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The Unseen Trilogy #1

Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel: The Burning

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Shadows and Secrets

It's summertime in Sunnydale, and Salma de la Navidad, a friend of Buffy's from Sunnydale High, needs help. She and her family immigrated to America, and now she fears her brother, in an attempt to gain social acceptance, has stumbled into supernatural gang warfare. To make matters worse, an unknown creature has been doing a little night stalking. Buffy is certain that this new demonic presence has its roots in L.A. - Angel's turf. So with the help of the Slayerettes, she heads off to battle demons - both actual and personal.

Meanwhile, in the City of Angels, Cordelia stumbles upon a vampire-worshiping cult of runaways as Angel investigates an invisible presence wreaking havoc in the local prisons.

Now Buffy and pals must deal with identity crises of their own. Buffy may be the Chosen One, but she is, ultimately, expendable. Angel is unique, yet his particular status isolates him from humanity and monsters alike. So while all wonder - "do I make a difference?" - the humans and demons who surround them answer that question in astonishing ways...

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

4 people are currently reading
714 people want to read

About the author

Nancy Holder

352 books2,407 followers
Nancy Holder, New York Times Bestselling author of the WICKED Series, has just published CRUSADE - the first book in a new vampire series cowritten with Debbie Viguie. The last book her her Possession series is set to release in March 2011.

Nancy was born in Los Altos, California, and her family settled for a time in Walnut Creek. Her father, who taught at Stanford, joined the navy and the family traveled throughout California and lived in Japan for three years. When she was sixteen, she dropped out of high school to become a ballet dancer in Cologne, Germany, and later relocated to Frankfurt Am Main.

Eventually she returned to California and graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at San Diego with a degree in Communications. Soon after, she began to write; her first sale was a young adult romance novel titled Teach Me to Love.

Nancy’s work has appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, amazon.com, LOCUS, and other bestseller lists. A four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, she has also received accolades from the American Library Association, the American Reading Association, the New York Public Library, and Romantic Times.

She and Debbie Viguié co-authored the New York Times bestselling series Wicked for Simon and Schuster. They have continued their collaboration with the Crusade series, also for Simon and Schuster, and the Wolf Springs Chronicles for Delacorte (2011.) She is also the author of the young adult horror series Possessions for Razorbill. She has sold many novels and book projects set in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Saving Grace, Hellboy, and Smallville universes.

She has sold approximately two hundred short stories and essays on writing and popular culture. Her anthology, Outsiders, co-edited with Nancy Kilpatrick, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award in 2005.

She teaches in the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program, offered through the University of Southern Maine. She has previously taught at UCSD and has served on the Clarion Board of Directors.

She lives in San Diego, California, with her daughter Belle, their two Corgis, Panda and Tater; and their cats, David and Kittnen Snow. She and Belle are active in Girl Scouts and dog obedience training.

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5 stars
335 (40%)
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191 (22%)
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250 (30%)
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
Profile Image for Craig.
6,396 reviews179 followers
May 11, 2023
This is the first volume of a crossover trilogy reuniting Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer... the shows, not so much the characters. It's set between the fourth and fifth seasons of Buffy, which was concurrent with the first and second seasons of Angel. It's very much the first part of a trilogy, with a kind of slow start and then a cliffhanger stoppage rather than a conclusion of any kind, so one should be sure all three sections are on hand before reading this one. It is pretty interesting once it gets going, and Mariotte and Holder do a fine job of capturing the characters voices, complete with some clever quips and snappy dialog. I particularly liked the Riley-Tara dynamic. Grrr & arrrgh.
Profile Image for Patrick Hayes.
685 reviews7 followers
May 9, 2020
This first installment in a trilogy takes a while to get going, but by Chapter 5 (Page 65) things really really pick up.

The book alternates between three stories: Buffy and the Scoobies helping a friend of Willow whose younger brother has gone missing. Adding to the mystery of his disappearance is a giant shadow creature killing locales. In L.A. Angel is helping a mother and her son with a poltergeist. Adding to their anxiety is their husband/father in jail for a crime he didn't commit, who also seems to be suffering from a supernatural entity. Meanwhile, also in L.A., Cordelia comes across a band of homeless girls who are eagerly awaiting a vampire to appear to turn them.

