Customer Reviews

The Journals of Rupert Giles, Vol. 1

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Actually, Volume 1 of "The Journals of Rupert Giles" is one of the better novelizations of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." The difference is the framing device created by Nancy Holder, which is not altogether surprising given she is one of the best writers of Buffy books with or without her frequent tag-team partner. In the wake of Buffy's 20th birthday part Giles summons the demon Krathalal to make a blood pact to ensure the survival of the Slayer. We all now how traumatic Buffy's birthdays have been starting with her 17th and Giles is no fool. Besides, he senses his time as Buffy's Watcher is coming to a close and he has long since accepted the word's Quentin Travers meant as a rebuke: "You have a father's love for the child."

In negotiating the deal Krathalal makes Giles look back at Buffy's last three birthdays: "Helpless" (teleplay by David Fury), when Giles let the Watcher's Council do their incredibly stupid test of the Slayer without her powers, the Cruciamentum (yes, a dramatic episode, but, sheesh, what a stupid ritual for people with a supposedly vested interest in keeping Slayers aliveI really think they were tired of her and were trying to take her out); "A New Man" (teleplay by Jane Esperson) when Giles turns into Fyral demon, which is worse than being a fifth wheel in Buffy's life, especially since he has to turn to Spike for help; and "Blood Ties" (teleplay by Steven S. DeKnight), the events of earlier in the day when Dawn discovered the truth about herself and Glory almost killed them all. Ironically, it is the actual Watcher's journal that Giles keeps which reveals the truth to Dawn.

Will Krathalal protect Buffy and keep her alive until her 21st birthday? Well, we watched Season Five so we know the answer to that one, but that is not the point here. This book has to do with the departure of Rupert Giles (and Anthony Stewart Head) from Buffy. Holder makes these novelizations not simply retellings of the episodes but re-examinations of Giles and his relationship with the Slayer. After all, in "Helpless" he is fired, in "A New Man" he feels useless, while in "Blood Ties" he fails her. Usually I give novelizations four stars as a matter of course, but this framing device bumps it up one more. We should not have been surprised that Holder put some effort into this job. Of course, we cannot help but wonder how there will be a Volume 2 of "The Journals of Rupert Giles," since the Watcher has returned to England.

This is an extremely well written novelization of 3 excellent Buffy episodes - Helpless, A New Man, and Blood Ties. Buffy's birthdays have been notorious for having things go wrong, and these stories were no exception. Each story shows a critical point in the developing relationship between Buffy and Giles, her watcher (and surrogate father). We see the struggle for respect of a young woman to that of her teacher and watch it grow into a the love of a father daughter. Well written and very entertaining, definitely worth having if you are a Buffy fan!

I have to admit, when I first got wind of these books, I was excited. Finally, Giles was getting his own books! Woohoo! And they were focusing on his father/daughter relationship with Buffy...that was always one of my favorite elements of the show.

In the words of Agatha Christie...

"A fine idea...pity you couldn't carry it out better!"

Now, the framing of the stories is interesting and unusual. Unfortunately, it's not written very well. I never have liked Nancy Holder's writing, and this time proved no exception. Not even my love for Giles could make it worth the pain. Only true Giles fans could attempt to read this book and not scream out loud.

The problem, you ask? Well, anyone who's read Ms. Holder's books knows that she has an annoying tendency to lean toward teen-speak in her writing. It's all fine and good in dialogue, as sometimes the Buffy characters use it--but in descriptions? (At one point, the setting of Xander's basement is called "Back at Casa del Xand.."). One of the characters might talk that way, but in a description, it just looks ridiculous. Not to mention that in some scenes, the text is so ridden with teen-speak that I have to read it several times over to understand. (And let me add here that I'm under twenty, hardly an old fogey!)

Ms. Holder writes Giles just fine, to my immense relief. Only Giles. With Buffy and especially Dawn, she turns Joss Whedon's brilliant scripts into teen film drivel. It's a bit depressing,really.

