel book that has flashbacks.

This is also, quite possible, the first Buffy tie-in book I've read that portrays post-season four Spike the most accurately. Yes, Spike is amoral. Moral ambiguity going on, all the way. However, Odom doesn't hit the reader over the head about it. He doesn't tell the reader what to think about Spike. Not once does it feel like he's preaching to the reader that Spike is "bad, evil, bad!" and nothing else. We know that what Spike is doing is either evil (in the flashbacks) or amoral (present). We do not need to be *told* it is as well, over and over _an infinitum_, which is something other recent Buffy tie-in books are horribly guilty of doing. Odom gets that there is much more to Spike than just some thrist for violence and mayhem as his only driving force.

This Spike has his driving force . . . his *real* driving force . . . which is also his Achilles heal: he's a fool for love.

In the book, it's his love for Dru that drove him to make a foolish move in 1887, while the Fanged Four are planning a robbery of a wealthy English Lord. It's his love for Buffy that got him into the mess with the loan shark, that gets him into another mess in L.A. in trying not only to pay back the loan shark, but still get some money for Buffy as well.

Love will motivate Spike to do anything . . . even help save a ghost.

The Fanged Four flashbacks were my favorite parts of this book. The interaction between Spike and Dru and how their relationship is portrayed makes perfect sense, for the timeline of the book. Spike adores and loves her madly, yet it's that love and adore that has Dru sometimes treat Spike quite cruelly, in order to make him jealous. (Like flirting with Angelus, taking a demon lover now and again.) It makes sense in light of the whole Angelus-Dru-Spike triangle in season two.

Anyway, this is a very good book. Not exactly like I was expecting, but the story was good, and all the characters, especially, (for one of the first times ever), Spike, were spot on. So I definitely recommend it, especially for fans of Angel and Spike.

And I hope that Odom will get a chance to write some fifth season AtS novels next.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Odom is a great author, May 24, 2004

By 

heather (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cursed (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) (Mass Market Paperback)

Some Buffy and Angel authors seem to have not even have watched the show before they wrote a book. They just dont get the characters personalities down right. Mel Odom is not one of them.

This is a great book if you love Spike and Angel, but the thing is, they aren't together very much in the book at all except in the excellent flashback parts. I found the flashbacks incredibly interesting. I always love finding out more about the older characters one the shows past. Some people hate it, but I thrive on it.

Storywise this book is very creative and I would definitely go out and buy it if I were you.