Customer Reviews

Crossings (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

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

 

 

WARNING: Once again, we begin with a sincere warning not to read the copy that appears on the back cover and above describing the content of this novel. Apparently they write such things before the books are really written, which certainly explains why some of the recent BtVS one have been so off base.

"Crossings" is Mel Odom's second "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" novel after last year's "Revenant," although his contribution to the "Tales of the Slayer, Volume 1" was the best of that rather uneven collection. This latest effort takes place in the wake of Joyce Summer's death during Season 5 and while at first it seems that Buffy's problems with Dawn is but a major subplot it becomes a critical part of the novel's payoff. But because the Slayer's sibling does not show up until well into the story you are distracted by the problem at hand, which involves a demon who wants to ascend character level (I am beginning to get the hang of the Buffy CCG). However, "Crossings" is one of those novels were everything comes together in the end for the big payoff. So while Buffy and Willow are tracking a Craulathar demon who collects body parts from corpses, Xander and Anya are trying to enjoy a "Star Trek" film festival, and Giles and Tara are attending a taping of the television program "Othersyde," they are all just picking up threads of Odom's narrative.

Odom does an excellent job of maintaining the pace of this story, which takes place in the course of one night. Even as he adds more characters into the mix he keeps all of his balls in the air and you are never left wondering what is happening with anybody at any given moment. "Crossings" comes close to the actual pace of a television episode (it could not be because diversions and lavender eyes will cost big time special effects bucks).

However, the main strength of this effort is Odom's characterization. The picture of Xander and Anya on the cover might be somewhat arbitrary (they just used Buffy and Dawn on the cover of "Sweet Sixteen"), but they are probably the two characters that Odom captures best, mainly because in both cases he reigns in their senses of humor; most BtVS novel writers give Anya way too much free reign, but Odom keeps her from going off the deep end. There is also a scene between Buffy and Dawn that is actually better than anything we have seen on television between the two, which really makes me realize that they need to do more with Dawn than making her the damsel in distress. Odom even has her actually do something constructive in the course of the adventure.

I also like Odom's attention to detail, which is also reflected in the careful construction of his story. There is a point in the story where a pair of binoculars pops up. Admittedly, this is a small thing, but pay attention to how much sense it makes and why there should be more such things in the BtVS universe. He also has a hysterical scene when a TV medium has a more ghostly encounter, a guy who insists on calling the Slayer "ma'am," a pretty good pay off line for the Slayer's big kill, and not one but two good endings to his novel. Given the limitations that are placed on the writers of BtVS novels (e.g., do not write about the season's main villain, do not have anything really important happen, etc.), "Crossings" is a more than solid effort. Odom is really hitting stride and the auspices are pretty good that his next BtVS novel could be something pretty special.

Crossings is Buffy at its best.

Someone arrives in Sunnydale and he's recruiting video gamers to test a new virtual reality game. All the gamers know is that he calls himself Dredfahl and that the game is the greatest and most realistic they've ever played. Xander finds out what's going on one night when a friend of his goes insane at a movie theater. Turns out he's being possessed by a demon, and Dredfahl isn't quite who he seems...

In Crossings, every character gets something to do, even the smaller characters. Buffy, Xander, Anya, Willow, Giles, Dawn, Spike and Tara all have things to do, as well as some new characters. One of the things that I liked best about this book is that pivotal information comes from everyone, not just one or two characters like usual (i.e. - usually Giles and/or Willow come up with a lot of the info). Everyone gets in on the action, and it actually works. The plot is pretty easy to follow, yet I don't ever remember being bored while reading.

If you want a great Buffy book, go with Crossings. It's a major step up, especially following the dreadful Sweet Sixteen. I highly recommend Crossings to any fan of the Buffy series.

When a Craulathar demon begins to collect people parts, the outcome is always bad. Buffy and Willow are following a trail of discards in an effort to track the demon down before it works some awful spell. Faced with a demon in the process of opening a gateway to some particularly malignant dimension, they are going to need help to shut the door. Whom do you call when you need an expert on serious badness...? Spike!

Meanwhile... Xander and Anya are engrossed in a sci-fi film festival, popcorn in hand, when Robby Healdton, a gaming friend, plucks a fire axe of the walk and threatens to chop the audience into geek cutlets. Xander to the rescue (barely). Later, at the hospital, Xander discovers Robby isn't just acting as if he wasn't himself; he really isn't Robby at all!

