Customer Reviews

Resurrecting Ravana (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

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

 

 

I used to buy all the Buffy novels, but as of late, some of them seem to be lacking. A friend told me how great 'Resurrecting Ravana' was and I decided to try it out. This is the first book I've read by Ray Garton (dunno if he's written others) and I was shocked by how amazing this book was.

The characters are deep and the author shows a great understanding of them. The pace is always fast and keeps you reading. And whenever evil lurks, you never have the automatic feeling Buffy has to win because she's the good guy. If you like Buffy, or just like any stories about the supernatural, PICK THIS ONE UP!

Resurrecting Ravana was great in the first few chapters, the brutal discriptions of the hellhounds feeding and the chilling discription of the ride on lawn mower incident are what kept me goign in the first few chapters and the mysterious cattle deaths. But slowly the book changed and the writer ray garton went a little over board with two catfights in the one book it was almost as if the writer was getting some type of pleasure out of writing the first violent and bloody to the death fight between two female teachers. And the Buffy/Willow angst was odd and was resolved to quickly, like the entire book. One minute buffy and willow are at each others throats and in two pages they are buddies again without actually talking about what happend between them. The book was resolved way to quickly and a lot of things didnt really fit such as the vampire attacks. I dont want to spoil it for you too much you make your won choice as to whether you liked it. I found it at first to be marginally better than obsidian fate but my opinion changed. I do recommend it to read cause after all it is buffy. Not everything can be exactly how we want it but Resurrecting Ravana is okay buy it if even if you dont think you will like it just to keep the collection complete.

Out of all the BTVS books I have read, "Resurrecting Ravana" comes the closest to recreating an actual episode. The plot is fascinating, the characters believable, and the author isn't afraid to write in a little gore (for this reason, I would hesitate to recomend this title to Buffy's younger fans).

The author also follows the show's theme of Buffy finding herself pitted against the ones she loves. But this time she isn't battling her lover, but her posessed best friend Willow. The action sequence between the two makes the reader cringe, as we know Buffy is capable of severly hurting if not killing Willow if she is not careful.

Definately worth a read!

This was an interesting story, and I always enjoy the inclusion of Ethan Rayne, but as with some of the other more recent books in this line, this author was really off the mark on the characters. Buffy lacked fire, Giles often came across as childish, and Angel was - very simply - an afterthought. This book was probably better than Obsidian Fate, but aside from that the weakest in the series (to date).

Red eye, morphing, ravenous little Indian (not Native)demons who hide under the bed;ready to turn anyone into non-thinking hateful human beings as the demons rub their bellies in anticipation for dinner. "Resurrecting Ravana" is indeed a dark novel, not for children. It reads like a horror novel, which one could never turn into an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Garton doesn't insult the Buffy fan reader, by placing reminders all over the place about what the characters did in the past. It's not necessary, because Buffy, Giles and the Scooby gang face several adversaries. Even our favorite daper chap, Ethan Rayne makes an appearance. Grayston has succeeded in creating a mature novel that definately makes the reader squirm with delight.

The use of the Hindu mythology made a fascinating story line. The discord between Willow and Buffy made me uncomfortable even though it was true to the plot. The dialogue was true and gripping. Ethan as always adds spice to any story. The final show down is action packed. I have one problem with the story line and that is Angel. The author didn't seem to know what to do him. He had Angel leaving Buffy alone at times when I'm sure he would not. And the Buffy/Angel relationship lacked either passion or pain. But I enjoyed the book and read it in one sitting. I couldn't put it down.

Ressurrecting Ravana was one of the better Buffy books. It had a lot of action and had a good storyline. The dialouge between the characters was exceptional and the interaction between Buffy and Willow was very realistic. I enjoyed reading about Ethan Rayne returning and his girlfriend was hilarious. The twist ending was nice, but rushed. Yet, overall it stayed true to the characters, had some great writing, and kept me reading it (I finished it in 2 days). It was a pretty good book.

This is an older Buffy novel (by older, I mean circa 2000) that I somehow forgot to review. Coming back to it is something like getting a breath of fresh air. In retrospect Buffy's senior year was one of those simpler times. Whedon wasn't quite as determined to take everyone out of character. Most, but not all, of the personal issues were teenage angst sized. All this was soon to end, but sometimes you have to take the good times with the bad.

Although there isn't much good about what was happening to Sunnydale. First cattle start showing up eaten and the eaters turn out to be hell hounds. Then more cattle are munched, but this time there are no easy explanations. The people start going into rages and killing each other - with the survivor turning up as lunch on something's menu. Giles is stumped, Buffy is faced with a vampire insurgency, and Willow can find no help in either the internet or her spellbook. Did I mention Buffy and Willow? They also happen to be very, very mad at each other.

Of course, it's some kind of bad demon mojo, but how its happening and who is calling it up is the problem. You can't hit what you cannot find. Naturally this state of affairs can't last, but by the time Giles knows the culprit its almost too late. All of the Scooby gang are going to be up to their elbows in snarling beasties before the curtain even begins to close.

Ray Garton is more than a churner-outer of Buffy books. Even at the time of this writing he had some 37 books to his credit from Sabrina to serious horror. He has a solid, competent style that leaves out nothing necessary but is wary of waxing on endlessly. Not only did I enjoy the book, but I had a major nostalgia attack while reading it. Buffy, Buffy, where art thou?

I've read better Buffy novels than this one, such as Child of the Hunt and the books in the Gatekeeper Trilogy, but this was still pretty good. True, some of the dialogue and some of the actions were out of character, but it was an entertaining read, which I think is the important part. I wouldn't reccomend this if you're only going to read one Buffy book, but it's worth reading if you really love the series.

Mr. Garton captured the personalities of the characters. I want to read more books by Mr. Garton. He knows how to move a plot and build suspense.