So, as I said before...only if you really love Giles could you sit through this book...and even then, it's a challenge.

Sort of Giles centered novel that contains novelizations of the Buffy episodes "Helpless," "A New Man," and "Blood Ties." All of these episodes took place on Buffy's birthday. In "Helpless" Buffy is given a test by the watches' council that takes away her slayer strength and forces Giles to betray her. "A New Man" features the return of Ethan Rayne who turns Giles into a demon. "Blood Ties" takes place during the fifth season when Dawn finds out she's the key.

I was pretty disappointed by this book. Giles is such an interesting character and the best they could come up with was not much more than a script book that is only kind of Giles centered. The first part, "Helpless," wasn't even all that well written. The author managed to make the character's thoughts so shallow and inane that I felt the need to bang my head against the wall repeatedly. "A New Man" was the only truly Giles centered part of the book. The novelization of this episode is the only reason Giles fans should read this book. "Blood Ties" was just kind of there. The concept of this book wouldn't have been so bad if these episodes had been told only from Giles' perspective. That would have supported the plot better since Giles is suppose to be reading these stories from his journal. As it is, this book is basically just a script book with a little bit of the characters' thoughts filled in.

This book follows Buffy through three years. The years she turns 18, 19, 20. Buffy faces trials, and dangers, and as usual, Giles has to help her to survive.

While this was a good book, it wasn't anything special, and doesn't compare much to the others in the Buffy the Vampire slayer series.

I only have a small handful of these novelizations from the Buffy TV series. The primary reason for my lack of interest is simply that it is rarely the case that the short story captures the aura of the show. With the DVD's gradually appearing, it takes less effort to watch the show than it does to read the written version.

There are some cases where this isn't completely true. Some authors (notably Chris Golden and Nancy Holder) use the opportunity to flesh out the characters and give the reader a deeper sense of the forces in play. Also, there are cases where one wants to know the contents of an important show and doesn't want to wait for the DVD. This latter is the reason for my decision to read 'The Journals..."

The story in point is "Helpless" where Giles deliberately cancels out Buffy's powers so that she can take a 'Cruciamentum' - a do or die test the Watchers put a Slayer through on her eighteenth birthday. In essence, the Slayer is trapped with a strong vampire and must use her wits to overcome it. Only in this case the vampire, Kralik, manages to get free. After turning one watcher and eating another, Kralik sets out after Buffy's mother. The slayer, betrayed by her own watcher must find a way out.

Holder does a great job of bringing across the inner characterization. Giles' agonizing and final rebellion against anything that might hurt Buffy redeems him from his betrayal. Surprisingly, Holder also manages to make Quentin, the head slayer, just enough more understandable, which adds to the intensity.

The other stories are handled equally well. 'A New Man' is set on Buffy's nineteenth birthday, with Giles feeling more than a bit useless. Buffy has a new boyfriend in Riley and someone else to admire in Professor Maggie Walsh. Giles is having a tough time letting go, and the sudden entrance of Ethan Rayne with a less that tasteful gift for Giles that leaves the ex-librarian dependent on Spike, of all people.

The last story, 'Blood Ties,' is set on Buffy's twentieth birthday, in the middle of Glory's search for the key - Dawn. This is the episode when Dawn discovers that she is not really human and goes through a complete identity crisis even as Glory is tracking her down. Buffy must stage a wild hunt of her own to keep Dawn from being used and erased. Holder does a good job of taking the reader from irritation at Dawn's less attractive personality traits to sympathy will a lonely person who does not know who she really is.

All three of these stories center on Giles feelings about Buffy during each of three very difficult birthdays. They demonstrate the tender nature of their feelings for each other as they shift from watcher and slayer to slayer and true father/friend. Nancy Holder does this sort of work as well as anyone can, taking a great deal of care to stay within the bounds of the show while deepening the overall experience. As such, this is worthwhile and entertaining reading. If you haven't seen one or more of these tales, this is recommended reading.

