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desiree_mcl's review against another edition
1.0
1.5 stars.
If this wasn’t a BtVS book I would have DNF’d it at the half way point…maybe earlier.
This story was about some force putting various people in Sunnydale asleep…well whatever force was at work in the book was making its way out of the book and putting me to sleep too.
Normally I can bust through a 250-300 pg Buffy novel in about 3 to 4 hours. As I was reading After Image I could only read about 20 pages at a time before I had to set the book aside. There were some pros but the pace of this and the lack of anything going on just made those pros not matter.
Takes place in Season 2 sometime after ‘What’s My Line’ but before ‘Surprise’.
Let’s start off with the Pros!
--There were no major continuity issues that I noticed. This takes place between WML and Surprise and other than that the time line is vague. In a lot of Buffy books the author makes the mistake of pinpointing exactly what episodes the book may fall between or on but they’ll mention stuff from future episodes that in the timeline they started out with it doesn’t make sense if you’ve watched the show. --(For example: Xander and Cordelia are still hiding their relationship or just got together which would be during the episode ‘What’s my Line’ but then the narrative will mention Angelus and Buffy being possessed by ghosts in ‘IOHEFY’ so by that point Xander and Cordy would have been exposed by then.)
--The different perspectives. There wasn’t a lot of Buffy in this Buffy novel. It was mostly a Xander outing with a decent chunk of Cordy and a smattering of Buffy, Angel, Willow, Jonathan and Giles. Xander is usually my least favorite of our core team but I appreciated getting a story that was more centered around his character.
And now the cons….
-Nothing/very little happened for soooo long. All we got for about 150 pages was some slightly weird interactions or visuals of people and 1 creature.
-The book was too long. There was nothing happening but there was so much filler and a lot of descriptions about various things. This whole book felt like the author needed to meet a word count but because the plot was really fairly basic the story had to be filled in, in other boring and long winded ways.
-Buffy and Angel’s interactions with each other were a little too awkward for the point of their relationship. During their first meeting in this book I was confused because it read more like early season 1...maybe late season 1 interaction than post-WML. And I think Angel would have at least offered to carry Buffy’s books.
-Some of the lines of dialogue didn’t seem to match the characters. Willow and Giles were fairly on point but there was a line or 2 that Buffy says that sounded more like a Xander line. There were a couple words here and there that Buffy wouldn't say. Minor nit-pick but still annoying.
-And lastly (or at least the last thing I’m going to talk about) I figured out pretty much what was happening in the first 30-50 pages and then I had to wait 100 more pages for it to be revealed in the narrative (at least a little bit) and then another 50 or more pages for the characters to figure it out.
So this was not a good BtVS novel experience. I will never read this one again. I’m happy it’s over.
If this wasn’t a BtVS book I would have DNF’d it at the half way point…maybe earlier.
This story was about some force putting various people in Sunnydale asleep…well whatever force was at work in the book was making its way out of the book and putting me to sleep too.
Normally I can bust through a 250-300 pg Buffy novel in about 3 to 4 hours. As I was reading After Image I could only read about 20 pages at a time before I had to set the book aside. There were some pros but the pace of this and the lack of anything going on just made those pros not matter.
Takes place in Season 2 sometime after ‘What’s My Line’ but before ‘Surprise’.
Let’s start off with the Pros!
--There were no major continuity issues that I noticed. This takes place between WML and Surprise and other than that the time line is vague. In a lot of Buffy books the author makes the mistake of pinpointing exactly what episodes the book may fall between or on but they’ll mention stuff from future episodes that in the timeline they started out with it doesn’t make sense if you’ve watched the show. --(For example: Xander and Cordelia are still hiding their relationship or just got together which would be during the episode ‘What’s my Line’ but then the narrative will mention Angelus and Buffy being possessed by ghosts in ‘IOHEFY’ so by that point Xander and Cordy would have been exposed by then.)