Even more meanwhile... Giles and Tara are in the studio audience watching Derek Traynor, a popular medium and spiritualist perform. Suddenly Traynor makes contact with the dead spirit of another friend of Xander's who is lost in another dimension. However, the boy still appears to in this world, alive and well!

The Scooby gang realize that these tangled problems are the visible loose ends of a magic that has somehow managed to convert virtual reality into a tool to subjugate the world. Xander has disappeared, Dawn is giving Buffy a major headache, and a guitar playing New Orleans demon slayer shows up in Sunnydale with an agenda of his own. Soon Buffy is wishing she could go back to the old 'See it, put a stake in it' days.

Mel Odom does a good job with this plot, but there is a lot of complex action in a very short novel. This is his forte, but sometimes the plot is a little hard to follow in the space allotted. Certainly, the book could easily have been longer, or there should have been one or two plot arcs less. To be honest, I find the Buffy/Dawn conflict is a bit overworked lately. The potential relationship between Bobby Lee Tooker (the Cajun demon duster) and Buffy never has a chance to develop with everything else going on, and he is a very interesting character.

I hope that this is not a trend. What makes BTVS something else besides a monster kill-a-thon is the focus the show puts on its characters. Books like this that are heavily action focused are in danger of drifting away from a successful formula. All this criticism aside, the story is an active, upbeat book with some unusual twists to the use of magic. I enjoyed reading it, and would have enjoyed another fifty pages even more.

This story takes place shortly after Season Five BTVS episode "The Body". Buffy finds herself in the most frightening role of her life, trying to be a good mother to Dawn, while still finding time to battle the forces of evil.

Meanwhile Xander treats Anya to a Star Trek movie marathon, but when one of Xander's friends busts in, intent on killing everyone, it seems that the hell mouth has opened again. But Xander discovers that instead he is dealing with a new Virtual Reality system most of his friends are testing, and the virtual reality is far too real.

Shortly after Tara and Giles attend a taping of Tara's favorite TV psychic, and can only watch helplessly as he's attacked by supernatural forces.

Over all this is a very well written addition to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. Mel Odom continues to be my favorite author. It's fun to see how all his diverse plots will intermingle at the end.

For all you MANY Spike fans out there, while he doesn't get as much 'screen time' as Xander in this particular novel, he is strong, compassionate towards Buffy, and riding around on a motorcycle. Yum.

Lastly, for those of us that are comic book fans as well as Buffy fans there are more comic book and RPG references in here than you can shake an adamantium claw at. :>

Highly recommended for fans not only of Buffy, but of Xander, Spike, and gaming!

I enjoyed Crossings for the most part. It could be a little slow at some parts and the story was pretty standard sci fi but the relationships - especially Buffy and Dawn's relationship after their mom's death - were explored well. I would recommened this to someone who has a few hours to relax and wants a quick read.

CROSSINGS
Mel Odom (2002)

RATING: 3/5 Stakes

SETTING: Season Five

CAST APPEARANCES: Buffy, Willow, Anya, Xander, Spike, Willy, Tara, Giles, Dawn, Amy (as rat)

MAJOR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Robby Healdton (Xander's friend); Stephie McConnell (Robby's girlfriend); Bobby Lee Tooker (demon hunter); Derek Traynor (medium); Dredfahl (villain); Malik (demon); Torqualmar (demon)

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: "Buffy and Dawn are having difficulty settling into their new roles, now that their mother is gone. Buffy herself is reluctant to cross over to the role of parent, and the two are bickering more than usual. In fact, Buffy's distraction prevents her from noticing strange behavior among the video-game crowd. One of Xander's friends goes medieval outside the Sunnydale movie theater, laughing and babbling that he can't be stopped-he's only in town on a temporary visa. Puzzled, Anya and Xander investigate. It seems that people who've been testing a new video game have been demonstrating creepy tics. As the Slayer attempts to put all of the pieces together, Anya is abducted into an alternate demon universe. Buffy had better figure out how to get her friend back to Sunnydale, before the game is over, for good. . . ."

REVIEW

Crossings is a solid, standard Buffy novel with a straightforward plot. In a demon dimension, a bad guy named Dredfahl hopes to resurrect a powerful demon named Torqualmar by assembling all of the latter's bones. In other to quicken the search, Dredfahl has hit upon a clever scheme: he uses virtual reality video game testers on Earth as the minds and souls of actual demons in his native dimension, thus increasing the demons' intelligence and combat ability. While playing the "game", however, the gamers' own bodies on Earth are taken over by the demons' original minds. As expected, chaos ensues (though the back-of-the-book summary contains a mistake and Xander, not Anya, ends up in the other dimension).