Two of the stories become interrelated by the close of the book, which ends on a cliffhanger, and Buffy and Angel don't meet up until pages from the conclusion. Although I wanted to see the pair reunited, there are two other books that can cover that need. The dialogue is perfect, exactly as one would want to hear their favorite characters, and everyone is here: Buffy, Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya, Giles, Spike, Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley. The action is good, building appropriately, with most of it occurring in Angel's tale.

What keeps the story from earning five stars is it being a cliffhanger, with nothing resolved, and the gang borders on cliche at times. That said, I did enjoy this book and have the concluding two parts ready to read.
Profile Image for Gabriel Mero.
Author 5 books7 followers
April 9, 2024
I read this back in middle school, and didn't remember anything about this book other than that it was set between seasons 4 and 5 of Buffy. I hadn't even seen the first season and a half of Angel back then. Now, close to twenty years later, I have seen all of Angel and done a rewatch of Buffy. I decided to finally read the full trilogy, as I had never found the subsequent two books. The first quarter or so of the book was very very slow, but once it picked up, I couldn't put the book down. I thought the characterizations of the Scoobies and Angel's gang were spot-on. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the reunion between Buffy and Angel; I'm actually happy that they didn't reunite until the last few pages. It made the suspense that much better.
Profile Image for Metalfist.
383 reviews4 followers
December 22, 2023
Ik heb het al wel eens vaker gezegd, maar ik blijf fijne herinneringen houden aan The Lost Slayer reeks van Christopher Golden. Een reeks van 4 delen die ik begin dit jaar heb herlezen en ik dacht eigenlijk dat het mijn start van 2023 was. In dat opzicht leek het me wel tof om te eindigen met een ander boek rond Buffy the Vampire Slayer (zowat het “de cirkel is rond” principe), maar kijk: The Beginning Place van Ursula Le Guin was eigenlijk mijn eerste volledige boek van 2023. In ieder geval, een lange uitleg om aan te geven dat ik best zin had in nog eens een boekenreeks rond Buffy.

Deze keer is het “slechts” een trilogie, maar wat me wel leuk leek: het is een crossover met Angel! Beide series draag ik een warm hart toe en hoewel het al jaren geleden is dat ik ze nog überhaupt heb gezien, is het wel tof om bijvoorbeeld Gunn in een soort van veredelde bijrol te zien. Dat neemt echter niet weg dat de rest van The Burning niet echt fantastisch is. Ik vraag me af of het sowieso een goed idee was om hier een trilogie van te maken, want het duurt echt wel heel lang vooraleer het boek echt op gang komt. Ik snap dat Nancy Holder en Jeffrey J. Mariotte even tijd moesten vrijmaken om alle personages te introduceren (je hebt sowieso een stuk in Sunnydale en een stuk in Los Angeles en dat zijn dan enkel nog maar de personages die we reeds kennen uit de serie… Uiteraard moeten er ook nog een hoop nieuwe personages geïntroduceerd worden), maar an sich heb ik het gevoel dat er bewust tijd wordt gerokken om dit als trilogie te kunnen uitbrengen. Een gevoel dat ik normaal bij een tweede deel heb, dus ik hoop dat de opvolger me wat beter gaat bevallen. Nancy Holder is sowieso al niet één van mijn favoriete Buffy schrijfsters, al vond ik Blood and Fog wel één van de betere boeken van haar, maar ik vind het altijd een beetje vreemd als schrijvers in duo werken. Langs de andere kant is en blijft Dune één van mijn favoriete reeksen en laat die nu ook grotendeels uit een samenwerking tussen twee schrijvers bestaan.

