The Crow: City of Angels

The Crow Novels #2

by Chet Williamson

Murdered, Ashe is taken over by a dark spirit that enables him to seek revenge on his killers

Genres: Fantasy, Thriller, Media Tie In, Film, Comics

250 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Chet Williamson has written horror, science fiction, and suspense since 1981. Among his novels are Second Chance, Hunters, Defenders of the Faith, Ash Wednesday, Reign, Dreamthorp, and the forthcoming Psycho Sanitarium, an authorized sequel to Robert Bloch's classic Psycho. Over a hundred of his short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Playboy, Esquire, The Magazine of F&SF, and many other magazines and anthologies.

He has won the International Horror Guild Award, and has been shortlisted twice for the World Fantasy Award, six times for the HWA Stoker, and once for the MWA's Edgar. Nearly all of his works are available in ebook format.

A stage and film actor, he has recorded over 40 unabridged audiobooks, both of his own work and that of many other writers, available at www.audible.com. Follow him on Twitter (@chetwill) or at www.chetwilliamson.com.

Reviews

[A. E. S.]

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION TO SEE THE FULL-LENGTH VERSION OF THE FILM, THE WAY ITS VISION WAS INTENDED:

https://www.change.org/p/tim-pope-rel...

NEW PETITION: http://chng.it/sNvYyRHCrM

I am a huge fan of The Crow series. This is the book version of the movie - AVOID the Mirimax version and look for the fan cut of this film please! City of Angels is tragic, despairing, poetic and absolutely beautiful. This is basically what could have been if the script hadn't been cut to pieces and given a "happy" (for Crow terms) ending. I wish there were more books like this!

[Skunke]

4 out of 5

So I sat down and read it and damn I wish this was what we got instead of the movie that was the Weinsteins spreading their cheeks all over Brandon Lee's legacy. Rip Brandon Lee.

This book, based on the screenplay and Tim Pope's vision of what City of Angels should have been, is an honest and worthy successor to my all time favorite movie and reading this was like opening a City of Angels shaped treasure chest. It has everything the movie should have had and it's genuinely good.
This doesn't feel like a cheap rehash of the first book, but instead a natural chapter 2 of the same story. Still not as good as the OG movie, but still good enough.

This also has some things that the 2024 (excuse my puking in the background) movie borrowed but done way better.

However, without glazing the first movie, or spoiling this book too much, the last act wasn't that great. I enjoyed the entire book, but the last act had a lot of problems. And the pacing was a bit off. But still, a little gem of a book you should read if you get the opportunity.

I do this with every book I read in 2026, but if this had some form of theme song, it would be Day Of The Dead by Hollywood Undead. The song perfectly fits the characters, the song is named after the holiday that this book is set on, and the band if from The City of Angels.

[Carly]

A tragic love story This is one of my favourite books/films, since I am a big fan of Vincent Perez and the crow series of books/graphic novels. The only problem I had with the book is that the name of the character is Ashe Corven but kept changing to Ashe Craven in the book for some reason. I wish the film adaptation followed the plot of the book a bit more and that the ending was the same, I haven't seen the film for awhile so I have forgotten how it ends.
The ending in the film is different to the ending in the book, which is annoying since I love the film.
Some of my favourite scenes in the book/film are when Ashe Corven goes to the
peep-o-rama to kill the first victim Nemo and he says "do you want me baby?" before he kills Nemo, then he gets vengeance for himself and his son Danny since they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and they were both murdered. 
I believe that the person who is resurrected whether it is a man or a woman is a martyr for their cause, since they have suffered greatly at the merciless hands of other people that are evil. They are given a second chance to avenge their deaths or murders, for being wronged, so that they will be at peace and finally be able to join their loved ones in the afterlife.I wish there were more books about a variety of subjects and more female characters since there was only one female character in a graphic novel or book in the crow series. Hopefully the crow: wicked prayer is about native americans like the film is. I don't understand why there isn't a book based the film the crow:salvation either.

