Book of the Dead is an original novel based on the U.S. television series Angel

Angel (TV series)

Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...

, written by and published by Pocket Books

Pocket Books

Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...

. It was first published in 2004.

Plot summary

Wes has loved books since childhood. When a former colleague, Adrian O'Flaherty, arrives in town and invites him to a secret auction of rare occult books, Wes immediately agrees.

However Adrian wants more than dusty old books at the auction. He wants revenge. Before the Watchers' Council was blown up (seen in 'Never Leave Me

Never Leave Me (Buffy episode)

"Never Leave Me" is the ninth episode of the seventh and final season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in which the Scooby Gang begins to realize the magnitude of their peril.-Plot synopsis:...

'), Rutherford Sirk took a number of rare books from the Council's libraries and killed the librarian who was Adrian's father.

Wes buys a number of old books at the auction including one of the most famous books of magick, The Red Compendium, which is infamous for absorbing those who read it. Wes has always been a sucker for literature and soon finds he can't put it down even if he wants to.

Continuity

• Supposed to be set in Angel Season 4, after Buffy episode "Never Leave Me
  Never Leave Me (Buffy episode)
  "Never Leave Me" is the ninth episode of the seventh and final season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in which the Scooby Gang begins to realize the magnitude of their peril.-Plot synopsis:...
  
  ".

Canonical issues

Angel books

Angel novels

Angel novels have been published since 2000 by Pocket Books. The last was published in 2004.-Season 1:These Buffyverse tales take place during Buffy season 4, and Angel season 1 .-Season 2:...

 such as this one are not usually considered by fans as canonical. Some fans consider them stories from the imaginations of authors and artists, while other fans consider them as taking place in an alternative fictional reality. However unlike fan fiction

Fan fiction

Fan fiction is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator...

, overviews summarising their story, written early in the writing process, were 'approved' by both Fox and Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon

Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...

(or his office), and the books were therefore later published as officially Buffy/Angel merchandise.

Reviews

• Teen-books.com - Reviews of this book