Dat echter even terzijde, want het gaat hier natuurlijk nog altijd om Buffy en Angel. Die zijn eindelijk terug in elkaars aanwezigheid en op de koop is Riley er ook nog bij. Dat gaat sowieso vonken geven en halverwege het boek duikt ook Spike nog eens op. Weliswaar de Spike die “gecastreerd” is vanwege de chip in zijn hoofd, maar het is altijd een leuke toevoeging. Ik ben benieuwd wat deel 2 gaat brengen. Hopelijk toch een beetje meer kwaliteit en vaart.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Véronique Laplante Grenier.
1,216 reviews8 followers
November 18, 2021
The burning is the first book in The Unseen trilogy by authors Nancy Holder and Jeff Mariotte. It's a crossover between tv shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

It's summer in Sunnydale, and way hotter than usual, and its not because of the hellmouth. Even if creatures are lurking in the shadows. And kids starts disappearing. A cult in L.A. involving vampire worshippers might be involve. Buffy and the rest of the scoobies will have to travel to L.A. to find one of the missing kids, brother of a school friend of Willow.

Love when there's a crossover between the two shows.
Profile Image for Iain.
697 reviews4 followers
July 5, 2019
I read the trilogy in rapid succession so I'll just post the one review.

A decent romp with the Scoobie gang. At it's best characters were well portrayed and their interactions interesting. Unfortunately, the story dragged at times, and could easily have been edited (for the better) into a tale half as long.

Beware, the events take place between seasons 4 & 5 (IIRC) and are replete with spoilers.

Read in 2019, a fun revival for fans of the show's golden era.
Profile Image for Iain.
697 reviews4 followers
August 31, 2019
I read the trilogy in rapid succession so I'll just post the one review.

A decent romp with the Scoobie gang. At it's best characters were well portrayed and their interactions interesting. Unfortunately, the story dragged at times, and could easily have been edited (for the better) into a tale half as long.

Beware, the events take place between seasons 4 & 5 (IIRC) and are replete with spoilers.

Read in 2019, a fun revival for fans of the show's golden era.
Profile Image for LJP1610.
131 reviews25 followers
January 14, 2018
i f&&cking hate Riley. his presence ruins this story. i like the parts with tara and willow's relationship (which is pretty new at this stage) and tara's POV.
Profile Image for Maren.
9 reviews
July 15, 2022
Einen Stern Abzug wegen dem Satz "Dank der guten Bodenhaftung ihrer Turnschuhe bog Buffy ohne Tempoverlust in die Gasse"
Profile Image for Maggie Carter.
93 reviews1 follower
December 30, 2023
Riley being such a good crime-fighting partner for Tara almost makes me like him!
Profile Image for Alex.
496 reviews21 followers
January 27, 2025
Good book, a lot of disparate plots that were all interesting to some degree, that seems to be more interconnected than they might first appear. I also like having the crossover aspect so we get to see a multitude of characters. For the most part the dialogue was accurate for the characters, a couple of clunky bits (mostly around Anya) but I can forgive it. Looking forward to seeing where Part 2 of the trilogy goes.

(Original review, 3 stars)

Read 20/03/2013 - 25/03/2013

One of the things I love most about Buffy is the way it perfectly meshes together depictions of fighting supernatural demons, and depictions of human struggles and relationships. The issue with non-canonical books that try to slip into the canon of the show, is that they cannot change or affect any of the continuity within the show - and this continuity is mostly the human relationships that develop throughout the show. So, taking that away, what you're left with is a pretty bog standard book about fighting demons, that just happens to include a cast of Buffy and the Scoobies.

However, I didn't find it as bland as I initially thought I would. Some of the characters' speech felt a little forced (looking at you, Anya), and sometimes references to episodes felt a little forced (Anya just happening to mention a Fyarl demon, giving Giles an opportunity to tell her she was wrong about them), but other than this it was quite nice to read what could have easily passed as an actual episode. It was also quite nice to read something from the Angel-verse - having not seen the series in a couple of years, I hadn't realised quite how much I missed Cordelia being in my life.

