Customer Reviews

Carnival of Souls (Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Pocket Paperback Unnumbered))

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This has to be the most interesting Buffy storyline for a book. Nancy Holder kept this book true to the show. All the characters are well written. Their interaction is great too. I love seeing how all the Scoobies act with their new personalities. This book has a strong Mother/Daughter relationship between Buffy and Joyce unlike the last book. The only downside to this book is there are a couple Buffy history mistakes.

If you like Buffy, you will like this book. You should defintaly pick this book up. It wont dissapoint. Nancy Holder knows the show well. And Giles gets cats!

Professor Caligari and his carnival comes to town. Not at all original. But once you start reading, the not-well thought out Caligari becomes secondary to the Scoobie gang's dynamics. Buffy and friends (plus Cordelia) have a wonderful rapport with each other. The gang must solve the puzzle of why Sunnydale classmates are acting strange. Of course, it's the carnival, which steals souls by making the funseekers act out their worst deadly sin (out of the seven, and the book makes sure you remember there are 7 deadly sins by having the bad guys have the number on them somewhere, like on their cloths). Cordelia is hilarious as a greedy would-be robber. Buffy is all of 16, proud to be the Slayer and thinking pretty much only about smooching with Angel. Angel has some lusty (PG-13) thoughts about Buffy, though, so you really feel the age difference between the two.

Also, if you wondered how the human families of the vampires (who were once Sunnydale citizins) Buffy slays cope with the disappearance of a loved one, you'll get a partial answer here.

Some spelling mistakes, and luckily no retconning, to include Dawn. I found it a good read, and I like the Scoobie interaction.

This book was a fun read. It brings back the nostalgia of season two, pre-Angelus, with some slight fore-shadowing of future events. Each of the gang get affected by one of the seven deadly sins, which ever one they may have a slight weakness in. How they act when affected is interesting. I only wish it had more of Angel in it, but this is a Buffy book.

CARNIVAL OF SOULS
By Nancy Holder (2006)

RATING: 3/5 Stakes

SETTING: Season Two

TV CHARACTER APPEARANCES: Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Jenny Calendar, Cordelia, Principal Skinner, Angel, Ethan Rayne, Joyce, Harmony

MAJOR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Professor Caligari/Caligarius (sorcerer villain); Stephanie & David Hahn (students); Le Malfaiteur (sorcerer); Claire Nierman (ally of Ethan Rayne); Carl Palmer (student); Vaclav (circus member); Astorrith (demon)

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY

"There's something troubling about Professor Caligari's Traveling Carnival. Perhaps it's that no one can recall the arrival of its hard-to-miss caravan of old-style wagons, countless performers, and horse-drawn carts. Maybe it's the creepy calliope music that tirelessly beckons visitors. Let's face it, an enigma that chooses Sunnydale nearly guarantees it's up to more than wholesome family entertainment. After a visit to the carnival's Hall of Mirrors, a once-shy pair of homely sophomore twins parades the halls of Sunnydale High like diva supermodels on a runway. Intuiting the twins' abrupt personality change as more than a self-confidence boost, Buffy--joined by Angel, Giles, and the rest of the Scoobies--decides to investigate the suspicious carnival firsthand. But soon it's apparent that the price of admission is higher than she imagined. Those who enter the carnival's attractions exit . . . changed. Each of the gang soon shows extreme displays of vice. Willow is wracked with envy. Cordelia's greed consumers her. Xander unleashes his gluttony. Angel reveals a lusty new persona. And a dark anger rises in Giles. But it's Buffy's now-blinding pride that threatens to overpower her, and in the process destroy those she loves. . . ."

REVIEW

To encapsulate my review in the pithiest way possible: "Carnival of Souls is a perfectly average Buffy novel." That is, it's very much a straightforward, been-there, done-that story about an evil carnival coming to town, leading the Scoobies to investigate and eventually devise a way to stop it. Buffy and her friends find themselves acting on strange temptations, but not in especially interesting ways (though Xander does eat some really disgusting foods!). The main villain, Professor Caligari, is rather generic, and the usually interesting Ethan Rayne falls flat.

Carnival of Souls isn't a terrible novel. It is kind of fun to see the Scoobies back in Season Two, complete with Principal Skinner, Angel, Jenny Calendar, mean Cordelia, and even Joyce. On the whole, however, there's nothing to distinguish this Buffy novel from the dozens of other ones out there. The plot, the dialogue, the action . . . are all just average. Unless you've already read the best of them, give this one a pass.

"Carnival of Souls" by Nancy Holder is a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" story that takes place during Season 2 somewhere in between "What's My Line? Part 2" where Kendra shows up and "Surprise" when Angel becomes Angelus. Those are episodes 10 and 13 from that season, so this is a small window of opportunity. Oz is conspicuous by his absence, but Joyce Summers is around for a lot of the fun and Jenny Calendar plays a key role. There are references to both "Halloween" and "The Dark Age," so things are pretty consistent on that basis, although Holder does have some fun hinting that there is a military group that has a boss rather than a leader somewhere in the Sunnydale area. But this is the point where Buffy and Angel have not done anything yet, and nobody knows that Xander and Cordelia are involved in a non-romantic romance.

