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The sleepy town of Sunnydale has a problem; it sits on a hell
mouth, a portal for all sorts of diabolical demons. Standing
against these potential hordes is Buffy Summers, slayer extraordinaire,
and her menagerie of friends. When the cultured Balsamo moves
into the area to reopen the drive-in cinema things start to
happen. The local teenagers fall prey to a strange sleeping
sickness from which they are unable to recover and Buffy has
some very strange encounters with creatures of the night.
Is there a connection between the two events and will the
gang be able to figure it out in time...?
Afterimage
is the latest Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel by
Pierce Askegren, who has previously worked in the genre field
penning various Marvel books as well as his own original science
fiction trilogy. With so many Buffy books out there
he's got to go some to compete with the couple of hundred
already on the book stands.
I
did watch Buffy when it was first shown, though I wouldn't
claim to have any great in-depth knowledge of the show. My
best guess is that the book is placed somewhere in the second
or third seasons. Cordelia has joined the Scooby gang, Buffy
and Angel's relationship appears to be in its early phase,
Willow has yet to turn into the lesbian witch from hell and
there is no Spike, sorry Spike fans, that's just the way it
is.
The
novel isn't bad and will please many of the fans of the show
who want to see their favourite characters in familiar surroundings.
The elements needed to please fans of the show are all there,
lots of arse kicking with a smattering of smooching with Angel.
Characterisation
is good in reflecting the shows main protagonists, though
to be honest having seen Giles as the naked Prime Minister
in Little Britain has kind of coloured my whole outlook
on the actor - personally I feel scarred for life. You don't
really find out anything new about the characters that you
didn't already know from the show. The book avoids expanding
on either the mythic background of Sunnydale or giving any
great depth to Buffy and the gang.
As far as the plot is concerned this is the usual tie-in fare
where as soon as you discover that Balsamo has reopened the
drive-in you can pretty much work out the rest of the plot
from there, leaving Buffy and the gang little to do except
go through the motions until their inevitable victory. On
a good note the villain is written well. So many of these
novels reduce their baddie to a music hall caricature, thankfully
Askegren avoids this pitfall.
So,
not a great novel, but a credible tie-in story and if you
don't mind being able to work out the plot by page sixty-four
(yes I'm that anal, I counted). Great for the fans and not
too hard on the old brain for the casual reader.
Charles
Packer
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