--The different perspectives. There wasn’t a lot of Buffy in this Buffy novel. It was mostly a Xander outing with a decent chunk of Cordy and a smattering of Buffy, Angel, Willow, Jonathan and Giles. Xander is usually my least favorite of our core team but I appreciated getting a story that was more centered around his character.
And now the cons….
-Nothing/very little happened for soooo long. All we got for about 150 pages was some slightly weird interactions or visuals of people and 1 creature.
Spoiler
Cordy saw a cheerleader in weird clothing and then when she went to confront her she vanished (or at least seemed to vanish), some guy at the Bronze was dancing with Aura and then disappeared, there was a “new” nurse that Giles met but when Buffy looked into the old nurse was still there and had no idea about what was going on, a strange, yet charming older guy visited the Magic Box, and Buffy and Angel fought a weird Anubis looking like creature.-The book was too long. There was nothing happening but there was so much filler and a lot of descriptions about various things. This whole book felt like the author needed to meet a word count but because the plot was really fairly basic the story had to be filled in, in other boring and long winded ways.
-Buffy and Angel’s interactions with each other were a little too awkward for the point of their relationship. During their first meeting in this book I was confused because it read more like early season 1...maybe late season 1 interaction than post-WML. And I think Angel would have at least offered to carry Buffy’s books.
-Some of the lines of dialogue didn’t seem to match the characters. Willow and Giles were fairly on point but there was a line or 2 that Buffy says that sounded more like a Xander line. There were a couple words here and there that Buffy wouldn't say. Minor nit-pick but still annoying.
-And lastly (or at least the last thing I’m going to talk about) I figured out pretty much what was happening in the first 30-50 pages and then I had to wait 100 more pages for it to be revealed in the narrative (at least a little bit) and then another 50 or more pages for the characters to figure it out.
So this was not a good BtVS novel experience. I will never read this one again. I’m happy it’s over.
wombat_88's review
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
reannapipes's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This has definitely been one of my favorite books in the Buffyverse to read. The author perfectly captured the essence of the characters, and it felt just like the show. As a lover of all things movie related, the plot was so interesting.
octavia_cade's review
2.0
Slightly too lengthy but otherwise interesting enough Buffy outing. I've never much cared for Jonathan (and still don't, after reading this), but I really did enjoy the way that Cordelia was presented here: as someone who has useful information, and a source of intelligence as well as snark.
The petty petty thing that is knocking this down from a three star read, for me, is the irritation of a single paragraph: one that claims that science and the scientific method date back to the Renaissance. If you want to ignore the scientists of ancient China, India, the Middle East etc. and claim that early modern science dates back to the Renaissance, you might squeak a pass, but there is no excuse for whitewashing Ibn al-Haytham out of history. al-Haytham was the Iraqi-born Muslim who worked out the scientific method some centuries before the Renaissance. This is not obscure information. In fact it's pretty basic stuff in the history of science, and a bit disappointing that it was let slip through because al-Haytham was a fantastically interesting genius and deserves to be remembered.
The petty petty thing that is knocking this down from a three star read, for me, is the irritation of a single paragraph: one that claims that science and the scientific method date back to the Renaissance. If you want to ignore the scientists of ancient China, India, the Middle East etc. and claim that early modern science dates back to the Renaissance, you might squeak a pass, but there is no excuse for whitewashing Ibn al-Haytham out of history. al-Haytham was the Iraqi-born Muslim who worked out the scientific method some centuries before the Renaissance. This is not obscure information. In fact it's pretty basic stuff in the history of science, and a bit disappointing that it was let slip through because al-Haytham was a fantastically interesting genius and deserves to be remembered.
eternity21's review
4.0
Buffy and the scoobies have a new mystery to solve. Xander gets a new job at the drive in that has been renovated. Buffy keeps having weird characters show up to harass her only to have them disappear once she hurts them. Buffy thinks the drive in is connected but cannot figure out how. People are going into deep sleep comas for no good reason. This was a pretty good story. A bit different and enjoyable.
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