Image (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) [Paperback]

Mel Odom (Author)

Book Description

Series: Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Publication Date: May 7, 2002

A chance encounter with a roomful of portraits brings Angel face to face with a long-forgotten figure from his and Darla's past While Cordelia has a vision of a small child being attacked by a repulsive tentacled demon, Gunn goes to the rescue of a young artist whose studio is under threat from vampires. When Angel arrives on the scene, he is startled to find that the subjects of some of the portraits are known to him. Their memory is linked to an evening long ago that he and Darla spent in the company of a female storyteller and her poet husband - Mary and Percy Shelley. And Angel recalls a painter that Darla once favoured. How could the same artist still be alive today...? The mystery takes Angel back in time to the days when he and Darla roved across all of Europe, killing as they went. This time, though, his intention is very different - to save the life of a single innocent child.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mel Odom has written over 60 books which include the novelization of the movie BLADE and original novels for both the Buffy and Angel series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (May 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743449622
• ISBN-13: 978-0743449625
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #390,688 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

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Image, June 24, 2002

By 

Alexis (Austin, TX, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Image (Angel) (Mass Market Paperback)

"Image" was a great book with lots of detail. It had all the stories of evey character when they faced evil, and when they were emotional. I couldn't put it down, every time I started to read, I just could never stop. This book lasts a while too, unlike some of the small good for a short period books that are going on the market. I reccomend this book to anyone who likes suspence, and good books

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally Awesome!, July 12, 2002

By 

fjmcmm (Gardena, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Image (Angel) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the best of the Angel novels by far. I couldn't stop reading. The plight of Gabriel and Jacob was heartwrenching, especially the ending. It brought me to tears. You have to totally suspend your imagination. Which shouldn't be hard if you're already a fan of the T.V. show. Angel and the gang were fantastic. I highly recommend this novel.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Angel discovers a whole new dimension to the art of painting, August 20, 2002

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: Image (Angel) (Mass Market Paperback)

Reading "Image" so soon after having read Mel Odom's previous Angel novel "Bruja," might have been a mistake, because I think I was more aware of the structural similarities in the two novels than I might have been otherwise. Not that I have anything against Odom's "formula," which involves starting us out in the middle of a lot of action involving a lot of characters and then having most (but not all) of the subplot come together at the end after a significant and usually impressive revelation. But this time around there was a bit too much going on in the beginning to suit my taste.

The prologue also violates the time/space rule, which states (and I am paraphrasing here), that a prologue must represent a very different time and place from the first part of the novel. But in chapter 2 we go back and cover some of the same time frame from the end of the prologue. Usually Odom does a good job of juggling all of the various plot lines in his novels, but this time around I found myself wanting to get back to one particular plot line, so the scene switches were something of an intrusion. Once we get past the first act and everybody has a chance to catch up on the big picture, things proceed briskly apace.

The story focuses on Faroe Burke, a young painter about to have her first big art show who suddenly discovers that a bunch of demons have been hired to capture her, although why anyone would be interested in a former graffiti artist trying to turn legit becomes one of the driving questions of the novel. Meanwhile, Angel stumbles across a blast from his past, Gabriel Dantz, a painter who did a portrait of Darla several hundred years ago, which leads to the question as to how Gabriel happens to still be alive. However, the big question is what do these two painters have in common. One of Odom's strengths has been his creation of new characters for his stories, and I almost wish that Faroe Burke and Gabriel Dantz did not have to compete for time in this particular story.

"Image," despite the emphasis on painting, actually makes better use of horror literature than the vast majority of Angel/Buffy books. There is a reference to the work of H. P. Lovecraft and the celebrated weekend when Lord Byron hosted Percy Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and John Polidori in Geneva and suggested they write some horror stories become a pivotal subplot in the novel.

Characterizations involving the cast from Angel are especially problematic because there have been some significant growth spurts in that regard. Angel has certainly lightened up, Wesley is no longer comic relief, and Cordelia is nowhere near as self-absorbed as before. Then again, there is really no sense of when "Image" takes place in terms of the history of the television series given the sparsity of clues (Kate out, Host in, no Darla in the present) and that makes it difficult to say the characterizations are outdated because the obvious response is that the story takes place when they are not. I think part of it is that I really like the changes that we have seen in Wesley and Cordelia (ironically, it is the new and improved Angel I am least certain about).

Finally, one more oddball complaint. Usually my complaint is that when we get to the big secret in one of these novels it is not particularly impressive and often is just a means to bring about a happy ending relatively quickly. But with Odom his revelations are usually really good and I find myself wishing they had been revealed earlier in the novel so that they could be explored more in the context of the story. Certainly, that is what I was thinking while reading the last act of "Image," which is another above average original novel from Odom, a man who somehow manages to sometimes put too much into his Angel/Buffy books.