mollyxroses's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
wyemu's review
2.0
As with all books which are written off of a TV series I love, the most important factor for me is whether the characters' voices sound "real". Golden has written many books for the Buffyverse and so is able to get the characters really well which takes that concern off of the table. The next thing is the story itself obviously. Does the plot make sense and is the final battle and defeat of the enemy believable or does it rely on too many lucky coincidences. The good news for this one is that it's a pretty believable storyline and face-off against the enemy, and the enemies defeat, or at least being driven off, is well-played out. Another good read for Buffy fans.
alexampersand's review
4.0
The joy of Buffy, the show, is that it nails both character and plot. The novels so far have been a little patchy on character, and had fairly mediocre plots.
This one, however, gets 5 stars for character. They really nailed them by this point (probably helped by the fact that this came out just before Season 3, so the TV writers had developed the characters enough that the novel writers could get into their shoes comfortably). The dialogue and situations all felt believable, and I genuinely would have believed if this had been a novelisation of an episode... for the most part. A couple of bits seemed stilted, mostly Giles (not sure the Americans had quite worked out how to write British dialogue just right). I particularly enjoyed the scene in the Summers house between Joyce and Cordelia - a pairing that I'm not sure we ever got in the series, but this book made me realise it might have been a nice touch.
Plot-wise, however... I would probably give this a 3. And the thing is, it's not bad, per se, there's just... a lot. There's a Renaissance Faire going on, and there seems to be something weird happening. Oh, and there are "wee folk", little goblin-leprechaun creatures. And also... a hunt, with a Norse God at the helm. I feel like either the Hunt or the Faire would have made decent plots in their own rights, but trying to combine them just left me feeling a little too overwhelmed. Honestly, I'm still not entirely sure where exactly the faerie fit in to the plan of the Hunt. (were they part of the Hunt? Or just a miscellaneous extra? Unclear!!)
There's also a random centaur thrown in, which was DEFINITELY a bit too over-loaded.
This was the longest book in the Buffy novel series so far, and I feel like the characterisation really benefitted from that, but the plot may have benefitted from being whittled down to a singular story and stuck into a 180 page novel like the others.
This one, however, gets 5 stars for character. They really nailed them by this point (probably helped by the fact that this came out just before Season 3, so the TV writers had developed the characters enough that the novel writers could get into their shoes comfortably). The dialogue and situations all felt believable, and I genuinely would have believed if this had been a novelisation of an episode... for the most part. A couple of bits seemed stilted, mostly Giles (not sure the Americans had quite worked out how to write British dialogue just right). I particularly enjoyed the scene in the Summers house between Joyce and Cordelia - a pairing that I'm not sure we ever got in the series, but this book made me realise it might have been a nice touch.
Plot-wise, however... I would probably give this a 3. And the thing is, it's not bad, per se, there's just... a lot. There's a Renaissance Faire going on, and there seems to be something weird happening. Oh, and there are "wee folk", little goblin-leprechaun creatures. And also... a hunt, with a Norse God at the helm. I feel like either the Hunt or the Faire would have made decent plots in their own rights, but trying to combine them just left me feeling a little too overwhelmed. Honestly, I'm still not entirely sure where exactly the faerie fit in to the plan of the Hunt. (were they part of the Hunt? Or just a miscellaneous extra? Unclear!!)
There's also a random centaur thrown in, which was DEFINITELY a bit too over-loaded.
This was the longest book in the Buffy novel series so far, and I feel like the characterisation really benefitted from that, but the plot may have benefitted from being whittled down to a singular story and stuck into a 180 page novel like the others.
jesusvelarde_'s review
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Este es el primer libro que leo ambientado en el universo de Buffy y en general fue una lectura muy entretenida. Aunque en un inicio no me estaba atrapando demasiado (principalmente porque no sabia para donde iba a tirar la historia) a medida que continue leyendo la trama se puso progresivamente mas emocionante y me tenia muy intrigado como todas los sucesos que se nos presentaban al inicio se iban conectando. Es una muy buena adición a la serie que no necesariamente altera o rompe con el canon de esta (a excepción de algunas caracterizaciones de personajes) y genuinamente se sintio como leer un episodio de Buffy. La batalla final fue muy emocionante, sin embargo para el final de la historia hubo algunas subtramas que me hubiera gustado que se les diera un cierre más propio y no muy por encimita. Definitivamente estaré procurando leer mas libros de la seriey especificamente de estos dos autores.
thatkansasgirl's review
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
circus_of_damned's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Feels very much like a episode pulled right from season 3 of the show. My favorite seasons are 1-3 so that was amazing. The characters feel exactly like they do in the show at this point in the best way. Perfect 90's nostalgia and fall vibes combined. It not the best written book but it nostalgic wonder and a fun romp with characters i love.
jenicatreads's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
kfan's review
After about 100 page I gave up, I'm sorry to say. I just couldn't vibe with it and I'm bummed because I bought this at a tag sale from a guy who was SO INTO BUFFY BOOKS. He had a whole pile of them so I dug through and picked this one and another one that looked interesting and he was like "Yes those are good ones!" I want to revisit this down the road but for now it just wasn't doing it for me. The writers clearly know the characters very well but there was so much internal character brain exposition it was like watching a very slow episode of Buffy where the characters all said all their thoughts aloud. Not that this in and of itself but I already know the characters so well I would have liked to cut some of the personality establishing in favor of moving the plot along faster. That's about me, not the book. That said there is interesting stuff happening here--Buffy kills a child vampire whose mom thinks he's just missing, hoping he'll come back soon, and the human side being shaped by the after-effects of Buffy's "work" is a really interesting thing to explore. Like I say, I'll revisit.
tempscire's review
I had terrible taste back when I read this book, but this is one of the Buffy novelizations (and just one of the many works of junk) I definitely remember reading, so it had some kind of sticking power. This one, I recall, introduced me to the mythology of the Wild Hunt, which I've had kind of a soft spot for ever since, so it has that going for it.
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