Question Has anyone read the Wicked Willow trilogy?

Foxy

Foxy

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I am about to start the first book and I am curious what others thought of this book.

For the people who don't know this. It is an alternate version of Tara's death and dark Willow. Apparently Tara is a ghost in this one.

I will definitely share my thoughts about this book and I am pretty excited to get to it. It has been sitting on my shelf for ages!
 
I read it when it came out, so my 15 year old memories aren't that reliable, but I do remember it being better than most of the other tie-in novels.

It's overtly an alternate version of events, and I really enjoyed that! Most of the other novels reference past events but they don't change the actual narrative.
 
I've read it.....Thought the trilogy was one of the better Buffyverse stories. Definitely up there with the Lost Slayer trilogy......

Very enjoyable read.....one of the few I would go back & read again.

Interested to know what you think of it.... 🙂
 
Thank you! I have started it and I might finish the first one this weekend. So far the writing is really nice and easy to read. This author is really good at writimg dialogue, especially Xander's.
 
I read the trilogy when it first came out as well, but I remember really enjoying it, and that it sort of weaved in and out of the event of the episodes as well as being an alternate timeline.
 
Stanger406 said:
I read the trilogy when it first came out as well, but I remember really enjoying it, and that it sort of weaved in and out of the event of the episodes as well as being an alternate timeline.
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Yeah I am about halfway through the first book and it shares similarities with the episodes. I do feel that this book is really setting up the plot for the second book. It's heavy on the exposition, but it is an easy read and I am enjoying it!

Have you read the entire trilogy?
 
Glad you're enjoying it so far. I kind of want to revisit it now too lol. Maybe I will after Slayer.

I did read the whole trilogy, and as a whole it stands out still as one of my favorite Buffy novel stories.
 
Stanger406 said:
Glad you're enjoying it so far. I kind of want to revisit it now too lol. Maybe I will after Slayer.

I did read the whole trilogy, and as a whole it stands out still as one of my favorite Buffy novel stories.
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I personally love the Lost Slayer series, which should have been the plot of season 7 in my opinion. Give it a read if you have a chance.

This book is good but not on that level yet. I will definitely share my thoughts when I've finished this first book!
 
S
Stanger406
I LOVED The Lost Slayer series!!
I just finished the first part of the trilogy and oh boy I have some feelings.


Overall, the story was well-done, but it l do feel like it kind of got stuck into exposition mode. The first 150 pages, I was definitely enjoying myself and the references to the ‘original timeline’ were nice, but I felt like it spent too much time dwelling on the start and what exactly was different in the universe.


Also, I know this book should be accessible to people who haven’t seen the show, but it was like reading the beginning of a Harry Potter book. If you’re a fan it is kind of boring, but you can’t skip it, because some important stuff happens.

Spoilers (for this 15-year-old book coming now)

Whereas, the remainder of the story (about the last 150 pages) was incredible. The story was chilling and exciting at the same time. The characters and their motivations felt realistic and the dialogue was on point. Anya, in particularly, was well-written. I like that she has been dipping into pop culture and exploring that human side of her.

I was unsure how Tara was going to be brought back and how she would interact with Willow and the Scoobies, but I think it was all right. This is a bit of an issue I have with the show as well as the book, but I felt like Tara’s death was not properly dealt with in regards to all the characters except Willow. Like I didn’t want them to cry about it for 20 episodes, but I felt the stages of grief were just kind of skipped. I did think that Buffy’s response to seeing Tara’s ghost captured Buffy’s grief. I hope the second book explores this further. I would like to see Dawn (even though she does know better) want Willow to succeed in bringing Tara back, a small monologue would be enough for me.

I loved the coven and how evil they turned. I hope we get to see more of them in the future. I think there could be some interesting stories there, but I doubt it.

Anya’s experiences with the monster whose name I forgot, were terrifying. I actually thought that she was going to die for a while there. Though, I wonder why it was necessary to make her and Xander a thing again. It just feels odd for me.

There were more things that I liked than disliked and I definitely want to continue with the trilogy. I might not read it right after this, but I will pick it up soon and will definitely share my thoughts in this thread 🙂

A strong 3.5 or even a 4 out of 5 stars
 
How does Tara feel about Willow being all vein-y and trying to bring her back? I wouldn't think Dark Willow could be a thing if Tara was present. On the show, Dark Willow panics whenever someone mentions Tara's name, because she knows that she would be horrified if she was alive to see her.
 
WillowFromBuffy said:
How does Tara feel about Willow being all vein-y and trying to bring her back? I wouldn't think Dark Willow could be a thing if Tara was present. On the show, Dark Willow panics whenever someone mentions Tara's name, because she knows that she would be horrified if she was alive to see her.
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We haven't seen a lot of Tara's perspective, but she mostly feels sad and frankly, she wants to 'move on', but Willow does not let her. There hasn't been this emotional fight between them yet, but I think that will happen in either the second or third book.

This novel takes place over several weeks, if not months, and as Tara said in the book herself. She is there more like to act like Willow's conscience and stops Willow from killing Buffy and the other Scoobies. I would like to see more from Tara's perspective, because I am a sucker for Tara, but the writer has handled it well, so far.
 
Foxy said:
We haven't seen a lot of Tara's perspective, but she mostly feels sad and frankly, she wants to 'move on', but Willow does not let her. There hasn't been this emotional fight between them yet, but I think that will happen in either the second or third book.

This novel takes place over several weeks, if not months, and as Tara said in the book herself. She is there more like to act like Willow's conscience and stops Willow from killing Buffy and the other Scoobies. I would like to see more from Tara's perspective, because I am a sucker for Tara, but the writer has handled it well, so far.
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It sounds very interesting, but I find it hard to imagine Tara not being more assertive. I've wondered how Tara would have reacted to Dark Willow if Amber had been available for her resurrection in S7. In my mind, I think Tara would find it very difficult to forgive Willow. Tara draws a line in "Tabula Rasa." She only comes back, because Willow is able to convince her that she has changed.

I am probably not going to read this, because I have so much to read for uni, but I'd love to hear how they develop Tara further. Dark Willow is a very interesting character. Did you read S12, yet?
 
WillowFromBuffy said:
It sounds very interesting, but I find it hard to imagine Tara not being more assertive. I've wondered how Tara would have reacted to Dark Willow if Amber had been available for her resurrection in S7. In my mind, I think Tara would find it very difficult to forgive Willow. Tara draws a line in "Tabula Rasa." She only comes back, because Willow is able to convince her that she has changed.

I am probably not going to read this, because I have so much to read for uni, but I'd love to hear how they develop Tara further. Dark Willow is a very interesting character. Did you read S12, yet?
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Tara does express that Willow has changed, but there does not seem to be any anger in her. I think she has forgiven Dark Willow, maybe not normal Willow, but again I do think there is going to be a confrontation regarding that.

I think Tara would have been able to forgive Willow, after some time, if she had been resurrected in S7.

Btw the funniest thing happened in this book, which is probably just funny to me. One of the demons in this book, Rob, has an obscure name. He is a mischief demon and his kind is called 'Kwaad Schepsel' which is a bad literal translation from Dutch, meaning 'evil creature'. I spent about 10 minutes laughing about this.

If you want to read a Buffy book I would recommend this one, but I will let my other thoughts be known in this thread and the subsequent development of Dark Willow and Ghost Tara.

I haven't read S12 as of yet. I am on my reread and I just started S10 🙂
 
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