‘Buffy’ flashback: ‘Revenant’ (2001) (Book review)

“Revenant” (January 2001) is a big step up from Mel Odom’s “Buffy” debut, “Unnatural Selection,” although if memory serves, he’ll go on to do even better work on “Angel” books and “Buffy”/“Angel” crossovers later. Freed from the constraints of short YA fiction, this story – ostensibly set somewhere between “The Zeppo” (3.13) and “The Prom” (3.20) – goes in the opposite direction and is notably decompressed, flirting with the 400-page mark. It contains several character interactions that aren’t totally plausible based on what we’ve seen on TV, but the scenes are interesting for that very reason.

For example, Xander opens up to Giles, sharing his worries about what he’ll do after high school, and Giles lends a sympathetic ear — a refreshing change from Giles yelling at a wisecracking Xander to shut up. Willow has a new friend named Jia Li – never heard from before or since – and is concerned about Jia’s brother’s heavy magic use; the budding witch goes from sidekick to leading lady in her arc. Joyce is at the wheel, chased by a vehicle full of demons, with Buffy giving directions. Sunnydale is racked by racism and gangland terrorism to go along with the usual fears.

Buffy ultimately takes on a crime lord, who is branching his operations from China into Sunnydale; this is a very un-“Buffy” story, but that’s why it’s bizarrely compelling. “Revenant” actually feels like an “Angel” yarn. Angel engages in an epic warehouse battle complete with Molotov cocktails, toppling stacks of crates and a sewer escape, and he threatens a lawyer by going vamp-face. Cordelia chips in with opinions about what type of demons they are facing.

I like Xander’s relationship with Chinese swordswoman Shing. It’s doomed like all of Xander’s relationships, and even if it isn’t logistically hampered by the fact that “Revenant” is a one-off novel amid established continuity, there are hints from the start that she is superhuman. Shing cuts a swath through demons and vampires, saving Xander from the vamps whom he had just helped defeat in a game of 3-on-3 street basketball (I told you this novel pushes plausibility). But refreshingly, Shin really does like Xander; she is not using him like Mrs. French or the Inca Mummy Girl. It’s about time this kid caught a break.

Odom also briefly includes a private detective by the hardboiled name of Art Sledge who has worked in Sunnydale since before Buffy and Angel came to town. He knows about the supernatural, and even knows their Slayer and vampire-with-a-soul identities. Responding to the pair’s surprise, he says on page 301:

“Oh fer crying out loud. I work out of the shadows in this town, too. If you’re going to live here, you have to know who’s who and what’s what. And you mix in the right circles, you’re gonna hear about you guys.”

I have to admit it checks out.

Also, Angel has a contact down at the docks, and old-woman drifter. Odom is clearly interested in expanding the playground that Joss Whedon had built with all these side characters.

I can go with the expanded roster, but I don’t like my Scoobies to be out of whack, and that’s unfortunately the case with Oz. “Buffy” authors tend to try to make him snarky like Xander, as a replacement for the laconic attitude that Seth Green pulls off on screen but is hard to translate to the written word. Odom is the latest offender, having Oz say things like “Hate to break this little Kodak moment up.” Really, Oz is a simple (albeit smart) young man who cares about Willow, his band and controlling his lycanthropy; this attitude grows from a strong belief in embracing the things in life that make him happy and not looking further.

“Revenant” is a crazily muscular novel, with Oz, Xander and Shing fleeing from the bad guys in a sports car, through cave tunnels and onto a cliff-side road that runs parallel to the ocean – with the demons’ guns blazing away. It’s like “The Fast and the Furious” meets “Buffy.” That’s not a criticism, necessarily. In the TV series, if the story required a setting – a mall, a beach, docks, forests, caves, even an airport – Sunnydale suddenly has it. So I’ll accept the cliff-side chase.

This book is structured differently from the Golden-and-Holder pattern of interspersing flashbacks to the ancient villain’s past. The plot’s roots are in the distant past: The crime lord and the swordswoman pursuing him date back to a time in China when peasants worshiped dragons. And Willow’s friend’s brother seeks revenge on behalf of his ancestor, who was buried in a cave-in in Sunnydale’s early history.

But “Revenant” is largely structured like a complex crime novel, set entirely in the present, with Giles, Willow and the others piecing together the puzzle. The book tries to do too much and is a little long in the tooth – the final fight feels endless — but Odom demonstrates skills that will serve him well on the “Angel” novels, which fit more comfortably into both the detective genre and the flow of the TV series’ narrative.

Click here for an index of all of John’s “Buffy” and “Angel” reviews.

My rating: