Nancy Holder loves slayers, but Buffy holds a special place in her heart. This is why she is my favourite Buffyverse novelist, along with Christopher Golden.
I had to start with the author because the tone of the book always reflect the feelings of the author for all the characters. And Holder writes Buffy with an almost reverent approach. She stays true to what Buffy represents, and her heart ,as in one of my favourite passages of Buffy in the last chapter of this book.
The four Champions stood poised for battle. The odds were unbelievable, and yet they prepared as if the fate of the world depended on defying those odds. The blue woman and the dying man were strangers to Buffy, but she would do anything, give anything to save them.
That's our Buffy.
And the ending is almost a whisper.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer raised her face to the dawn.
She was different, again. Not the same as all the other slayers. Again.
She touched her abdomen, closed her eyes, and communed with heroes.
She said to them, I will see you again.
The final chapters mostly made me teary-eyed. I love this book for the respect it gave our beloved characters, and for the great adventure of the exciting, dark times and places, and the villains that lived there.
I never expected to meet the Borgias in this book. Horrible people.
This book felt unfinished though. It is begging for a sequel. The Immortal, Ornella, and the Legion of Three are still on the loose. The casualties were all slayers from both sides. That's not fair. Those villains need to die. Preferably in the most horrid way.
Which of the villains did you hate the most? I hated them all but I hated Ornella the most because she was a slayer, and a very shallow person. I should hate the Immortal more because he betrayed Buffy, but he was just a businessman. And a coward. I thought that was why he waved to Willow. He must be thinking:
Nothing personal cara, it's just business.
The Immortal may have turned out to be a disappointment eventually but I still chuckle at this line of thought from Buffy when they first meet
Like the dream, the thought came unbidden: The Immortal is a hottie.
I have read the S8 comics, not all, of course. I liked it but I feel this book is a better new beginning for S8. It's not about the scope, it's the story.
