Wow! That is the only word I could seem to utter after reading this novel. Of course, WOW alone would not make for much of a review, so begrudgingly I've been forced to put some more words together to form some coherent sentences.
This story was originally released as a series of four separate books entitled The Lost Slayer Series. The individual books were entitled, The Prophecies, The Dark Times, The King Of the Dead, and Original Sins. Some time after all four novels had been released, Simon and Schuster published a bound edition containing all four parts of the mini-series combined into one book. This is thankfully the edition I read, because I am pretty sure I couldn't have bared to part with this story long enough to wait for the next installment to come out.
A very original take on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story, the tale takes place at the beginning of the fourth season of the series. It begins at a time where Buffy, our vampire slaying hero, is being strained by the two halves of her life. There is Buffy the student, the girl who goes to school, has friends (Willow, Xander, Anya, Oz, and Giles) a mother who she cares very deeply for. Then there's Buffy, the slayer, the girl who pretty much does just that. Only having just entered college, Buffy is feeling a sudden and strong need to keep these two aspects of her personality very separate. She even fights with her best friend, Willow, over schoolwork. Having never felt so much stress in her life, Buffy doesn't feel inclined to face a new threat. Of course, fate doesn't really care what Buffy wants, and suddenly Buffy finds herself faced with a new type of vampire, run by the Vampire god Comazotz. Buffy's stress soon leads to a slip-up. Her sudden need to separate her life into two parts ends up getting her former watcher, Giles, taken hostage by Comazotz.
Not seeing any good course of action to take, Buffy is relieved when a mysterious prophet promises to give her answers to the questions she has been facing. Taking the offer, Buffy is suddenly shot into a frightening future where nothing is the same anymore. Vampire's control Sunnydale and have almost conquered the entire state of California. Her mother and Anya are dead, along with the other Vampire Slayer, Faith. Willow, a burgeoning witch in Buffy's normal time, has become a brilliant sorceress. Oz, has gained control of the werewolf within, able to call it at will, and Xander, who is usually goofy and sarcastic, is battle-hardened and angry. Even Wesley, another one of Buffy's watchers is tougher and not nearly as squeamish as he used to be. To top that off, Angel, Buffy's former love went missing years ago while searching for her, and Giles is the leader of all the vampires! What makes matters worse is that Buffy knows that this future is her fault.
Thrust into the battle to rid California of the vampires before the U.S. government bombes the entire place with Napalm, Buffy must find a way back into her own time, as well as fix the future in case she can't get home. But it is only a matter of time before Buffy realizes she can't simply return to the time when she left, but to a time before it, a time before the mistakes she had made landed her here.
This story is an epic tale that probably could have been a whole season of the television series. Turning Giles into Buffy's greatest enemy was a stroke of true genius, creating a tension that kept me absolutely clinging to this book until the very end. The presence of such familiar characters as old vampire enemies Spike and Drusilla, and old human enemy Parker Abrams who used Buffy for sex and then left her, helped push this already fascinating tale along. Another welcome appearance came in the form of the ghost of former Slayer Lucy Hanover who has never appeared in the television series but who has appeared in countless Buffy tie-in novels by Christopher Golden.
A very interesting peak into one of Buffy's possible futures, this story is not just entertainment, it actually teaches a message. This book is a definite must read and does not feel nearly as long as it actually is. And for someone who just said she was speechless, I think I've gone on long enough.
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