Customer Reviews

Prophecies : Lost Slayer Serial novel Part 1

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was intrigued to find this book at the end of the line of BtVS novels at my local bookstore, given that it was so thin I was hesitant to pick it up - I've been fooled by those ep re-writes enough times that I'm wary of anything that small, but I'm now glad I had that extra minute to spare, cause - wow - this new storyline has promise. I have been off-and-on disappointed in the series and have learned that buying one is a studied risk, but this one actually surprised me.

Golden is the best of the many authors and seems to have the best grasp on the characters and their dialogue - no mean feat I'm sure - and this is no disappointment.

The storyline is true to the college experience and the new life/responsibilities dumped on the unsuspecting freshman - I hope the rest of the series continues in this vein...

Buffy is now a freshman in college, and is trying to balance friends and studies with her duties as a Slayer. But she's not doing a very good job of it. She has been fighting with Willow and is always late for her classes. In her sleep, Buffy has a vision of the long-dead Slayer Lucy Hanover warning her of a coming evil. But this vague prophecy is unable to do much but worry Buffy even more. An encounter with a group of vampires with weird bat tattoos on their faces and enhanced abilities has her even more on edge. After Giles is captured by the new vampire gang and their leader, an ancient demon, Buffy learns that along the way she has made a mistake that will lead to a horrifying future for all of Sunnydale. The first part in a new four-part Buffy story, this book was a thrilling page-turner that I reccomend to all Buffy fans.

"The Lost Slayer" is being brought out as a serial novel comprised of four separate parts of about 130 pages each. Based on this, the initial volume, we can expect a lot of excitement as must first confront her own issues and then somehow prevent a menacing future into which she has somehow precipitated.

Buffy, confronted with college life and her role as Slayer, is overcompensating. She wants to be a perfect student, a perfect slayer, and, of course, have the perfect social life. Somewhat wrongheaded, Buffy has decided that she needs to do this without the help of her friends in order to prove her independence, losing sight of the fact that it was their help which made it possible for her to come as far as she has. Her struggles and discomfort have caused a rift in her relationship with Willow, as well as increased distance from the rest of the Scooby gang. When a new kind of vampire challenge appears the strain is almost too much.

During her rounds of Sunnydale, Buffy finds herself dealing with a new group of vampires that seem to have extra powers. They are marked by a bat tattoo across their eyes and are more than normally tough to fight. All she knows is that they work for someone called Camazotz. Giles and Anya try to track Camazotz down while Buffy tries to conquer increasing numbers of vampires with bat tattoos and orange glowing eyes.

If all this wasn't complicated enough for Buffy, she starts having dreams in which Lucy Hanover (a past Slayer) tries to warn her that something terrible will happen because of her. Lucy is unable to be more specific, and Buffy has no idea what to do.

No question but that there is a lot packed into this slim volume, right up to the climactic cliffhanger at the end. "The lost Slayer" promises to be yet another Chris Golden masterpiece. If only I didn't have to wait for the remaining parts!

I'm a huge fan of the show, so I've read many of the 'Buffy' books. This first installment to the Lost Slayer serial novels was one of my favorites. It instantly made me want to read the rest. Christopher Golden is one of the best if not the best of the regular 'Buffy' authors. He seems to understand the characters better than any other author and comes up with great stories they could probably never use on the show. He has a terrific imagination! I also highly recommend the Gatekeeper Trilogy.

"Prophecies," the first book in Christopher Golden's four-part "The Lost Slayer" serial novel, takes us back to the early days of season four, when Buffy the Vampire Slayer was trying to enjoy being a freshman at UC-Sunnydale and Willow was still dating Oz. Unlike the recently completed "Unseen" trilogy, this serial novel focuses primarily on the character of Buffy and avoids being caught in the limbo of writing about relationships that no longer exist on the television series. This is Buffy after Angel and before Riley, a young woman desperate to be more than just the Slayer and to carve out some semblance of a 'normal life. This is a Buffy who is on edge, accidentally backhanding Willow, repeatedly snapping at Giles, and finding freedom not in the classroom as she desires but only in letting lose the full violence of the Slayer in combat.

But then two troubling things happen to up the ante. First, the shade of the deceased Slayer Lucy Hanover (first introduced in "The Gatekeeper" trilogy) appears in a dream and warns Buffy of a prophecy of impending danger that will somehow be caused by Buffy herself. Second, a new pack of vampires, with bats tattooed on their face and glowing orange eyes, and showing up in increasing numbers in Sunnydale. Of course, these two developments are related in the worst way possible. For most of the novel it seems pretty clear the title refers to Buffy as a Slayer who has lost sense of her true self. But then we come to the final chapter and a dramatic development that gives "The Lost Slayer" an entirely new and unforgetable meaning. This first book gets five stars because it achieves its highest goal, which is to make the reader desperate to read the next installment. Fortunately, I already have the next one at hand and I am going to start reading it as soon as I finish off this review.

