A review by j3mm4
Big Bad by Lily Anderson

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Overall, it's a fun read, and it clearly was written from a place of great enjoyment of the show, but there were some writing choices in it that bugged me, like the Buffy angle. Don't get me wrong, I'm fully aware that, as the novel's antagonist up against an ensemble cast of protags, Buffy can't get the same page count - nor should she - but the Buffy voice feels less developed, less immersive, and less precisely imitated than the others. It's also home to the more anachronistic slang usage than any of the other POVs combined, which was an even bigger bug. The voice of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is so characterized by specific '90s California slang and writers' room inventions that it's practically its own conlang, so seeing 2020s colloquialisms pop up was a big immersion-breaker.