Buffy: Oz: Into The Wild: Buffy The Vampire Slayer [Paperback]

Christopher Golden (Author)

Book Description

Series: Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Publication Date: June 5, 2002

When Willow first dated laconic laid-back Daniel Osborne, guitarist with hip campus band Dingoes Ate My Baby, it didn't matter to her that he turned into a werewolf every time there was a full moon. After all, as she said to him, 'Three days of the month I'm not much fun to be around either.' But when Oz's savage instincts threaten to overwhelm him and he fears he can no longer control his impulses even outside the full moon, he decides that he's no longer safe for Willow to be around. Leaving a devastated Willow behind him he drops out of college and vanishes out of her life, telling her only that he will return when he is confident he can control the wolf within. Viewers of Buffy Season Four will know that he does return and that thanks to a sage in Tibet he did indeed learn to master the wolfish part of his nature. Christopher Golden's fabulous tale fills in the gaps ...where he went in his search for knowledge and whom he encountered, what happened to him on his travels and exactly how he learned to find that inner strength and peace.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Sunnydale's shores are invaded by an ancient demonic threat from beneath the waves. The Council of Watchers' immediate response is to kill the creatures - but Buffy the Vampire Slayer is sure that the Council is hiding something and refuses to co-operate.a further dark, hair-raising tale that marks the return of the fan-favourite rogue Slayer, Faith. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Christopher Golden is the award-winning, bestselling author of such novels as Wildwood Road, The Boys Are Back in Town, Of Saints and Shadows, and the Body of Evidence thriller series. He has cowritten a number of novels and comic books set in the worlds of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. There are more than eight million copies of his books in print. He lives in Massachusetts with his family.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (June 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743450329
• ISBN-13: 978-0743450324
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,497,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the award-winning, bestselling author of such novels as The Myth Hunters, Wildwood Road, The Boys Are Back in Town, The Ferryman, Strangewood, Of Saints and Shadows, and (with Tim Lebbon) The Map of Moments. He has also written books for teens and young adults, including Poison Ink, Soulless, and the thriller series Body of Evidence, honored by the New York Public Library and chosen as one of YALSA's Best Books for Young Readers. Upcoming teen novels include a new series of hardcover YA fantasy novels co-authored with Tim Lebbon and entitled The Secret Journeys of Jack London.

A lifelong fan of the "team-up," Golden frequently collaborates with other writers on books, comics, and scripts. In addition to his recent work with Tim Lebbon, he co-wrote the lavishly illustrated novel Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire with Mike Mignola. With Thomas E. Sniegoski, he is the co-author of the book series OutCast and The Menagerie, as well as comic book miniseries such as Talent, currently in development as a feature film. With Amber Benson, Golden co-created the online animated series Ghosts of Albion and co-wrote the book series of the same name.
As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies The New Dead and British Invasion, among others, and has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, the online animated series Ghosts of Albion (with Amber Benson) and a network television pilot.

The author is also known for his many media tie-in works, including novels, comics, and video games, in the worlds of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, Angel, and X-Men, among others.

Golden was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His original novels have been published in more than fourteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The epic Gatekeeper trilogy from Golden and Holder, May 20, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) (Paperback)

"The Gatekeeper Trilogy" by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder remains the epitome of the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" original novels, an epic story that manages to get the Slayer and the Scoobies out of Sunnydale. Unbound by considerations of stage space and shooting budgets the first volume, "Out of the Madhouse" manages to get the Slayer and most of her cohorts to Boston. The plot has to do with the Sons of Entropy trying to unleash chaos on the world at the behest of Il Maestro, who works mainly behind the scenes in Book One. Suddenly all sorts of wicked things come to Sunnydale and it turns out that there have been released from the Gatehouse where the Gatekeeper is dying, leading up to an initial showdown in Boston. The other recurring concern throughout the book is more personal, dealing with what Buffy, Xander, Willow and the gang are going to do when they get finally graduate high school, so there is a concern for the entropy of the group along with the potential destruction of all human life on the planet. Implicit in their concerns is the unspoken knowledge that Buffy is fated to die young as a slayer and their realization that whatever hopes and aspirations they might have seem somewhat secondary to saving the world from big evil.

The middle volume, "The Ghost Roads," is the best in the trilogy. The Ghost Roads of the title are a network of inter-dimensional shortcuts that allow Buffy, Angel and Oz to travel quickly to Europe to search for the son of the dying Gatekeeper. What they do not know is that Spike and Drusilla have the boy and are looking to make a deal with the Sons of Entropy. Meanwhile, back in Sunnydale, the Flying Dutchman has appeared off shore causing problems for Giles and the rest of the Scooby Gang. Even worse, the Sons of Entropy have kidnapped Joyce Summers in an effort to force the Slayer to return so Buffy can be sacrificed by Il Maestro to the greater glory of his demon overlord and the end of the world as we know it. Golden and Holder are clearly working on that higher level in this book: Giles has to leave behind students to die during an escape, Angel tortures a wounded man to get vital information, and Joyce deals with the idea of sacrificing herself so that Buffy can save the world (Note: This is NOT a Buffy book for younger readers).

In the concluding volume, "Sons of Entrophy," the truly tragic figure that emerges from this trilogy is Jacques Regnier, the young boy who has to become the Gatekeeper following the death of his father. His fate is different from that of Buffy as the Slayer, but he is also a Chosen One and there is a certain pathos to his having to grow up too quickly. The creation of the Gatekeeper and the Gatehouse are one of the best ideas to come out of the "BtVS" books. Ironically, Buffy has less to do that most of the other characters in the final volume, but it was definitely great to see that Xander have a bright shinning moment as the substitute Gatekeeper. His character had been the comic relief for the Scooby Gang for so long that you forget he brought Buffy back from the dead at the end of season one. They also do a nice job of getting to what Cordelia is thinking behind her tactless remarks, but Oz is back to quipping a bit too much as he was in Book One and Willow is much more the successful little wicca she ended up being in the series. However, the character who really shines in this volume is Joyce Summers, dealing with being the mother of the Slayer as best she can.

Golden and Holder were perfectly suited to the task of constructing a literary epic for Buffy, not only because they are far and away the best writers working on the Buffy books but also because they have researched the characters and the attendant mythos of the series, having worked on all of the official companion guides for the series. They have come up with a plot line well suited to a three volume tale and you only have to read a couple of chapters to acknowledge this book is so far above the vast majority of the Buffy books. Furthermore, they get beyond the surface level with all of the characters, although admittedly they are guilty of putting too many quips into dialogue. They get the important stuff right. It has been several years since "The Gatekeeper Trilogy" first came out and you still will not find a better Buffy the Vampire Slayer story (Golden's "The Lost Slayer" serial novels come closest).