Customer Reviews

Go Ask Malice: A Slayer's Diary (Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Simon Spotlight))

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"HISTORIAN'S NOTE: The following diary was found on April 13, 2006, beneath the ruins of the Sunnydale, California, bus station during an archeological excavation at that site. It was discovered inside a locker alongside a woman's bloodstained tank top, a handheld videogame device, and three sharp wooden objects resembling tent stakes. The present location of its author is unknown."

"Go Ask Malice: A Slayer's Diary" is certainly an attempt by Robert Joseph Levy to create a canonical story regarding Faith before she showed up in the third season "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" episode "Faith, Hope & Trick." It ends in June of 1998 with Faith on a bus on the first leg of a trip that will have her ending up in Sunnydale, and begins on December 14, 1997, on what must be Faith's 17th birthday, when she is given a diary by her counselor at school. Living somewhere in the Boston area, Faith hates her mother, gets into fights at school, and has started having dreams that smack of Greek mythology and the bloody story of the Bacchai. Abandoned by her mother and finally incarcerated for her acts of violence, Faith is rescued by Professor Diana Dormer, a professor in the department of Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University, and a representative of the Watchers Council.

Dormer explains to Faith that she is a Potential, and with great potential power comes great responsibility. Having already encountered her first vampire, Faith is willing to believe and so she starts training to be a Slayer. Faith is not exactly into studying, but she is even less used to having anybody treat her like she is worth anything as a human being, so she buys into the program. Meanwhile, she continues to have dreams in which her imaginary friend Alex turns out to be something different and quite older. Alex warns Faith that an ancient force is coming for her, something whose name is Malice, and as the memories and fantasies begin to merge, Faith comes closer to her first battle with a Big Bad. The other key character in the book turns out to be Killian, the drummer for her favorite band, Freak Wharf, who tends to drink a lot because when he does not he tends to make people he thinks about materialize.

How well does Levy work his novel into the "BtVS" continuity? Well, Faith becomes a Slayer on May 12, which is the same day that "Becoming, Part 1" aired and Drusilla killed Kendra, but what happened after the sun had set in Sunnydale on the left coast should not translate into dinner time for Faith back in Boston (a minor point). Most readers should catch out that it is going to be Kakistos that is waiting for Faith at the end of this one, and that proposes a major problem for Levy, because on the one hand when Faith shows up in Sunnydale with Kakistos on her heels she is seriously freaked out by the vamp that killed her Watcher, but on the other hand you do not especially want to end your novel with your heroine having been defeated and fleeing town. Actually, I do not think there is anything wrong with that given Faith's divided sense of self, which was explored to great effect on both "BtVS" and "Angel," but Levy decides not to play it that way.

The diary device works for the most part (if you get a phone call from an ancient vampire telling you he has your Watcher, would you really stop to write down what happened in your diary?), and it is really just a way of allowing Faith to tell the story in the first person. As Faith says when her teacher asks why it is significant that "Dracula" is an epistolary novel, "I guess it makes it more personal or whatever." You just have to go along with the idea that Faith would be such a diligent diary writer, because multiple page entries would certainly seem to tax her interest, not to mention her attention span. On balance, "Go Ask Malice" ends up slightly ahead on points. We do find out the origin of her signature "five by five" phrase and how she became a Slayer, but the ending does not fit completely with her advent in the television series. Still, for those of you who were wondering about the complete back story on Faith the Vampire Slayer, this is going to be as good as it gets.

I've probably read five or six books set in the Angel/Buffy world, most of which I've enjoyed for what they were, but this one is so unexpected that I felt compelled to write something about it.

"Go Ask Malice," in a nod to the controversial anonymous book "Go Ask Alice" written in the 1960's (and still a bestseller), is a diary of a lost and lonely teenage girl. Only this book is about Faith, the other Slayer in Buffy and Angel, and is a prequel that tells of how she became the nihilistic bad-girl we know and love. Besides being the first Buffy book to be written in first-person narrative (that I know of), "Malice" is a new and noteworthy entry into the field for its, how shall we say, adult undercurrents. The sexuality in this book is somewhat overt, and the subtext and some of the imagery even more so; in other words, just like Faith herself. And then there's the violence.

I don't want to give away too much, but even if you read the back cover you know that a central question/issue in the book is who or what Malice is. The answer, in the end, is as dark and heartbreaking as this powerful book demands: there aren't any punches pulled.

I started it and finished it basically in one sitting and could not put it down. It is a haunting, and surprisingly disturbing book for its kind. What's also interesting about it is that, since it's a prequel to the events that take place on the television show, you don't even have to have seen Buffy or Angel to read "Malice," though if you have, of course, it will greatly enrich your experience.

This is an incredible book. Not so much revisionist, as serving the purpose of filling in the specifics of Faith's past, before we first meet her in "Faith, Hope, and Trick". We see the journey that she takes and why she became the person she became; the reason for her distrust, cynicism, and detachment. Her backstory is heartbreaking and we see the experiences that led to the self destructive path she ultimately ended up on. It very much leads to understanding her a great deal more; it clears up some of her mysteries. The added element of her "imaginary" friend, and who that "friend" ultimately turns out to be is gripping, and we see how the Slayer collective connection (past Slayers lives, experiences, and deaths) molded and effected and shaped Faith. Robert Joseph Levy deftly captures Eliza Dushku's voice and mannerisms, and the reader can really see her portrayal of Faith all through in one's imagination. This book is simply A MUST HAVE for all Faith and Eliza fans.

