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creolelitbelle's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Late 90s/early 2000s TV fanfic, round 2. Sadly, the sequel wasn't as fun as the first book, but it did offer a satisfying conclusion.
• Anna went into a portal to hell? So, book 2 starts off as Buffy, season 3, since book 1 apparently ended with Angel going through a portal to hell. Oh, I mean Anna.
• Just as Buffy has the conversation with adults in her life about her friends, Cas has the "they're going to get themselves killed" talk with his mom about Thomas & Carmel.
• Signing yearbooks "have a neat summer" has the perfect Marcie Ross vibe. IYKYK.
• Correction from book 1 character assessment. Thomas = Willow & Xander combined. He's witchy but also completely awkward & lands the most popular girl in school.
• The Order located in Scottish Highlands. Watchers Council in London. Enough said.
• Ghosts... explode? In Buffy vamps explode to save money & help world logistics. Also, vamps are demons walking inside dead people, so of course the bodies don't last. Ghosts are not corporeal. Why do they explode? What?
• "tell mom... Tell her something good." - Cas. "tell them... Idk. Think of something cool. Tell them I said it." - Buffy.
• Demon with yellow eyes took parent. Pulled straight from supernatural. Of all the eye colors, yellow?
Book 2 was still fun, but the excitement and pacing dropped as compared to book 1. The plot felt tedious and almost caused me to give up. My desire to know what ultimately happens to Anna won out. New characters and more real time with previously only cameoed characters kept the book fresh.
• Just as Buffy has the conversation with adults in her life about her friends, Cas has the "they're going to get themselves killed" talk with his mom about Thomas & Carmel.
• Signing yearbooks "have a neat summer" has the perfect Marcie Ross vibe. IYKYK.
• Correction from book 1 character assessment. Thomas = Willow & Xander combined. He's witchy but also completely awkward & lands the most popular girl in school.
• The Order located in Scottish Highlands. Watchers Council in London. Enough said.
• Ghosts... explode? In Buffy vamps explode to save money & help world logistics. Also, vamps are demons walking inside dead people, so of course the bodies don't last. Ghosts are not corporeal. Why do they explode? What?
• "tell mom... Tell her something good." - Cas. "tell them... Idk. Think of something cool. Tell them I said it." - Buffy.
• Demon with yellow eyes took parent. Pulled straight from supernatural. Of all the eye colors, yellow?
Book 2 was still fun, but the excitement and pacing dropped as compared to book 1. The plot felt tedious and almost caused me to give up. My desire to know what ultimately happens to Anna won out. New characters and more real time with previously only cameoed characters kept the book fresh.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Blood
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Suicide and Body horror
seilahuh's review against another edition
1.0
...second book syndrome is real. i've never been so disappointed before in a sequel. the first book IS good. it should've been a standalone and ended differently. this is uninspired and wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't so obvious the writer hadn't thought this far ahead. GON read like diluting soap with water to stretch it. there was no real purpose. the introduction of the Order was pointless and it offered no stakes, one of the most boring, most non-threatening secret societies i've seen.
a lot of dragging around, a lot of obvious conclusions and progressions only confusing to characters who are conveniently stupid, and when they aren't it's every person secondary to the main holding back information that shouldn't and wouldn't normally be held back. and then it's the main character being uncharacteristically bull-headed and entirely thoughtless they couldn't recognize 2 + 2 equals 4 even if you told them and they tallied it for themself.
and most annoying of all, NO ONE, gave an in-depth reason why exactly everyone wants to stop theseus (cas) from saving anna more than just "you shouldn't do it." it's been headshakes and glances away, but NO ACTUAL STORY for the ENTIRE BOOK. until approximately 20 pages from the end where we speed-run and force a plot and what's happening with anna which the story lost the idea of for ONE HUNDRED PAGES. and the ending? ohhhh that really pissed me off. it's one of the most insipid, uninspired portrayals of an afterlife. wholly fucking boring and i suffered through an entire book for what? nothing.
also carmel was and has always been uninteresting and annoying so the forcing of her to be this strong, important, "firecracker" when she was more than willing to let anna suffer in hell (even tho she saved HER life) and was a loser character was hilarious. almost as funny as the main character having the arrogance to think no one could do his job, and this build up of him being tough and ready to do anything, give up anything to save anna, yet he leaves anna to fight off the spirit who'd been hurting her for 6 months in hell (who she saved HIM from) because he was 'scared'. even when it was killing her. i couldn't believe my eyes because again, it was hundreds of pages to this, only for him the great ghost-killer to do NOTHING BUT WATCH. god, i wish this book didn't exist.
cas didn't see his dad (which was one of the plots shoved in at the end that i was vaguely interested in only for it to go NOWHERE). didn't speak to him (dialogue in this story lacked overall tho, very weak) he didn't bring anna back. we know nothing about how any of this ghostbusting shit works or why it exists. just vague, ambiguous statements and something about a nameless "warrior" years ago. we have gone to hell and back for nothing at all.
a lot of dragging around, a lot of obvious conclusions and progressions only confusing to characters who are conveniently stupid, and when they aren't it's every person secondary to the main holding back information that shouldn't and wouldn't normally be held back. and then it's the main character being uncharacteristically bull-headed and entirely thoughtless they couldn't recognize 2 + 2 equals 4 even if you told them and they tallied it for themself.
and most annoying of all, NO ONE, gave an in-depth reason why exactly everyone wants to stop theseus (cas) from saving anna more than just "you shouldn't do it." it's been headshakes and glances away, but NO ACTUAL STORY for the ENTIRE BOOK. until approximately 20 pages from the end where we speed-run and force a plot and what's happening with anna which the story lost the idea of for ONE HUNDRED PAGES. and the ending? ohhhh that really pissed me off. it's one of the most insipid, uninspired portrayals of an afterlife. wholly fucking boring and i suffered through an entire book for what? nothing.
also carmel was and has always been uninteresting and annoying so the forcing of her to be this strong, important, "firecracker" when she was more than willing to let anna suffer in hell (even tho she saved HER life) and was a loser character was hilarious. almost as funny as the main character having the arrogance to think no one could do his job, and this build up of him being tough and ready to do anything, give up anything to save anna, yet he leaves anna to fight off the spirit who'd been hurting her for 6 months in hell (who she saved HIM from) because he was 'scared'. even when it was killing her. i couldn't believe my eyes because again, it was hundreds of pages to this, only for him the great ghost-killer to do NOTHING BUT WATCH. god, i wish this book didn't exist.
cas didn't see his dad (which was one of the plots shoved in at the end that i was vaguely interested in only for it to go NOWHERE). didn't speak to him (dialogue in this story lacked overall tho, very weak) he didn't bring anna back. we know nothing about how any of this ghostbusting shit works or why it exists. just vague, ambiguous statements and something about a nameless "warrior" years ago. we have gone to hell and back for nothing at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
livingamongpages's review against another edition
fast-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Death
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