First off let me start by saying this book is for the Buffy fan, it's a narration of several of the episodes. I was quite thrilled personally that it started with my favorite episode of season one. It follows the episode to a T, but does offer small insights into Angel that you didn't get just watching the episode, which is I suppose, the entire reason you purchased the book in the first place. It was better written than what I was expecting, honestly I had set the bar pretty low to begin with and found myself surprised.

I am very happy with my decision to read this series. Love how you are able to get a more personal look into the character's thoughts and feelings.

I'm a late bloomer to the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But started watching the series and had to get the books. Angel is a haunted sole who can't not enjoy one moment of pure happiness. The book series ended with Angel having had the moment of happiness which turned him back into his old self - EVIL.

This book is great for Buffy/Angel shippers. It is a novelization of 3 Buffy episode. "Angel" Season 1 episode 7, "Reptile Boy" Season 2 episode 5, "Lie to Me" Season 2 episode 7. I loved reading this book. Nancy Holder did a great job of putting these episode on pager. Even after seening the episodes I still ejoyed the book. My favorite of the stories is "Lie To Me" mainly cause Spike and Dru. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars mainly cause to get a five the book would have to be a great as some of Nancy Holder's other books with co-wrighter Christopher Golden. (Child of the Hunt and The Gatekeeper Trilogy) This book is a for every fan.

The books gave you much more of insight regarding Angels back ground. He clearly was haunted and twisted if he had a taste of happiness.

Although Nancy Holder isn't my favourite "Buffy" novelist, and the books based on the television episodes aren't top quality reading material (why not just watch the show?) this third volume of the Angel Chronicles gets higher marks simply because it's based on three of the show's best episodes.

It's worth having them in book form, and is a good book to lend to a person new to the Buffy universe (especially if they're watching "Angel" for the first time) as this handles the far reaching history and consequences of Angel's destiny, his soul, his curse, and its all-important clause.

Like the previous volumes in this series, the book contains three teleplays, in this case "Surprise" by Marti Noxon, "Innocence" by Joss Whedon, and "Passion" by Ty King, all of which are set in season two. Nancy Holder's style is somewhat bland at times, and certain scenes that have been known to get me teary on the television screen registered nothing here, but she gets the main points and emotions across clearly enough.

In "Surprise" it's Buffy's seventeenth birthday, and her group of friends (Xander, Willow, Giles, Cordelia, Angel, Oz and Jenny) are determined to give her a decent party. Unfortunately, as time will soon tell, Buffy's birthdays never go smoothly, and resident vampires Spike and Drusilla are planning their own celebration. They have collected together all the pieces of the indestructible Judge, a demon that destroys anything with goodness inside them.

This episode was followed immediately by "Innocence". After Angel and Buffy narrowly escape the power of the Judge, they slept together for the first time, which now results in Angel's curse rearing its ugly head, and a secret identity revealed amongst Buffy's group of friends. Now the Slayer has two forms of evil to deal with - the Judge, and the sadistic Angelus, Angel's evil alter-ego.

Finally, "Passion" is perhaps my favourite episode of the entire show, which brought forth a beautiful score, a shocking death and amazing performances from the entire cast. Angelus is on a mission not just to kill Buffy, but to completely destroy her, targetting her family and friends with scare tactics and mind games in order to bring her down. But now he must take more decisive action once one of Buffy's allies finds a way to bring his soul back.

Often the show is simply more powerful than what Holder can portray on the page, but other times the written word can offer more insights into the minds of the characters - her most potent contribution is Jenny Calendar's tragic and heartbreaking last thought. Likewise Angelus's thoughts on the nature and meaning of passion are just as profound, and fit in nicely with her framing of the story - two passages at beginning and end with Angel/Angelus watching Buffy's house.

She also helps clean up a blooper made on the show - when Xander gets his idea on how to take out the Judge he tells the others "meet me at Willow's in half an hour." However, the show then cuts to the next day when Buffy confronts Jenny, before returning to Xander's plan that night. Holder explains this by adding that "Oz's van was in the shop," making them have to wait.

Out of all of the novelisations out there, this is the one worth having.

Unlike the first two volumes in this Buffy sub-series, this third collection of a trio of adapted scripts from the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer really do all focus on pivotal moments in "The Angle Chronicles." Nancy Holder, clearly the top writer of the Buffy books, adapts the teleplays of "Surprise" by Marti Noxon, "Innocence" by Joss Whedon, and "Passion" by Ty King. These pivotal stories in the series cover the episodes where Angel spends the night with Buffy, is transformed into Angelus, and brutally kills Jenny Calendar. As the back cover notes, there are stories chronicling Angel's darker side. In fact, it never gets any darker than this, but it also sets up the fabulous of the series, the two-part "Becoming" episodes at the end of Season Two.

Holden does a nice job of capturing the emotional depth of the conflict within these stories. It is a thankless job to put into words those things that transcend words, such as the emotional meltdown suffered by Giles and Buffy after she rescues her Watcher from his gallant but doomed attack on Angelus. Holden never disappoints in her efforts, which carry over to her original stories as well (Read Holder's comments above to see how committed she is to getting things right). As novelizations of Buffy episodes go, I have yet to read one better than this. One of the nice things about this volume is that these particular episodes are the first three on the Buffy and Angel Chronicles video collection.

Hopefully the other three episodes will be novelized in the fourth volume of "The Angel Chronicles," although such sensible symmetry is probably too much to hope for on this side of the Hellmouth. Until then, think about given Nancy Holder's non-Buffy books a try as well. You have to support someone like this boys and girls.