Of the BTVS novels I've read, only Christopher Golden's 'Lost Slayer' series can lay claim to any superiority over 'Malice'. Yes, it's that good.

The premise is very shaky. Faith keeping a diary? About as likely as Spike taking up sunbathing. But the opportunity to "hear" Faith tell her story in the first person is just too good to pass up. The only other avenue would be an interview, and the subtitle for that - Interview with a Vampire...Slayer! - would have been a tad cheesy, no? I think I dealt with it best by remembering that this is not the Faith from BTVS. It is Faith before the last glimmer of innocence and trust was snuffed out.

Levy does a good job of finding Faith's (and Eliza Dushku's) voice even though he sometimes has trouble maintaining it. Her vocabulary is occasionally uncharacteristic and her knowledge of psychological theory even moreso. But this happened to all the characters on the TV show. I mean, how many times would Buffy mispronounce a word then turn around and give a speech filled with equally big words? I always theorized that they - especially Faith - were smarter than they wanted to admit but didn't want to look like dweebs.

What makes this book are the character revelations and backstory, the often scary events (especially the non-supernatural ones), and the peek into Faith's heart and why she closed it off. Levy's background in forensic psychology is put to great use here and the perfect storm of events that created our favorite bad girl are laid out in a believable way.

The book's title is a reference to the 1971 classic, "Go Ask Alice," a cautionary tale about drug use which took its name from the 1967 Jefferson Airplane hit, "White Rabbit" about a girl who ends up overdosing. Somehow the author perfectly captures the structure of the original book while maintaining Faith's voice magnificently. And this is no cautionary tale. While a simple analysis of Faith might reduce her to a self-destructive youth, this book gets underneath the dualism (one pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small) within her...We are drawn to danger, even when it hurts us. It is why we love Faith. She is a reflection of the conflicting forces within each of us. This and other themes are woven into a brilliantly conceived plot. If you are a Buffy fan, READ THIS BOOK!

Now I have read 45 Buffy books, call me a geek, I don't care. Today I picked up my 46th Buffy book, Go Ask Malice. And this is my new favorite book. Not just Buffy, but my favorite book EVER!

I am telling you that you can NOT miss this book! This book is just amazing. If your a Faith fan you really can't not love this book. It's sad, funny, depressing, scary and action packed. Of course I'm Faith fan, she is one of my favorite characters, but this book made me appreicate her more then I did. And I think that it's amazing a book can do that

It's cool seeing what she went through before becoming the slayer and what it was like for her at school and at home. You also find out why Faith got her tattoo, how she came up with Five by Five, "I'm bad, I'm evil, I'm bad", how Kakistos had a big impact on her life and how Kakistos got his mark that Faith gave him, how she came up with the Watcher Retreat excuse. There is also a cool little story with "Steve the klepto" that she mentioned in Buffy. "Kenny the drumer" is a big part in this book.

When Faith becomes the Slayer you can really see how she is different then Buffy and how much she enjoys slaying. The story is top notch! Not being a HUGE fan of the Suicide King I didn't expect much from Robert Joseph Levy but he blew me away! I really enjoyed the diary format more then the story format. I liked hearing things from Faith's POV.

This book is also fun for people who live in Boston or people who visit Boston a lot. DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK!

I loved this!!!!!!!!! The concept is fantastic and the ideas and depth it gives you into Faith's character is wonderful. It was written by a professional psychologist so there was some study done. It explains so much.... even the tattoo. With it being in first person, journal entry form it may not be everyones favorite type of form to read. But for me it was a great book and I still think about some of the subject matter now six months after I read it. If you are a Faith fan don't pass this up.

I was a little skeptical about how well this book would be written, I mean the whole Anne Frank thing has been done a million times. I was pleasantly surprised. With the exception of the first entry in the diary of Faith, the rest of the story moves at a nice clip, making me want to figure out what is going on with Faith! I mean we all know her life was pretty messed up until she met her watcher, but why is it so messed up, where are her parents, what does that cool tat on her arm mean , what did Kakistos do to her watcher that made her run to Sunnydale. All these questions and more are answered. Granted since this is the author's second attempt to reinvent the world that Joss Whedon created, it's really not half bad. He took a character that few had a chance to really know and give her family and friends, which who knows, maybe she would have been better without, and give her a background, a who, a why and a how she became the crazy, slightly psychotic Slayer that we have all grown to love because she is so complex.

I read the other reviews and they all mentioned the problems with this book, but if you take it at face value its actually pretty good. The book tells Faith's history from her point of view in diary form. The villain is actually pretty cool. Yeah, the idea of Faith writing a diary seems hokie and was a bit annoying at times, it really did work for her. I only wished the book was longer.

I have read this book twice in the last month and really love it! It clearly explains who Faith was before arriving in Sunnydale and why she reacted to things the way she did once there. Each time I read it I pick up a bit more continuity from the show. The author was able to extend the story lines to be even better then they were showcased on the series. Unlike some of the other reviewers I had no problem believing that Faith kept a diary. Her counselor suggested it for therapy but as the story progresses I think Faith herself wanted to have a record of her thoughts and eventually it becomes one of her only possessions that she still cares about. The voice is all Boston born Faith and being from Boston I could see the locations in my minds eye easily. My favorite parts are the dream sequences filled with action and sometimes a little bit scary so hard to do in a book but this one nails it. It makes me want to pick up "Buffy" at Faith, Hope and Trick and watch all the Faith story arcs again. If you liked Faith half as much as I did then get this book! It's not something you want to miss!