THE JOURNALS OF RUPERT GILES, VOL. 1
By Nancy Holder, based upon teleplays "Helpless" by David Fury, "A New Man" by Jane Espenson, and "Blood Ties" by Steven S. DeKnight (2002)

RATING: 4/5 Stakes

SETTING: Seasons Three, Four, and Five

CAST APPEARANCES: Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Angel, Oz, Joyce, Cordelia, Anya, Spike, Tara, Dawn, Riley, Ethan Rayne, Quentin Travers, Blair, Hobson, Kralik, Professor Walsh, Glory, Ben, Jinx

MAJOR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Krathalal (demon)

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: "Buffy Summers is hip, modern, and pop culture savvy. Rupert Giles, her Watcher, is a stuffy Brit whose idea of bliss is a good book and a strong cup of tea. Odd as the duo may be, though, they have managed to avert their fair share of apocalypses. Plural. One thing they can't seem to conquer, however, is Buffy's bad birthday luck. At eighteen, Buffy is subjected to a Watcher's Council Cruciamentum, a test of her own non-physical wiles--and of Giles's attitude toward both his charge and his calling, as well. And when the Slayerettes throw a surprise party for Buffy's big 1-9, Giles finds himself feeling useless and out-of-the-loop-y. But it is at the Slayer's twentieth birthday gathering that both Buffy and Giles are forced to re-examine the nature of blood ties and the definition of family--or risk losing a mutual loved one more important to them--and the fate of the word--than either ever imagined. . . ."

REVIEW

Volume One of the Journals of Rupert Giles contains perhaps the cleverest framing sequence of any Buffy novelization to date. On the day of Buffy's twentieth birthday, after Dawn has discovered that she is the Key that Glory is looking for, Giles is heartsick to think about how much pain and suffering his Slayer has endured over the past years. He decides to make a deal with the devil (or at least a demon named Krathalal): in exchange for his own blood, he wants Krathalal to protect Buffy from harm. After limiting the bargain to last only until Buffy's next birthday, the demon decides to test how far Giles is willing to go to protect his ward. Krathalal forces Giles to read to him, from his Watcher's Diary, the events that took place on Buffy's eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth birthdays. In other words, Giles is forced to re-live the pain he has, to some degree, caused his own Slayer.

The first episode adapted in the novelization fits the framing sequence perfectly. In "Helpless", Giles reluctantly agrees to take part in an ancient Watcher's Council tradition: he must secretly drug Buffy to render her "normal" and then lock her in a house with a frenzied, insane vampire named Kralik. Of course, things never go as planned: Kralik escapes early and kidnaps Joyce, and Buffy discovers Giles complicity in the whole affair. The episode is one of the best portrayals of Buffy and Giles' relationship, and seeing Buffy glare at Giles for betraying her, the same way she did at Jenny Calendar in Season Two, is both shocking and believable.

"A New Man" was one of the show's periodic light episodes. The irascible Ethan Rayne comes to Sunnydale and manages to turn his friend and rival into a seven-foot tall horned demon. Although played mostly for laughs once the transformation starts, there are some poignant moments at the beginning of the episode where Giles suddenly starts to feel his age at Buffy's birthday party, and later when he and Ethan reflect back upon their lives and what they've done with them.

Season Five episode "Blood Ties" is really more a story about Dawn than it is about Giles. After breaking into the Magick Box and stealing Giles' journal, Dawn discovers that she is the cosmic Key that Glory has been hunting for all of this time. What does it mean to find out you've only really existed for six months? That you're a bundle of energy shaped by monks into the form of a teenage girl? Dawn, not surprisingly, does not deal with the revelation well. One scene in particular from the episode has always stuck in my mind as one of the most stunning (and creepy) moments in Buffy history: Dawn appears in the hallway, holding a knife, blood dripping down from her arms and wrists where she has cut herself. "Is this blood?" she chokes out, "Am I real? Am I anything?" A very strong episode, even if Giles is not central to the plot.

