Customer Reviews

Tales of the Slayer, Volume 3 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

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

 

 

Unlike the first two Tales of the Slayer books which consisted of 8-10 short stories, this one consists of four fairly meaty novellas.

The first novella was set in a Native American community in 1229. While I didn't enjoy this story immmensely, it was extremely well executed. Its the story of a slayer who was trained without understanding her calling. When she was called she still didn't understand the rules of the game. The story follows her frustration and angst and she realizes that she has failed to fulfill her duty because she doesn't understand her duty.

The second story is set in China in 1856 and revolves around yet another Slayer who doesn't really understand her calling. She has been trained. But when her Watcher died she ran away from the monastery where he trained her and posed as a man to survive on her on in the city. Her new Watcher finds her and they (reluctantly) set out to destroy an extremely powerful vampire. Another excellently executed story.

The third novella is set in Hollywood in the 1940s. The then current slayer and her Watcher set out to find a Watcher that has gone AWOL from the council. In the process they encounter a bar full of demons and stars, someone who is killing demons - both dangerous and peaceful - indiscriminately, and vigilante demons who want to find and punish the demon killer. This story is particularly captivating for the amount of gray in it. In this story, the slayer spends a lot of time tredding in the space between black and white, between good and evil.

The final novella is set in Tokyo in 1993 and involves Buffy's predecessor, India. India is able to move freely around Tokyo with her Watcher because her parents don't have the time to pay much attention to her. She has a bit of a crush on her handsome young watcher, Kit, only adding to the dramatic tension of the story. India and Kit have been called to help a clan destroy their ancestor who was turned into a vampire, along with over 50 of his fellow warriors. Another ancestor vowed that no one in the family would rest until the vampire samauri was destroyed. But, they're running out of descendents and time. So, India is called in as reinforcements.

As with any short story (or novella) collection, the topics and writing are varied. So, one story may not appeal to you simply because you're not interested in China in the 1800s or in Samauri stories. But all the stories are well written, with the well developed characters allowed by this longer form. If you're interested in exploring the history of the slayers, this collection is for you.

I really enjoyed this book. I got it last week and finished it within a couple of days. I had read the reviews that other people had posted and wasn't expecting much, in fact I was expecting it to be horrible. But luckily I'm one of those people who read what people say about things but that like to find out for myself if I actually like it.

Most of the reviews have had people complaining that the book only had 4 Stories.... For the previous books people complained that some of the Stories didn't go into Detail enough... This book may have only had 4 stories but they went into Detail about their lives, instead of just their deaths or one of the many Big Battles that they Fought... Plus, it may have only had 4 stories but it was longer than the first book and I think the second Book as well (can't find the second one right now though) The first Book was only 276 pages worth of stories, the third was 319 pages worth of stories.

I have to say, I liked the fact that these stories were more Detailed than the ones in the other Books. You learned more about the Slayer in the stories, who she was, what she was like, what she thought of things, how she reacted to her calling.. Etc. Etc... I really liked that.

The first story, while I thought it was good it wasn't my favorite... I think that it could have been written better but I still enjoyed it. It took place in 1229 A.D... I liked the Descriptive Detail that was given of things. It was almost like you were there. They described the Smells, the way things looked and how they felt, What life was like back then and the way people lived and their Traditions, what it was like suddenly being the Slayer after waiting for many many years for it to happen... What it was like being the Slayer back then and not knowing much about the Vampires, such as their weaknesses.
It kinda gave the Impression that she was the First Slayer or at least the first Slayer in a very long time... I don't know what I think about that.

The Second Story I think was my favorite. I really liked the Story of Ch'ing Shih. Not only did it go into great Detail about the Slayer's Life but it went it detail about how life was for people back then... In particular women... It went into detail about how she reacted to being told that she was the Slayer. About the relationship between her and her Watcher. It also went into some Detail about her past, before being Called.... Which I really liked and enjoyed.... The way that they described the fights that they were involved in was great, I could actually picture the fights in my mind.... Again I REALLY enjoyed this story.

Really quick though, to the person that said her name meant "Moon Kissed Petals", maybe the reason that you didn't like the story was because you didn't read it thoroughly... That name was a name that was used to refer to another little girl, a thief in the Tavern... Not only that but the girl who used it, made it up, it was fake. I suggest reading it again.

I liked the third story as well. I think that it probably came into a close second whenever it came to being on of my favorites... Again, I liked the fights.. I liked that the Slayer's Watcher was a woman, a very capable woman who could also hold her own in Battle... I liked the way that the Slayer thought, what she thought of her calling, how she missed certain things back home, and how they mentioned "'Kakistos" in this story (The Vamp that Faith was afraid of whenever she first came to Sunnydale)... I also liked the fact that she was willing to Compromise with Demons, that she knew not all of them were evil and that she wasn't interested in killing the ones who were harmless... She reminded me of Buffy ALOT.