[Victor Orozco]

When it comes to reading comic books I am generally more mainstream, so when a comic-book/graphic novel is made into a movie that sets the world ablaze I pay attention. And nothing set the fire like James O'Barr's epic graphic novel The Crow, sadly for both good and wrong reasons. Brandon Lee's epic performance equaled the controversy that was his tragic death. With such a success among the tragedy the powers that be at Miramax decided to string together a sequel. I must say I enjoyed it but I've heard a plethora of rumors, including a director's cut that was made available only on pay-per-view. So when The Crow: City of Angels, the sequel to the classic hit was adapted into a movie tie-in, I knew I just had to read this.

A decade has gone by since the murder of Eric Draven and his beloved fiance, and the glorious tale of retaliation invoked by the power of a crow to the murdered man. But one of the friends of Eric Draven, Sarah, once a precocious young girl has grown to be a beautiful woman living alone in Los Angeles. But as she lives, another set of innocents die at the hands of a gang of a powerful crime boss. Ashe Craven is a mechanic at an auto shop making a living for his son Danny but one loud sound sets his curious son to an event that dooms them both. But the same power that rose Eric Draven from the grave brings back Ashe Corvin to put the wrong things right, but with help from Sarah, still overcome from the pain and loss of her childhood works to help a man she has opened her heart. From there follows an adventure laden with action and danger that leads to the wicked punished.

I loved the first movie and enjoyed the second. However, I can see how the movie wasn't well received. Some people could easily call this a money grab made in poor taste after Brandon Lee's death, but this was still a great story and in many ways was as good as the original. I like how Ashe was a mechanic like the character in James O'Barr's original graphic novel. I also loved how Sarah and Ashe had opened up to each other but didn't become the cliched romance that you'd expect. Not to mention Mia Kirschner was crazy hot but sweet and innocent. But I heard the main controversy was that this story could have expanded more than just another movie but a real franchise thanks to a director who had a great vision but was foiled by Harvey Weinstein's interference. The book ends differently than the movie, one that alludes to the possibility of a real sequel with the same character. Instead, they did make a sequel but with another innocent man whose beloved was murdered and was executed for it only to become the next Crow. An okay movie, but this story could have been better. This story fleshed out many of the characters with thoughts and their fears, something the movie couldn't show.

Not bad, but could have been better.

[A.L. Bellettiere]

Overall, a lot better then the movie itself. Chet added a lot more depth to the story that the movie probably could have used but that's the studio's fault. My only minor gripes is that you don't get any idea of what's going to happen now with Sybil...but I'm sure for most, that's not a big deal. That and he added a little more to Sarah's story, which I think the movie itself is guilty of, that Sarah is inevitably going on that dark path, where she states that she wanted to take Ashe's place on the way to death. Not something I agree with and I could have done without but still better then the movie.

[Violet Swanepoel]

It's one of my favorites to re-read

[Scarlet]

“If two people really love each other, nothing can keep them apart.
Nothing.”
Ouch!

[Kane]

This novelisation is based on the screenplay, not the movie itself. Essentially, this is what the movie was originally intended to be before it got Weinstein'd and edited by the studio in an attempt to replicate the first movie. I have seen the fan-edit that's out there and read all the information about the cut footage, but I've never been able to really visualise what the movie would have been until reading this. Although the final film has always been one of my all-time personal favourites, I re-watched it right after finishing this and I actually thought less of it because it only highlighted how poorly the final edit did the film/story justice. To anyone that has ever wanted to see the true director's cut, I could not recommend this book more.

[Breña]

2005 schrieb ich:
Vorneweg: ich kenne nur den ersten Film, die Comics sowie den zweiten Film kenne ich nicht.
Die Story des Buches hat starke Parallelen zur Vorgeschichte, was aber nicht weiter stört. Und es kommt halt alles vor, was dazugehört: Rache, Gewalt, Hoffnung und die richtige Portion Liebe... Leider hat die Schreibe mir stellenweise nicht ganz so gut gefallen.
War genau das richtige Buch für zwei faule Tage mit viel Sonne und frischer Luft.

[Briánna]

So good, so good!!!

[Melissa]

I read this back in the day when I was about 15 I think. I liked it though I did find it a little wierd I guess. I plan to re-read it one day.

[Arianna]

I read this and I was so grasped by the entire story. The Dark Hero seeking vengeance on the people who murdered him and his son. <3

[Descending Angel]

Much better then the film, explains a few things more.