dja777's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed these writers' perspectives on one of my favorite TV shows.
greatlibraryofalexandra's review against another edition
4.0
I very much enjoyed this. As a person who was a late Buffy fan (I started watching when I was 25) m, it was so interesting to read a collection that came out right after the finale. I’m someone who thinks Buffy is outstanding, from Season 1-7. I think The finale was one of the most outstanding finales to ever grace television, and I was perturbed to find that some viewed it as disappointing.
This sort of anthology is how I want to consume fandom. For the most part, even the essays that I disagrees with were absolutely excellent.
I rated this down to a 4/5 because there were three essays that I felt should have been eliminated entirely.
“The Search for Spike’s Balls” was so disgustingly sexist I was appalled. I was even more horrified that a woman wrote it. It was misogynistic, uninformed, and almost embarrassing. I wish it had been cut completely.
The essay on Ugliness in Buffy I also found to be somewhat useless and poorly argued. I will admit that it’s a little bit because I think Charlaine Harris is an atrocious writer so I set no store by her opinions. And the essay regarding Buffy potentially having a relationship with Wesley Price was a bit off the wall, too. It had the flavor of someone trying to be subversive by just grasping at straws blindly.
The true subversive choice here is that the “right” boyfriend for Buffy is that women don’t need boyfriends to thrive and be happy.
Oh - and the one about Willow/Wicca. Overall, that one seemed to have little to do with Buffy and a lot to do with someone just being an offended Wiccan.
Overall, I love love loved such a collection of thoughtful and nuanced pieces on what is now my favorite show. I particularly adored the final essay, which outlines all of my personal feelings re: Why Season 7 is the absolute perfect ending to Buffy, and why it is one of the single most incredible television shows every produced.
It would be really interesting to see a revisitation of these essays now.
This sort of anthology is how I want to consume fandom. For the most part, even the essays that I disagrees with were absolutely excellent.
I rated this down to a 4/5 because there were three essays that I felt should have been eliminated entirely.
“The Search for Spike’s Balls” was so disgustingly sexist I was appalled. I was even more horrified that a woman wrote it. It was misogynistic, uninformed, and almost embarrassing. I wish it had been cut completely.
The essay on Ugliness in Buffy I also found to be somewhat useless and poorly argued. I will admit that it’s a little bit because I think Charlaine Harris is an atrocious writer so I set no store by her opinions. And the essay regarding Buffy potentially having a relationship with Wesley Price was a bit off the wall, too. It had the flavor of someone trying to be subversive by just grasping at straws blindly.
The true subversive choice here is that the “right” boyfriend for Buffy is that women don’t need boyfriends to thrive and be happy.
Oh - and the one about Willow/Wicca. Overall, that one seemed to have little to do with Buffy and a lot to do with someone just being an offended Wiccan.
Overall, I love love loved such a collection of thoughtful and nuanced pieces on what is now my favorite show. I particularly adored the final essay, which outlines all of my personal feelings re: Why Season 7 is the absolute perfect ending to Buffy, and why it is one of the single most incredible television shows every produced.
It would be really interesting to see a revisitation of these essays now.
kimlovesstuff's review against another edition
3.0
As far as Buffy essay collections go, this one was hit and miss.
toweringtbr2's review against another edition
2.0
This was okay. Some essays were enjoyable, others were terrible and tedious. I wanted to DNF so many times but I was reading this book for a specific challenge and so I carried on. Wouldn't really recommend.
cindywho's review against another edition
2.0
Most of these essays are on the silly side, intentionally or not. The only writer I'd actually read before was Sarah Zettel and I liked her essay that made some sense of the difference between the high school seasons and the post high school seasons - why the latter didn't work as well. I haven't been watching reruns, but it will probably be fun in a few years after memory has faded. (January 17, 2005)
taschima's review against another edition
4.0
You can find more reviews @BloodyBookaholic
Are you the kind of Buffy fan that declares that Buffy was the ultimate T.V. Series? Are you the kind of Buffy fan that bought the series and watched it over and over and over again? Are you the kind of fan that discusses with your fellow Buffy mates various points of the series? Like what went wrong, what went great, and things like that? If you answered yes to any of these questions then this IS the book for you. This book will give you plenty of things to ponder long after you finish reading it. The essays will stay with you for days, even the ones that annoy you because they just don't think like you think. And at the very least I can asure you that after finishing it, or heck even while reading it, you will go to your special DVD space, pick up that beloved yet used up box set and sit down to watch it all over again.
