Book Review: Slayers: A Buffyverse Story, by Amber Benson and Christopher Golden
An unofficial eighth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Audible Originals, 2023
Original cast members from the beloved TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, reunite for an all-new adventure about connections that never die-even if you bury them.
A decade has passed since the epic final battle that concluded Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV). The game-changing spell that gave power to all potential Slayers persists. With new Slayers constantly emerging, things are looking grim for the bad guys. Rebellious vampire Spike (James Marsters) is working undercover in Los Angeles with his old pal Clem (James Charles Leary) when he meets feisty, rookie Slayer, Indira (Laya DeLeon Hayes), who wants Spike to be her mentor. Stakes intensify as Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) emerges from an alternate reality where she alone is the Slayer, and Buffy Summers doesn’t exist. Cordelia enlists Spike’s help with a classic big bad terrorizing her world…his ex, Drusilla (Juliet Landau). Giles (Anthony Head), Anya (Emma Caulfield Ford), Jonathan (Danny Strong), and Tara (Amber Benson) also return, but through the years and the vastness of the multiverse, not everyone is who they used to be…
Slayers: A Buffyverse Story is written and directed by Amber Benson and Chris Golden, and co-directed by Kc Wayland.
Like Harry Potter, I got into Buffy the Vampire Slayer only as the series was wrapping up. I binge-watched all the earlier seasons before the final season aired, and I watched the epic if somewhat uneven final (seventh) season.
I think Buffy was some of the best storytelling ever seen on TV. That's not to say there were no bad episodes, especially in the rocky first two seasons, and then after Joss Whedon turned over some of the writing to other scriptwriters. But Buffy took full advantage of the trend that was only starting to become popular, of giving an episodic TV series long-term story arcs that rewarded regular viewers, dramatic character development (heroes becoming villains, villains becoming heroes, nobodies becoming important characters, minor side characters becoming Big Bads, etc.), laying plot seeds that would not hatch for years, and planting easter eggs for keen-eyed fans to discover. It was this same quality of clever plotting and crafty characterization in what should have been just a dumb teen fantasy that eventually made me a Potter fan.
I watched the (also good, but not quite as brilliant) Angel spin off series. After Buffy went off the air, there were of course RPGs, books, comic books, and so on. The comic books, written by Whedon himself, are officially considered "canon" continuations of the story, and they're pretty good if not always the best fit for the medium.
I am a Buffy fan. So much so that I even own this:
So when Audible announced this project, written by Amber Benson (who played Tara on the show and is a geek girl beloved by nerds), it was one of my rare pre-orders. (YA author Christopher Golden is a co-writer, so I don't know how much of the writing Amber Benson actually did.)
Slayers is not, properly speaking, a novel. It's a full cast audio production that is more like a radio play. It features many of the stars of the TV series reprising their roles, including Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase, James Marsters as Spike, Anthony Head as Giles, Juliet Landau as Drusilla, and of course, Amber Benson as Tara.
Whether or not it's "canon," Slayers feels a lot like an unofficial Season Eight of Buffy. And it's definitely made for hardcore Buffy fans; if you never watched the original series, or only caught an episode here and there, you will miss pretty much all the references, in jokes, shout outs, and background in this story. If you're not familiar with the events of Seasons Six and Seven in particular, I really wouldn't recommend listening to this, as you'll probably be lost (and won't appreciate it for what it is, a big fat kiss to Buffy fans).
Slayers begins with a brand new Slayer, 15-year-old Indira, who is sassy, genre-savvy, and literally got her Slayer powers this morning and decided the smartest thing to do with them is head straight for the nearest vampire nest and get to staking. She is saved from what would have been an almost certain death by Spike, who wants no part of this adorable, spunky baby Slayer and plans to dump her on the nearest Slayer or Watcher as quickly as possible. Then Cordelia shows up.
Wait, Cordelia? The Cordelia who died in Angel? Yes, that Cordelia. Except not that Cordelia. This Cordelia comes from an alternate universe where Cordelia was the one (and only) Slayer, no one's ever heard of Buffy Summers, and Spike's old flame Drusilla is the Big Bad, and Cordelia needs Spike's help.
So, this is a parallel universe story, which allows a number of characters who died in the original series to show up again. Spike, Cordelia, and Indira form the core of a new Scooby gang that has to go to Cordelia's universe to save it from a vampire apocalypse led by Drusilla. Many old friends and enemies will make their reappearance, many Buffy tropes will be revived from their late 90s-early 00s golden age, and you can tell the actors were having a lot of fun.
Amber Benson does a pretty good job of capturing the snark and snappy dialog of the original series, though some scenes stretch on a bit too long. Most of the twists were fairly predictable, but both in length and pacing it really was a lot like listening to a new season of Buffy.
