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A review by ipomoea
In Every Generation by Kendare Blake
3.0
I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I went into this book with a lot of conflicted Buffy love in my heart. It's hard to address the media that is Buffy the Vampire Slayer without acknowledging the behavior of its creator behind the scenes, as well as the dated gender/sexuality/race politics that are inherent to something created in the late 90s/early 2000s. But Buffy also meant so much to people and still does, so I went into this as a Buffy fan with a cautious eye.
Set in Sunnydale, the book focuses on the next generation-- Willow's daughter Frankie, Oz's nephew Jake, and their guardians (Willow and Oz). Spike is still loitering in the town, under a protection spell and working at the new Sunnydale HS (which is of course built right by the Hellmouth because Sunnydale has terrible planners). Buffy is out of town, at a Slayer conference with all the awakened slayers from the last season. When something goes horribly wrong, Frankie feels a change-- she's become a (the?) Slayer. And there's a new Big Bad in town, who's hungry for virgin blood and the opportunity to run wild while Buffy is gone. With the Slayers AWOL, someone else showed up in town-- Hillary, the younger sister of Vi, a slayer from Oregon. How do you defeat a Big Bad when the person you've always turned to is gone? How do you accept and grow into being a Slayer? Is Spike still putting Weetabix in his blood? Two of these questions are answered in the book.
This book feels like fanfiction, sometimes in the way it feels like a love letter to the show, sometimes in the "look! Only True Fans know this reference" moments. Like a Buffy episode, I knew this would end relatively okay, and I knew that there would be a larger story arc across the planned books/episodes. While it sets up a general knowledge of the background of the Buffyverse, it didn't feel like an entry point for someone who wanted to learn about it with no knowledge. This is a gift to fans, and I enjoyed it as such.
I went into this book with a lot of conflicted Buffy love in my heart. It's hard to address the media that is Buffy the Vampire Slayer without acknowledging the behavior of its creator behind the scenes, as well as the dated gender/sexuality/race politics that are inherent to something created in the late 90s/early 2000s. But Buffy also meant so much to people and still does, so I went into this as a Buffy fan with a cautious eye.
Set in Sunnydale, the book focuses on the next generation-- Willow's daughter Frankie, Oz's nephew Jake, and their guardians (Willow and Oz). Spike is still loitering in the town, under a protection spell and working at the new Sunnydale HS (which is of course built right by the Hellmouth because Sunnydale has terrible planners). Buffy is out of town, at a Slayer conference with all the awakened slayers from the last season. When something goes horribly wrong, Frankie feels a change-- she's become a (the?) Slayer. And there's a new Big Bad in town, who's hungry for virgin blood and the opportunity to run wild while Buffy is gone. With the Slayers AWOL, someone else showed up in town-- Hillary, the younger sister of Vi, a slayer from Oregon. How do you defeat a Big Bad when the person you've always turned to is gone? How do you accept and grow into being a Slayer? Is Spike still putting Weetabix in his blood? Two of these questions are answered in the book.
This book feels like fanfiction, sometimes in the way it feels like a love letter to the show, sometimes in the "look! Only True Fans know this reference" moments. Like a Buffy episode, I knew this would end relatively okay, and I knew that there would be a larger story arc across the planned books/episodes. While it sets up a general knowledge of the background of the Buffyverse, it didn't feel like an entry point for someone who wanted to learn about it with no knowledge. This is a gift to fans, and I enjoyed it as such.