In terms of the story itself, it's something of a mixed bag, and I feel somewhat inadequately equipped to pass judgement, since this is the first installment of a trilogy. But in this book, we have Buffy and Willow investigating the disappearance of a girl's sister, we have Riley and Tara sort of investigating the brother's activity, we have Angel investigating a man wrongly imprisoned who has been evoking telekinetic activity, and we have Cordelia and Wesley investigating a group of girls planning to turn into vampires. And then Giles, Xander and Anya are doing... not a whole lot, really. Unfortunately, none of these stories really gelled much with me. Gang warfare just seems like something that feels misplaced in Sunnydale, so immediately the main Sunnydale (and, eventually, L.A.) storyline just wasn't doing it for me (although the character interaction was still enjoyable). Angel's storyline also feels a little lacklustre, and since he's alone there isn't really a whole lot of character interaction to enjoy. Which leaves me just with Cordelia and Wesley, surprisingly, providing both an enjoyable storyline, and enjoyable interactions.

I must add, though, that in the final few pages, all the stories seem to be tying together, and from reading the preview of the second book, it sounds like it's heading somewhere interesting.

So, overall, a pretty average book. The actual plotline, as a whole, isn't fantastic and I'm not sure it really required 274 pages to tell. However, most of the characters were enjoyable to read, and pretty accurately portrayed.
Profile Image for Kelly Ferguson.
41 reviews
March 3, 2024
An amazing cross-over story! Perfectly balanced between all Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel characters; I highly recommend! Hoping to find out where all the missing people have gone in Book 2!
Profile Image for Lauren.
805 reviews4 followers
December 22, 2017
Back when I first read this book I was young and didn't fully grasp the entire story. Reading it now as I'm older, I enjoyed the book more. The story line is really interesting and is different than what you'd normally assume a plot would be for Buffy. It's intriguing to read a story of Buffy, Angel, and the gang from a different perspective of other writers. It was great how they tied in the actual show events into the story line. It keeps it connected to the shows. It gets your head in a mindset of where to picture the characters story lines at and what their mood was during those seasons.
Profile Image for Elaine.
665 reviews
July 14, 2014
Not sure I want to admit I read this! haha! I'm a fan of both Buffy and Angel, and always love crossovers, so this was a little mindless escape into the Buffyverse. I liked that it takes place at a point in the series that was still good, before the next seasons took a big downturn. (imo). It has appearances from all major characters, and all the dialogue was true to character, so that was fun. There's a bunch of plot threads that are all just coming together at the end of the book, when it suddenly ends!! So now I guess I gotta read the next book.
Profile Image for Tardisgirl.
380 reviews8 followers
March 22, 2012
Done! ^__^ I definitely enjoyed it. It took a while to get into, but once I did I found it very interesting and exciting. I love reading about the characters I already love so much in the TV series. The writers did a good job in maintaining their own speech, thoughts and actions. I'd definitely recommend this book to a real Buffy / Angel fan. I think they'd enjoy it as much as I did. I'm looking forward to starting in book 2 of this trilogy.
3 reviews
September 30, 2013
I thought that this book had a nice set of always keeping you on edge and wanting to never put the book down. It was hard for me to put it down because every chance I got to read it I never wanted to put it down which would cause me to get in trouble by my mom for not doing my chores or for not eating yet. But she's used to that. I would highly recommended this book for people to read.
Profile Image for Sidney.
2,050 reviews7 followers
October 24, 2022
It’s October so that means it’s Buffy time again! Don’t judge; this is my go-to books for this scary month of reading. Buffy, Angel and the Scoobies are looking for kids who just suddenly disappear; through a time warp door. They are also dealing with gang members and invisible shadow monsters. What could be more fun?
Profile Image for Randy.
906 reviews5 followers
May 17, 2013
Very short. That being said it is nice to finally see a buffy book that ties in nicely to the angel series. Everyone from Tara and Riley to Cordielia and Gun are involved. Can't wait to hit up book 2!
350 reviews
January 2, 2022
First book in a trilogy. So far, best buffy ever. And...its even a crossover with Angel gang in L.A. Anya is hilarious and Spike has a chip in his brain to emasculate his vampirism much to his annoyance. Plan to read book 2 tn July and looking forward to it.
Profile Image for Rae.
112 reviews7 followers
September 22, 2011
Took awhile to get into this one, but once I had really enjoyed it. Had it on my shelf about ten years now, thought it was about time I read it.
Profile Image for Svein.
98 reviews7 followers
June 3, 2015
Once again a very enjoyable Buffy-read. I will write a more in depth review when I finish the trilogy.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews

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