My complete list of book reviews.
Audible Originals, 2023
Original cast members from the beloved TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, reunite for an all-new adventure about connections that never die-even if you bury them.
A decade has passed since the epic final battle that concluded Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV). The game-changing spell that gave power to all potential Slayers persists. With new Slayers constantly emerging, things are looking grim for the bad guys. Rebellious vampire Spike (James Marsters) is working undercover in Los Angeles with his old pal Clem (James Charles Leary) when he meets feisty, rookie Slayer, Indira (Laya DeLeon Hayes), who wants Spike to be her mentor. Stakes intensify as Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) emerges from an alternate reality where she alone is the Slayer, and Buffy Summers doesn’t exist. Cordelia enlists Spike’s help with a classic big bad terrorizing her world…his ex, Drusilla (Juliet Landau). Giles (Anthony Head), Anya (Emma Caulfield Ford), Jonathan (Danny Strong), and Tara (Amber Benson) also return, but through the years and the vastness of the multiverse, not everyone is who they used to be…
Slayers: A Buffyverse Story is written and directed by Amber Benson and Chris Golden, and co-directed by Kc Wayland.
Like Harry Potter, I got into Buffy the Vampire Slayer only as the series was wrapping up. I binge-watched all the earlier seasons before the final season aired, and I watched the epic if somewhat uneven final (seventh) season.
I think Buffy was some of the best storytelling ever seen on TV. That's not to say there were no bad episodes, especially in the rocky first two seasons, and then after Joss Whedon turned over some of the writing to other scriptwriters. But Buffy took full advantage of the trend that was only starting to become popular, of giving an episodic TV series long-term story arcs that rewarded regular viewers, dramatic character development (heroes becoming villains, villains becoming heroes, nobodies becoming important characters, minor side characters becoming Big Bads, etc.), laying plot seeds that would not hatch for years, and planting easter eggs for keen-eyed fans to discover. It was this same quality of clever plotting and crafty characterization in what should have been just a dumb teen fantasy that eventually made me a Potter fan.
I watched the (also good, but not quite as brilliant) Angel spin off series. After Buffy went off the air, there were of course RPGs, books, comic books, and so on. The comic books, written by Whedon himself, are officially considered "canon" continuations of the story, and they're pretty good if not always the best fit for the medium.
I am a Buffy fan. So much so that I even own this:
So when Audible announced this project, written by Amber Benson (who played Tara on the show and is a geek girl beloved by nerds), it was one of my rare pre-orders. (YA author Christopher Golden is a co-writer, so I don't know how much of the writing Amber Benson actually did.)
Slayers is not, properly speaking, a novel. It's a full cast audio production that is more like a radio play. It features many of the stars of the TV series reprising their roles, including Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase, James Marsters as Spike, Anthony Head as Giles, Juliet Landau as Drusilla, and of course, Amber Benson as Tara.
Whether or not it's "canon," Slayers feels a lot like an unofficial Season Eight of Buffy. And it's definitely made for hardcore Buffy fans; if you never watched the original series, or only caught an episode here and there, you will miss pretty much all the references, in jokes, shout outs, and background in this story. If you're not familiar with the events of Seasons Six and Seven in particular, I really wouldn't recommend listening to this, as you'll probably be lost (and won't appreciate it for what it is, a big fat kiss to Buffy fans).
Slayers begins with a brand new Slayer, 15-year-old Indira, who is sassy, genre-savvy, and literally got her Slayer powers this morning and decided the smartest thing to do with them is head straight for the nearest vampire nest and get to staking. She is saved from what would have been an almost certain death by Spike, who wants no part of this adorable, spunky baby Slayer and plans to dump her on the nearest Slayer or Watcher as quickly as possible. Then Cordelia shows up.
Wait, Cordelia? The Cordelia who died in Angel? Yes, that Cordelia. Except not that Cordelia. This Cordelia comes from an alternate universe where Cordelia was the one (and only) Slayer, no one's ever heard of Buffy Summers, and Spike's old flame Drusilla is the Big Bad, and Cordelia needs Spike's help.
So, this is a parallel universe story, which allows a number of characters who died in the original series to show up again. Spike, Cordelia, and Indira form the core of a new Scooby gang that has to go to Cordelia's universe to save it from a vampire apocalypse led by Drusilla. Many old friends and enemies will make their reappearance, many Buffy tropes will be revived from their late 90s-early 00s golden age, and you can tell the actors were having a lot of fun.
Amber Benson does a pretty good job of capturing the snark and snappy dialog of the original series, though some scenes stretch on a bit too long. Most of the twists were fairly predictable, but both in length and pacing it really was a lot like listening to a new season of Buffy.
My complete list of book reviews.