Set shortly after the death of Joyce, author Mel Odom does an excellent job developing Buffy and Dawn's grief, as well as Buffy's difficulty figuring out whether she should try to be a sister or a mother (or somehow both). Although more humor would be a plus, the characterization of all the Slayerettes is good, with Xander and Tara getting more of the spotlight than usual for Buffy novels.

Two new characters have potential, although their introduction seems somewhat unnecessary: Bobby Lee Tooker, a southern musician-turned-demon hunter and Derek Traynor, a John Edward-style psychic medium. The action is exciting and easy to visualize, and the heroes figuring out the problem early was actually refreshing. The main downside is the villain, Dredfahl. He has no personality to speak of and his major motivation, resurrecting a powerful demon, is now extremely clichéd in the Buffyverse and should be ruled out of bounds for all future stories.

All in all, Crossings is a middle-of-the-road Buffy book. There are others I would recommend before it, but on its own terms it's not bad.

Beware video game buffs! The trouble starts when gamers get snared in the web of the demon Dredfahl, who usurps their bodies for his minions and sends their souls to a video game dimension, where they have to capture enough bones to bring forth the master demon, Torqualmar. The victims don't realize that the video game dimension is real, and when they die in it, they are truly dead.

The Scoobies need all their combined talents to save Xander, whose body gets hijacked, and save the world once again. Willow uses magic, seances, Spike uses his strength and warrior sense, and Buffy uses her Slayersense to solve this case. Even Dawn is useful in this book, making an important discovery.


Mel Odom is my favorite Buffy author. This book shows his humorous side. The portrayal of Anya and Xander at the Star Trek festival is very funny (Don't wear a red shirt!). The names of the demons are also entertaining-"Dredfahl", "Manik" and the name of the other dimension "Ollindark". The story is fast-paced, the characterizations well done. There were no boring parts at all!

The book also ties into the series at that time, with Buffy struggling to assume the parental role, Willow's increasing immersion in magik, and Tara's growing concern.

while xander and anya are at the movies, a young man they both
know comes in and starts threatening to kill everyone. a big fight ensues and eventually he is taken to the hospital. everyone thinks that he has lost it but upon further research
it is discovered that he was recruited to try out for a new
virtual reality game that causes it's participant's essence to be
sent to an alternate dimension while demons' essensences are
stored in their bodies. this book is fast paced and actually let's the whole scooby gang have a part in rescuing the poor guys
trapped in the demon universe. dawn even gets in the action and
it is nice to see that some writers are keeping up to date with
the show. i highly reccommend this one and i can't wait to 'wisdom of war' comes out. that looks like they are going to
take the story line into uncharted territory which will be
refreshing.

This reader has read a multitude of Buffy novels, but I was never in a big hurry to read "Crossings"; for good reason, bad plot. The description on the back of the novel says Anya is kidnapped into a deadly, video game, demon dimension, but it's Xander who is taken; which makes more sense. The story still blows. The video game description was lame, boring; the Bobby Lee character added nothing to the story and the characterization of Anya was off.
The novel deserves three stars, because Mel Odom has an enjoyable structure to his writing. He does not do cliff hangers, so that the reader will forget the minor details from three chapters ago. His characterization of Buffy, Dawn, Spike, Xander and Tara were spot on. Willow was great, because the reader can catch a glimpse of her using dangerous Magic. Tara compared Willow using Magic like turning on a cable channel. Willow is strong and will not be stopped when her friends are in danger, but for every action, there's a reaction and there will be consequences to pay up for.
"Crossings" had heart, good characterization and a pitiful plot. If you are Buffy fiend, give the book a try.

Set in season 5 of Buffy the vampire slayer, after "The body" and "Forever", Mel Odom's story has different plots that all end up meshing together.
Buffy and Willow are on the hunt for a demon, that's been stealing body parts.
Spike is in a bar, where he meets a stranger and gets in a fight.
Xander and Anya are trying to enjoy a Star Trek marathon, when someone Xander knows attacks the theater.
Giles and Tara are at a live taping of the show the othersyde when he sees something like he's never seen before.
The story has the humor and action of a good Buffy episode. Worth a read for any Buffy fan and fun too. The video game story line isn't like any of the episodes on the show, and if it sounds similar to any other shows, then you're in for a surprise.

I liked how it showed what everyone was thinking. It was nice to see Buffy's struggle to fill in as the part of a mother and learning that Dawn needs a sister.