Although it's hard to separate out the actual episodes and the novelizations in my mind, Nancy Holder sticks to the scripts closely and uses good interior thoughts to flesh out the characters' actions; apart from annoying spelling and punctuation errors (though far less noticeable than in the Chosen novelization), this is a strong adapation of two excellent episodes and one good episode. The birthday theme and the framing sequence combine to make this one of the better Buffy novelizations out there.

Jhaeman's Buffy Reviews: http://www.geocities.com/jhaeman
(c) 2004, Jeremy Patrick-Justice

TIMING: The story consists of Giles--during Season Five, soon after "Blood Ties"--revisiting Buffy's infamous birthday's via his journal. Each of those Birthdays take place in Season Three, the next Season Four, and the last Season Five.

STORY: The book is pretty much a novelization of three birthday-centric Buffy episodes ("Helpless," "A New Man," and "Blood Times"), however, Nancy Holder creates a new story to put these into context. Giles, some time after the events of all these episodes, summons a demon to ensure that Buffy will not die. The demon forces him to relive her traumatic birthdays, via his Watcher Diaries. When we get into the meat and potatoes of the story--the three novelizations--we don't always see through Giles' point of view, which was interesting. It's pretty much the episode on paper with narrative added. The writing of these episodes was, of course, top-notch because they're from the show, but fans will only be reading this if they want to relive the episodes and see if Holder can make them as entertaining pieces of prose as they were TV episodes. Can she? Eh. She shows us that she isn't a terrible author (which most people rightly thought after her awful Queen of the Slayers book. She does have an understanding of the tone of the show, and she uses Buffy-speak in her description and narrative. Sometimes, it's out of place, but it always makes the book quirky and entertaining. I felt like I was eating junk food while reading this; rots the teeth (brain), but it tastes fairly good. There were some novice errors, though. She constantly uses adverbs, ESPECIALLY when they're not needed. "Xander said feelingly." "Buffy yelled angrily." Come on. But worst of all, is her need to use a verb other than "said" when characters are talking. More than ten times in this novel, she used the word "drawled." Buffy drawls. Spike drawls. Xander drawls. Glory drawls. That could drive any reader--and especially any reader who is also a competent writer--crazy. Also, sometimes the quirky slayer speak doesn't work in prose. Check this out: "Then Dawn bounced up, her backpack hanging normally on her, well, back, fresh from school and ready for hanging out." Okay... how does something hang "normally"? Is there an abnormal way for a backpack to hang, in that Holder would have to specify that it's hanging normally? And if I need to explain why "her, well, back" is annoying, then you might find this book to be a perfect 10/10.

CHARACTERS: It's 100%... because it's a novelization of real episodes of the show. However, I think Holder did a great job in grasping what these characters were going through and portraying it via prose.

CONTINUITY: The problem with the whole "Giles bargains for Buffy's life" issue is that Buffy, indeed, dies at the end of the fifth season. Knowing this, Holder had to resolve this plot in a way that had the demon not vowing the protect her. It felt like a rushed conclusion and made the whole thing come off as hokey, ringing seriously false. I'd say read this novel for the novelizations and skip the overarching story.

COVER: Simple and to the point. Giles looking Watchery.

OVERALL: Overall, it was entertaining, but I did feel significant brain rot by the time I put it down. There's hardly anything new here (and what is new is hokey) so readers should realize that this is simply an adaptation before they buy it. If it's what you want--heck, it's what I wanted--then you'll at least half-way enjoy this book.

5/10

Another Buffy book that adapts television episodes, which, it appears, come out to around sixty pages each, give or take.

Here, wrapped up in some entries in Giles' journals, are three stories of Buffy on her birthday. At 18, Giles betrays her to the Watchers' Council, undergoing a hellish test. At nineteen, and old dodgy acquaintance turns Giles hellish, and at twenty, it is a hellgod that is after them.

If you're a BG shipper, don't read this book! It will only annoy you to no end... trust me, I should know. Although there is still quite a bit of subtext that kept me grinning, most of the book revolves around a father/daughter relationship... sigh.