Now for the last one. I liked this story but I didn't love it. India was never one of my favorite characters, I enjoy her but not as much as I wish that I could. The fact that she was the Slayer before Buffy makes her very appealing to me though..... She doesn't like being the Slayer sometimes but at other times she does, kinda like Buffy... If it wasn't for being the Slayer, she really wouldn't have a purpose, her parents could give a rats ass about her and they're never around, she's lonely.. If it wasn't for Slaying, she wouldn't have "Kit", her Watcher and the man she loves... I think that more than anything she likes being the Slayer.. More than she dislikes it.
I like that she's an American Slayer stationed in Tokyo and the fact that her parents aren't around much and don't seem to care much for her, which makes her Job.. Her calling.. Easier. She can Travel more with Kit without them noticing than she could with them around.... I like that Kit is not only her Watcher but that he's also talented in the Magics. Which also helps them out.... The story itself was interesting, I liked it. I liked that the Vampires that she and the others Fought had a long history behind them... They had a Purpose.. It made the characters involved more interesting.... And that they threw in some details about the Traditions in Tokyo... Both Past and Present.... India seems like one of those Laid back kinda Girls who happens to be the Slayer. I highly enjoy that.. I also find that in some ways, she's alot like Buffy. Again.

The Third Tales of the Slayer collection is better again. This time there are four longer novellas by Holder, Golden, Odom and Navarro. We have a Chinese slayer in the time of the British hold on China, a Native American slayer, a Louisiana slayer in Hollywood in the 1940s, and finally an slayer than lives on an American military base in Japan, who has to deal with the 47 Ronin.

Tales of the Slayer 3 : 01 Dark of the Moon - Yvonne Navarro
Tales of the Slayer 3 : 02 Ch'ing Shih - Mel Odom
Tales of the Slayer 3 : 03 Voodoo Loubge - Christopher Golden
Tales of the Slayer 3 : 04 The Code of the Samurai - Nancy Holder


Native American slayer does her best with little help.

3.5 out of 5


Chinese girl dealing with vamps, crimelords and protecting the people gets Irish help, but has to face vampire lord.

4 out of 5


Louisiana girl's Hollywood demon murder debut.

4 out of 5


American girl is welcome relief for the living side of a Japanese family's monster war.

4 out of 5

This collection is a must-have for any serious Slayer collector. Why? Because the last story is about India Cohen, Buffy's predecessor. Also, this story is set in Japan, so anyone into manga or anime will find it interesting as I did since it use some words and legends of Japanese culture. That said, let's review the other stories.
The first story is set in a Native American community, and I have to say I found it rather bland and confusing. I expected more action and most of the time the story is quite predictable.
The second story takes a lot of time to get to present the Slayer and by the time it does you may have lost interest in the story. It is set in China and the Slayer is not sure if she wants to be a selfish brat or a selfless savior. The watcher is a character used before by the author in another Tales of the Slayer volume.
The third story is set in 1920's Hollywood and revolves around a series of murders. It is pretty good since you keep guessing who the murderer is and till the last minute the answer is not revealed.
As I said the fourth one was my favorite as it combines romance, martial arts, a little bit of comedy and slayer action.
This volume has the talents of Nancy Holder and Christopher Golden, two of the best Buffy novels writers.I hope this review was useful and sorry for any mistake but it is my first review ever. Thanks for reading!

The 'Tales of the Slayer' books are a brilliant collection of short stories about the past and present slayers, including stories about Nikki Wood,the first slayer, and even some tales about Buffy herself. You may be a bit disapointed though, because this volume only contains 4 tales unlike the other volumes which contain around 8-10,but, what you will not be disapointed about is the quality of the stories inside.

Originally when I purchased this book I was a little disappointed to find only four stories when the other volumes contained many more, but after reading them I found I enjoyed them being longer thus able to go into more detail and the other books seemed to lean more towards the slayers deaths while this book told more about their calling and life. That said I was still only able to give this book three stars simply because I absolutly hated the first story...I'm not sure if I could accuratly describe why I think it's just about personal preference (Yvonne Navarro who wrote this story also wrote "White Doe" which was I think in the second book, and which I also didn't enjoy). I really enjoyed the second story (about the slayer in Shanghi) although at the beginning I didn't think that I would, I liked that it had a bit of a "moral" to it and it had some interesting plot twists, the third story I enjoyed (more so perhaps because I had read Spike&Dru, which is the book in which Eleanor Bordreou(sp) was called) the fourth story was interesting because it was the slayer right before buffy, I really enjoyed the fact that the last two stories were somehow tied into other novels in the buffyverse, personally I enjoy that sense of continuity. If you are a big obsessed Buffy fan (much like I) then you of course will like these books, if you enjoyed the first two Tales of the Slayer than you will probably enjoy this volume, if you can't sit still long enough to read something longer than ten pages long or you have no interest in Buffyverse than yeah this book is definatly not for you :)

Third in the Tales of the Slayer series,I found volume three to be lacking in comparison to the first two. This one has four longer stories (and four experienced non-TV Buffy writers) instead of many like the first two books did, that may be part of the problem in that if I didn't like a story as well it took so much longer to get through it.
#1 Dark of the Moon was interesting although I think I might've liked #2 Ch'ing Shih better, more like the Buffy TV stuff even though it is set in 1856.

I haven't gotten through #3 Voodoo Lounge yet, not sure what I think of it.
#4 The Code of the Samurai is set in Tokyo December 1993, just before Buffy. The Slayer here is an American girl whose Naval Officer father has just been stationed in Japan, she makes some friends and together they wipe out a band of centuries old Vampire Samurai. That one was written well enough but I just didn't like it.
If there is a fourth volume I hope they get back to the mini story concept and get some show writer contributions.

This book although it's good was not nearly as good as the 1st two books, the tale about the slayer in Shanghai was waaayyy 2 long it was starting to get very boring when they finally ended that story. The rest of the story lines were really good though I loved reading about India fighting the vampire Asano and the comments she made about the slayer that was going to be called after her death (Buffy). I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys reading Buffy.