Convergence

(1) Convergence (Angel/Buffy/Highlander)

By Kylie Leadbitter
Reviewed by Kathryn A on 18th May 2002 (8)
Tags: Novella
Characters: Cordelia Chase, Angel, Methos, Cassandra
(220K)

Well might you call this "Convergence" because all sorts of people are converging on Los Angeles in this story! Overall, I enjoyed this nice long story. It had its moments, some delightful ones.
    "If Spike is driving home, I'm taking the bus!"
    "Me too!"
    "Me three!"
    "What did he do this time?" Giles sighed.
    "He almost killed us!"
    "I certainly would never have given him a licence."
    "I think Spike only knows two speeds, Giles. Flat out and Stop."

Of course, with a cast of thousands (well, not quite) it wasn't possible to give everyone a lot of screen time. This was really a Cordelia story, though there were points at which it felt a bit too much like a Cordelia-Sue story: not just the romance between her and Angel (which I found hard to buy at first, but it also had its moments) but also the way in which she was just a little too good at what she was doing, improbably too good. There were also points at which the plot was a bit too shaky, and after all the build-up (with dire predictions of everyone's demise) the actual battle seemed a bit too easy. (And had another Cordelia-Sue moment in it...)

Still, there were also pitfalls that the author managed to avoid, which I am glad about -- they actually remembered to call Methos "Adam" and not tell everyone how old he is, and Cassandra was actually a Good Witch and not a Bad Witch (ah, I get tired of her being portrayed as a psycho bitch who needs to get a life...).

And as I said, it had its moments.

(2) Pretend (Angel/Pretender/Highlander)

By Kylie Leadbitter
Reviewed by Kathryn A on 18th May 2002 (9)
Tags: Short Story
(40K)

This was actually what prompted me to start reading this series, since I was on a Pretender binge -- but I always like to read stories in order. This story also had its delightful moments, but there were also some fairly unbelievable bits.

(3) Encounters (Angel/Highlander)

By Kylie Leadbitter
Reviewed by Kathryn A on 18th May 2002 (10)
Tags: Vignette
(6K)

This is really just a vignette which reads a bit too much like a self-insertion story -- not that I'm saying that the protagonist is the author or anything like her, it's just that it breaks one of (what I consider to be) the fundamental rules of fanfic: reality and fiction don't mix; or to put it more narrowly, in any particular universe, it is a given that the show/movie on which it is based does not exist in that universe. So having an Angel fan bump into Angel and Cordelia at the Sydney Olympics just... keels over and dies in the plausibility department.