By Nancy Holder & Jeff Mariotte
Though I've been an ardent fan of the Buffy show for
the past four years, I've steered clear of some of the merchandising
- books and comic books, assuming they couldn't reach the level of maturity
and complexity of the TV show. So far, I've been right.
Not that this book was terrible, actually it was quite
enjoyable, but it was fluff. It wasn't as good as the show, nor as good
as other books I could be reading. it's probably written as well as a
Buffy novel could be, with a few exceptions of slightly-off characterization.
And from what I could tell from browsing in the store, there are two
types of Buffy books - simpler teen/children's books and more complex
adult novels, with dozens of books in each category. this book has tons
of subplots and definitely falls into the more complex category. it was
still a very quick read - more so than most books, since you already
know the characters intimately (yeah, I wish) before going in.
But unfortunately, there are some things that just
thrive best in a certain genre. Batman makes a great comic book, but
his movies tend to completely suck. Buffy makes a great TV show, but
something is missing in the books (and comics, from what I've seen.)
Maybe it's a visual mood, the darkness; maybe it's the deeper emotion
and multiple levels of meaning that can be expressed by the skilled actors.
Maybe it doesn't seem quite as real because we can't see the people,
so the vampire aspect overpowers and makes it seem very fake.
Still, if you're a Buffy fan, this makes for a light
and not intolerable read while you're stuck in the span between episodes.
Just be prepared to dish out more money - in this particular case, this
is part one of a trilogy.
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