However, I do have one caveat: I do not think Camazotz would have two people occupying one cell, especially if the mirror was removed on day one. Then again, I certainly recognize how Golden did not want anything to get in the way of the gripping cliffhanger that ends Part One in this serial. Also, a minor complaint, which is not limited to Golden's novel alone, namely that Anya's constant talk about her sex life with Xander is becomingly really old, really fast.

This is a fantastic start to a series that will go down as a classic.

Buffy's having trouble adjusting to college life, and it takes a toll on the friendship she has with Willow. As if this wasn't bad enough, some vamps come to town that dont' act like normal vamps. (I can't say how, b/c I dont' want to ruin anything. To make matters worse (this is from the back cover) a deceased slayer Lucy Hanover, comes to Buffy to warn her about a danger...

One of the strongest parts of this book is that Golden has a strong grasp of the char of Buffy and the slayeretts. The reader can actually hear the char speak the lines, it's that realastic.

I also like how the reader gets into the head of Buffy and the other char to see why they act they way they do. The reader will actally feel sympathy for the char. It shows how much everyone cares for each other.

If yer a Buffy fan, then you need to start this fantastic series. You won't be sorry.

I cannot wait for the second book of The Lost Slayer series to come out. This book was great!! It deals with how Buffy wants to be the best slayer and thinks she needs to do everything by herself in order to keep her life straight. She and Willow get farther apart because of this, and at the end of the book is a surprise that will make you scream because you don't have the rest of the book. Christopher Golden is a god!!

I'm a little ashamed to say that I'm 36 and I love Buffy. I started watching this show one Christmas while I was gift wrapping and I got hooked! Most of the books are not very good but this series is great. Very much in tune with the characters of the show. Christopher Golden is one of the best "Buffy" authors. You should definitely order all four books at the same time so that you will not be left in the middle.

Be aware that this book in itself is not a novel. Rather it is the first quarter and the remainder of the novel will be serialized in the up coming books. About the time this book gets to the really exciting part it stops and you have to wait for the next book (and it's a long pause waiting for the next book, it wasn't out yet when I read this one).

It's hard to evaluate a novel when all you have is the beginning. As I was reading it I thought the characters were a little flat and the pacing a little slow, but I thought I was coming up on the end of the story, not just the end of the first piece.

"The Lost Slayer: Prophecies" is part one of a four-part series by long time Buffy-writer Christopher Golden, set at the beginning of season four as the gang settles into college. Or at least Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer, is trying to settle into college - after three disasterous years at Sunnydale High, she's determined to juggle her responsibilities as the Slayer and the daily life of Buffy Summers perfectly. But raising such standards upon herself can only end in tears as her stress level rises what with angry lecturers, late assignments, nightly vampire patrols and added tension between herself and best friend Willow Rosenburg.

But things really begin to get complicated when two new forces present themselves: a highly organised group of vampires that seem to suck not just blood, but energy from their prey, and the spirit of a past Slayer - the legendary Lucy Hanover, a Slayer of the 1800's. From Lucy comes a message from an otherworldly Prophet: that a great evil is one its way due to a mistake that Buffy herself has made; and from the bat-tattooed vampires comes a link to the Mayan bat-god Camazotz.

But things go from bad to worse when a stake-out at the habormaster's office turns sour, and the gang summon the Prophet to gain more information. But with this action, Buffy is catapulted forward in time, from a nineteen year old to a twenty-five year old, in an entirely new world from what she has ever known...

And there is ends. As one might expect, it finishes right when it begins to get exciting, and the frustration begins when you realise you're going to have to track down three more books in order to finish the story. For this reason, I strongly suggest getting hold of the four-book set published in one volumne to eliminate this problem. By itself, "Prophesies" is a promising, but rather slow start. Though the main components of the new sect of vampires, the spirit visits and the comparison between Buffy-the-Slayer and Buffy-the-Person are interesting, the continual fight and research scenes between them are a little sluggish. The "fight" between Buffy and Willow seems rather forced, but I enjoyed the role of Lucy Hanover - a character never seen in the television series, but who appears regularly in novelisations: (see "The Gatehouse Keeper trilogy" and "Immortal") The Slayer past that she represents is fascinating, as well as virtually unknown - because of this it is one of the open avenues that writers can explore more freely in the books.

The problems with novelisations based on existing material is that the author can't really extend the situations and the characters at the risk of contradicting past or future episodes on T.V. For that reason all the Buffy books seem to exist in a static world all of their own - you know before you start reading that none of the main characters are going to perish, and that the author has to get the all situations back to how it started in order to remain within the context of the T.V. series.

But all in all, it is a quick, entertaining read. All the characters are true to their portrayal in the television series, and readers will always enjoy the cute little references to things like Amy the rat and Olivia's plane-visits. Though it takes a while getting there, it sets up an interesting enough premise to make you head for the next installment: "Dark Times".