Three Pro Buffyverse Novels
I bought and read several professional Buffyverse novels earlier this year, and I've been meaning to review the rest of them before putting one on my shelf and chucking the others in the donate-or-sell box. You may remember that the first one I read, Not Forgotten by Nancy Holder, struck me as likely written before Angel got far into filming, as the author seemed well acquainted with Cordelia, mildly familiar with Angel, and rather fuzzy about Doyle. Here's my take on the others:
I hadn't really read any based-on pro novels in a long time, not since HL's The Element of Fire had twenty-four typos in the first twelve pages, and wasn't very imaginative or satisfying or canonical. I do know they run the gamut, of course, and this little sampling has reinforced that.
- BtVS: Blooded by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder (1998) is the best of the batch, the closest to the episode-like gen for which I'd turned to the pro novels. This is the one I'll be keeping.
It happens to be one of those written for the younger audience, but while fanfiction, post-series freedom, or simple adult-audience-aim could have dared more and plumbed deeper, this tale of ancient Chinese demon/god enemies (embodied in a sword brought to Sunnydale in a traveling exhibit) that end up possessing Willow and Xander, with a grand battle showdown featuring Angel and Buffy, and plenty of Giles and Cordelia, too, is completely satisfying. It's very like a second-tier episode -- not metaphor-strong and not arc-driving, but a solid visit with well-loved characters reminding the reader how they got to be well-loved.
- AtS: Bruja by Mel Odom (2000) disappointed me tremendously. This one is out of here.
Well into the book, I was giddily excited about the content and characters, convinced that this story of a curse and supernatural vengeance, confronted by individual contributions from Cordelia, Doyle and Angel, would be the best of the batch, and one I'd want to read multiple times. Then, suddenly, cold, enjoyment stopped. The writer tossed history and sense to the winds instead of making a tiny, sensible adaptation in the plot. For reasons known only to the voices in his (her?) head, he (she?) invented a splinter Catholic Church that openly competed for power (!) in Age-of-Exploration-era Spain (!) and set up missions of its own in the Americas back then (!) and persists to this day in California, different from the mainstream (aka real) Church apparently only in allowing priests to marry. Good gravy. Where do I begin? This AU is unnecessary! It's not just that if he really needed married priests for his story, there're legitimate ways to get them, it's that he didn't even need them! He could have easily told his story within the bounds of what passes for truth out here in the real world, never mind inside the Buffyverse. Aaargh. (I know that canon was always inventing splinter groups for villain-o-the-week status. But he invented an entire parallel Church for no reason at all. Maybe someone cut out a subplot he'd intended, and didn't realize the AU was no longer sane without it...)
The reason this annoys me so very much is that people learn while they're being entertained, and unidentified AUs like this -- aka false history, bad research, lies -- can plant misunderstandings that later bear poison fruit. I feel betrayed, as a reader, when false history is treated like true, and I feel worried, as an inhabitant of this world, knowing that some readers tragically won't know the difference and will carry the falsehood forward as their only exposure to the subject. A novelist is not only an entertainer; she is a teacher. She owes her readers much.
If there is any grain of truth to this part of the story, 1) please point me to a credible resource so I can learn more, and 2) the author still failed, by not making it clear enough to point me to a credible resource to learn more.
- BtVS: The Book of Fours by Nancy Holder (2001) was fine, but with a strong focus on an original character -- India Cohen, Buffy's immediate predecessor as a Slayer -- it wasn't exactly what I was looking for at the time. This one goes to the hospital book cart.
It's intended for an older audience than Blooded, and so comes in a different style. It's also part of a series in its own right, openly drawing on something earlier by Holder and setting up something later, rather than fitting itself snugly between canon episodes. The idea of Buffy's predecessor, and the fact that Buffy never asks about her, intrigued me. Much applause to the author for that. One girl in all her generation is really as many girls as fast as they're mown down by the inexorable, eternal meat-grinder of evil. The author builds on this, stretching back and forth in time to draw strength from the line of Slayers, and from the embrace of the succession (instead of the denial of it). The "four elements" aspect of the monster, on the other hand, is standard fare, and the ghost roads do not appeal to me, personally, theologically (though perhaps I'm missing information from the preceding book). There is the full array of third-season characters, plus Kendra, and a nicely building plot for Xander clearly meant to continue into a sequel.
I hadn't really read any based-on pro novels in a long time, not since HL's The Element of Fire had twenty-four typos in the first twelve pages, and wasn't very imaginative or satisfying or canonical. I do know they run the gamut, of course, and this little sampling has reinforced that.