The idea is that something wicked evil this way comes, namely Professor Caligari's Traveling Carnival. Nobody in Sunnydale remembers when the carnival rolled into town of why the creepy calliope music is making everybody show up whether they want to or not. The first Sunndyale High students to make it are the Hahn twins, a pair of geeky sophomores, who check out the Hall of Mirrors and are now parading through the halls of the school like they are the most beautiful people on the planet. So Buffy, Angel, Giles and the rest of the Scoobies decide they need to check out the carnival themselves. Once there it becomes clear that everybody who attends the carnival leaves it a changed person, only they are not aware of the change.

Also, it appears that what attraction you visit at the carnival has something to do with the nature of the change. Go through the Hall of Mirrors and you are suddenly bursting with pride at your personal appearance. Try your luck at the coin toss and you will not only be completely out of money, you will be consumed by greed. The next thing we now Angel is feeling quite lusty towards Buffy, Giles is getting angrier by the moment, Willow is wracked with envy, and Xander has become a total glutton. Does anybody remember the Seven Deadly Sins? Because those appear to be what is going on here and if you want to know to what end go back a take a gander at the title of the book.

There is a lot going on in Holder's book and actually I think she ends up putting to much into it before it is all over. Professor Caligari's Traveling Carnival is interesting enough without tossing in the Rising, another one of these unknown threats that could signal another end of the world scenario in the mix. Also, there is one more recurring character that shows up, although I do not really think he is necessary to the story and does not really have a moment that justifies his involvement. But he has a dog-thing named Le Malfaiteur that has a French accent, which appeals to me because he makes Cordelia scream. I was going back and forth on the pluses and minuses of the book, however, in the end I rounded up on this one because Xander Harris had a moment and since he was very much the Zeppo in Season 2, even if the episode of that name did not come until Season 3, any moment where he comes close to saving the day instead of being the comic relief is appreciated.

I thought this book could've been better. It took alittle while to get into and at some points was kinda slow. I found it funny at times, but thought that it was written more for a child than a adult. For the price of the book 15.00 I probably would've passed on this one had I known.
Still it wasn't awful, just was expecting something more especially after reading Haunted(Angel), which I really liked alot.

Dr Caligari brings his glass coffin and travelling carnival to Sunnydale. Anyone that goes is affected by one of the Seven Deadly Sins. The good doctor needs to do some soul sucking to continue to keep himself alive, and to recruit some nice cheap labor to keep his show going.

Not only that, but Ethan Rayne is looking to do a deal with Caligari.

Everyone in the scoobies is affected, as is Giles, and only with the help of Jenny Callendar do they get things under control.

Nancy Holder's BTVS novels read like the best episodes of the television series; they're scary, fun, and engaging. This particular novel is uses a premise that echoes Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, but does so with engaging twists and turns that play with the characters as they have been delineated over the course of the TV show. Truly creepy.

Perhaps the saddest thing about Buffy the Vampire Slayer coming to an end isn't the loss of a show that had reached its limits. For years now, Buffy fans have had comic books and novels as ways to visit Sunnydale over and over again, and now those writers have only the past to work with. One of these writers who has persisted is Nancy Holder. This veteran writer has found a space to slip in yet another store time and time again. Now Carnival of Souls takes place about the middle of season two when thinks were simpler and idyllic compared to what was to come.

When a traveling carnival arrives on the edge of Sunnydale and its master begins to play siren songs on its calliope the people around Buffy begin to flock to the show. And each is changed in some dark way. Homely people become insufferable vain, Cordelia succumbs to greed, and Xander to an unending appetite. Regular characters and townsfolk become the victims of Professor Caligari, who has come out of his closet to seal a deal with the devil. Buffy, of course, to the rescue, but she too must struggle with this alien music. Perhaps the most interesting thing in this novel is that each character parodies their own character defects. We knew that nobody on BTVS was perfect but Holder uses a magnifying glass to remind us of everyone's flaws.

This novel is something of a cast of thousands, with evil and good characters appearing whether they are needed or not. It's something like a BTVS museum, and something like a visit to Dante's Inferno - but the diversity distracts from the story a bit. And it's hard to relate to a season two Buffy when you've seen a handful of later seasons. In my darkest moments I think that we have seen all there to see of the most powerful blond in the world.. Eventually, there will be no more Buffy, and then all we will have is reminiscence.

This book is just another Buffy book. Their is nothing that really stands out about it. But that doe'snt mean you should'nt read it. It's an average book with an intersting plot, and altogether if you're a fan of the show you will probaly like this book. Just don't expect anything special, because if you do you will be disappointed.