The Smart Pop books are not like normal books. Smart Pop books are basically a bunch of essays put together that deal with a specific main thing in pop culture, literature, etc. This book in specific deals with a pop culture phenomenon that is very close to my heart, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. How much of a vampire slayer geek am I? I love it with every fiber of my being. The show, the characters, the romance, relationships, bonds, Spike, Spike, Spike, everything! And speaking as a Buffy Geek I can tell you that it was fun to read various different ideas when it comes to Buffy. Some of these essays went against everything I believe in when it comes to the Buffy universe(like one essay discusses how Willow and Tara's relationship is not the healthiest relationship in the entire Buffy Universe -I think it is-, and Spike not being the ultimate mate for Buffy -which he totally is and I could write my OWN essay listing the reasons why) and some others had me screaming "YES!", "Exactly!", and "I am go glad you pointed that out!".
Some of my favorites:
Is That Your Final Answer...? by Roxanne Longstreet Conrad
The Meaning of Buffy BY MARGUERITE KRAUSE
Love Saves the World BY JEAN LORRAH
Dating Death BY JENNIFER CRUSIE
A Buffy Confession BY JUSTINE LARBALESTIER (It was a good essay even if the ending sort of screw it up a bit)
There are a LOT of essays. So because of this these book won't go by in the blink of an eye like if it was a normal fictional story. You have to take your time and not hurry yourself through it because if not you will not completely enjoy it. That's my advice. What I found interesting about the essays is that I enjoyed the essays written by people that I basically know nothing about, but the people I do know something about (Charlaine Harris, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Scott Westerfeld) I didn't enjoy as much.
There is definitely a little of everything for everybody. A lot of different interesting opinions. Like I said if you love Buffy and love talking about it and discussing it read this book. It's totally for you.
PS; something that disappointed me is that no one tackled the question of who is in reality the better man, who is gooder (if that is even a word), Angel or Spike? This question is one me and my fellow friend talk about a lot. We think Spike is the better man, more good, for many many reasons.So, disappointed nobody tackled that, but maybe I will take the time sometime to tackle this in an essay on my own free time.
Are you the kind of Buffy fan that declares that Buffy was the ultimate T.V. Series? Are you the kind of Buffy fan that bought the series and watched it over and over and over again? Are you the kind of fan that discusses with your fellow Buffy mates various points of the series? Like what went wrong, what went great, and things like that? If you answered yes to any of these questions then this IS the book for you. This book will give you plenty of things to ponder long after you finish reading it. The essays will stay with you for days, even the ones that annoy you because they just don't think like you think. And at the very least I can asure you that after finishing it, or heck even while reading it, you will go to your special DVD space, pick up that beloved yet used up box set and sit down to watch it all over again.
The Smart Pop books are not like normal books. Smart Pop books are basically a bunch of essays put together that deal with a specific main thing in pop culture, literature, etc. This book in specific deals with a pop culture phenomenon that is very close to my heart, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. How much of a vampire slayer geek am I? I love it with every fiber of my being. The show, the characters, the romance, relationships, bonds, Spike, Spike, Spike, everything! And speaking as a Buffy Geek I can tell you that it was fun to read various different ideas when it comes to Buffy. Some of these essays went against everything I believe in when it comes to the Buffy universe(like one essay discusses how Willow and Tara's relationship is not the healthiest relationship in the entire Buffy Universe -I think it is-, and Spike not being the ultimate mate for Buffy -which he totally is and I could write my OWN essay listing the reasons why) and some others had me screaming "YES!", "Exactly!", and "I am go glad you pointed that out!".
Some of my favorites:
Is That Your Final Answer...? by Roxanne Longstreet Conrad
The Meaning of Buffy BY MARGUERITE KRAUSE
Love Saves the World BY JEAN LORRAH
Dating Death BY JENNIFER CRUSIE
A Buffy Confession BY JUSTINE LARBALESTIER (It was a good essay even if the ending sort of screw it up a bit)
There are a LOT of essays. So because of this these book won't go by in the blink of an eye like if it was a normal fictional story. You have to take your time and not hurry yourself through it because if not you will not completely enjoy it. That's my advice. What I found interesting about the essays is that I enjoyed the essays written by people that I basically know nothing about, but the people I do know something about (Charlaine Harris, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Scott Westerfeld) I didn't enjoy as much.
There is definitely a little of everything for everybody. A lot of different interesting opinions. Like I said if you love Buffy and love talking about it and discussing it read this book. It's totally for you.
PS; something that disappointed me is that no one tackled the question of who is in reality the better man, who is gooder (if that is even a word), Angel or Spike? This question is one me and my fellow friend talk about a lot. We think Spike is the better man, more good, for many many reasons.So, disappointed nobody tackled that, but maybe I will take the time sometime to tackle this in an essay on my own free time.
macshibby's review
3.0
A few of the articles were spot-on, in my opinion, and a few missed the mark, but in that way that I can respectfully disagree with. So why didn't I enjoy it more? I guess maybe it hasn't aged well, I don't know, but I found myself skimming more articles than I usually would.