Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Lost Slayer comes to a pair of thrilling conclusions, 14 Nov 2001
By A Customer
Actually, "Original Sins," Part Four in Christopher Golden's "The Lost Slayer" serial novel, offers not one, but two conclusions. In the future, Buffy and what remains of the Scooby Gang have their final bloody showdown with Rupert Giles the Vampire King and then "returns" to the present to correct the fatal error from her first encounter with Camazotz. With all the excitement about Giles becoming the king of the Vampires, it is easy to forget that Camazotz is also a most excellent villain to appropriate into the Buffy mythos and I think Golden deserves extra credit for coming up with two first-rate bad guys in the same storyline.Actually, I almost wish Golden had not put the two great villains in the same book, because I would have loved to have seen Camazotz and his estranged "wife" Zotzilaha, be more center stage, but obviously he is not going to be able to compete with Giles as the Vampire King. Actually, "Popol Vuh," one of the Mayan sacred books, identifies Zotzilaha not as a god, but as a cavern, "The House of Bats." Zotzilaha was home to a type of bat called Camazotz, which has been translated as "snatch bat" and "death bat." Camalotz was also the name of the "Sudden Bloodletter", identified as one of four animal demons which slew the impious first race of men. We all know much more about the European vampire legends than what happened in South America, but Golden has taped a rich vein of lore and maybe in the future Buffy will encounter the religious death cult of the Zapotecs that worshipped a bat-demon, or the soucouyant of Trinidad or the tin tin of Ecuador. Who says Buffy the Vampire Slayer is not educational? "Original Sins" is an appropriate title for this concluding volume, which certain comes full circle given that at the start of the story Buffy is trying to separate her life as the Slayer from her life as a college Freshman. In dividing that world she thinks that her friends belong with the later, which is somewhat surprising since I always thought one of the reasons Buffy has lasted so long as a Slayer is because she was not going it alone. You would think the Watchers Council would have figured out somewhere along the line that a Slayer with support in the field was going to last longer than one forced to go solo. The entire "Lost Slayer" series clearly takes advantage of the fact that it was written during Season 5 but takes place in Season 3. Golden clearly knows how far Willow has advanced in her wicca ways and he uses that to his advantage. I have always thought that it was the relationship between Buffy and Willow that is really at the heart of the show, and both Season 6 and Golden's novels prove the point as far as I am concerned. For those who enjoyed "The Wish" and "Doppelgangland" or have always enjoyed the DC comic "What If..." issues or "It's a Wonderful Life" and its various homages, "The Lost Slayer" is a fitting addition to the oeuvre. When these sort of stories are done right they are so good. "The Lost Slayer" is on the same level as "The Gatekeeper Trilogy," and that, in the wonderful world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer books, is as good as it gets.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Erg....yay....good book., 27 Oct 2001
I should probably link this one in with the previous two books...I'll try not to give too much away. This is kind of in the whole 'parallel universe' vein that anybody who has watched any amount of Star Trek TNG will know all too well. That's good though, because it means Chris Golden isn't tied to the TV series - he can kill and mutilate the major characters as much as he sees fit. Willow isn't unkillable here simply because we know she's in the next season on TV (not that she gets killed, mind you...). Who knows if Xander is going to get his arms torn off? Not me. The book keeps you guessing. I've read quite a few Buffy books and most of them aren't that good - what works great in a 45 minute TV show frequently doesn't work so well in a 250+ page novel. Chris Golden and his sometime writing partner Nancy Holder are really the only Buffy writers I've come across who do it really well. But I'm waffling now...I'll just say that this book is...absorbing. But not like toilet paper. I've read the first three parts of this serial and I motored through each of them in about a day. Although that was partly because each of them is pretty stingy in terms of word count. I just know that at some point the four mini-books will be published in one volume and it'll cost less than I paid for the four books separately. The ending for the third book is kind of predictable, but the first two end in a major cliffhanger way. Although the 'WOW' ending at the conclusion of book 2 was a little spoilt for me because I'd already read the blurb on the back of the third book. Where was I? The three books I've read are really, really good. I still can't guess what's going to happen in the last book. Well, I can guess some of it (I wonder if Buffy will find a way to make sure the alternate future doesn't actually happen?) but it'll be fun seeing if the body count of series regulars increases any more. Did anybody see the episode where Spike has Buffy and Drusilla chained up, and Harmony shows up? I was screaming "just kill one of them already" at the TV screen. But he didn't, and I got the feeling that it was simply because the TV show writers wanted to use the characters in future episodes. That kind of thing really isn't an issue in this series of books.Wow, this is a really long review. Sorry, guys.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Giles the Vampire King continues to toy with Buffy, 11 Nov 2001
By A Customer
After the shattering revelation that Rupert Giles is now the King of the Vampires it would be difficult for Christopher Golden to top himself in "King of the Dead," Part Three of "The Lost Slayer" serial novel, and in fact he does not really try. Abandoning the "present" story line where Buffy's 19-year-old body had been possessed by Zotzilaha, the estranged bride of Camazotz, the ancient Mayan demon-god, Golden focuses entirely on the alternative Buffy future, where the now 24-year-old Slayer has finally escaped captivity and has been reunited with the old Scoobey Gang. Whereas the first two parts of the Lost Slayer ended with the reader dying to find out what happens next, "King of the Dead" ends with us wanting to know more about what happened to everyone while Buffy was lost. But all we really get are vauge references to the horrors that happened in Sunnydale while Buffy was imprisoned, namely the deaths of Joyce, Faith and Anya (and presumably Angel), and like Buffy we want to hear more of the details.Golden takes full advantage of the fact that these books are set way back during the early part of Season 4 of Buffy, so that his characterizations of Willow as the defacto leader of the Watchers Council forces, Xander as the grim death machine, and Oz as the unleashed werewolf, ring true. One of the most impressive developments on Buffy has been the emergence of Willow as a wicca of considerably and growing power. Perhaps even more than the relationship between Giles and the Slayer, it is the relationship between Buffy and Willow that is at the heart of the Buffy mythos. The most poignant scenes in "King of the Dead" have to do with the two friends trying to find themselves again, and the realization that Willow has remained true to Buffy, even at the expense of her relationship with Oz. It is character relationship rather than action that ultimately dominates Part Three of this tale and provide the novel's best moments. My previous bafflement as to why Buffy was incarerated in a cell that actually had a door, through which escape was finally possible after five years, is explained away by Golden's revelation that her former Watcher has further, darker plans for Buffy in his new vampire kingdom. Although as a tendency I have little fondness for writers providing their villains with an Achilles heel that will allow the hero to triumph at the last moment, there is a certain deliciously twisted logic at work here. You can certainly argue that if Giles the Vampire King is as smart and as patient as everybody keeps saying he is, then he would not play with fire in this manner, and I would absolutely agree with you. But Golden makes the whole idea work for the most part as he builds up to the final chapters of the tale. "The Lost Slayer" is far and away Golden's best solo work on Buffy and his efforts do not suffer in comparison to "The Gatekeeper" Trilogy. Buffy fans do not want to miss out on this hell ride.
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by Mel Odom
by Christopher Golden
by Kirsten Beyer
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