Visitors [Import] [Unbound]

Laura Anne Gilman (Author)

Product Details

• Unbound
• Publisher: POCKET BOOKS (SIMO) (August 2, 1999)
• ISBN-10: 0743431197
• ISBN-13: 978-0743431194
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good little book, May 29, 2004

By 

David "Laymon Fan" (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Visitors (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) (Mass Market Paperback)

I like this book a lot more than most of the other reviewers did. It was fun. The dialogue is good. The plot is a bit thin, though. Also, it's a bit short for the price. Try reading "Deep Water" first. It's a Buffy book by the same authors. If you like it, read this one too.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THROUGHLY ENJOYABLE., July 30, 2001

By 

Sashie (CA, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Visitors (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) (Mass Market Paperback)

Contrary to what other reviewers have written about this book i liked it. I found it very entertaining and i dont know what all the talk of no plot line is as i definately read one. True Ethan Rayne was thrown in for no reason at all but that did not make the book bad. I liked the fact that this one didnt fully focus on Buffy killing creatures from the dark side, but focused somewhat on her life with her friends. This is one of the best "Buffy" books that i have read, and i recomend it to all who like the show.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Jhaeman's Review, September 16, 2004

By 

Jeremy (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Visitors (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) (Mass Market Paperback)

VISITORS
By Laura Anne Gilman & Josepha Sherman (1999)

RATING: 2/5 Stakes

SETTING: Third Season

CAST APPEARANCES: Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Angel, Cordelia, Oz, Joyce, Ethan Rayne, Devon, Jonathan, Principal Snyder

MAJOR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Gerald Panner (Watcher); Sheila, C.B., Rebecca, Elaine, Miriam (student teachers)

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: "The paranormal forces centered in Sunnydale attract the vilest kinds of evil: vamps, demons . . . and student teachers? An invasion of collegians testing their teaching prowess on Buffy and her peers coincides with the arrival of a supernatural stalker. The Slayer feels the evil entity watching her every move, and she's not the only one. But researching the best is going to be problematic with the student teachers setting up shop in Giles's home turf--the school library. When the stalker starts to take his malicious game to the next level, Buffy finds herself face to face with a being unlike any she's ever encountered. But can she figure out its weakness before she is forced to participate in its dance of death?"

REVIEW

For the first few years of the line's existence, the Buffy books were subtly separated, on a list of books inside the front cover, into "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" books and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer adult books". In reality, it's difficult to tell the difference between "adult" books and non-adult books as the cover designs, plots, and other details of the books seemed largely identical. Although the distinction was later abandoned, Visitors is a good example of a Buffy book intended for the teenage crowd--it's relatively short, uncomplicated, and straightforward.

In fact, the entire plotline of Visitors could easily have been condensed into a short story for one of the Tales of the Slayers types of book: a korred (a mythological creature with goat feet and a penchant for making people dance to their deaths by playing the flute) comes to Sunnydale and starts stalking Buffy, while the arrival of several student teachers makes the Scooby Gang wonder if there is some connection between the two events. Unfortunately, an appearance by trouble-maker extraordinaire Ethan Rayne and a spy from the Watcher's Council end up being tangential to the plot and unsatisfying.

Visitors develops very, very slowly, and the tepid would-be climax is not worth the wait. However, there are some great moments with the characters, such as Willow getting spastic on caffeine or the group's fear that they will drift apart when college comes. The dialogue is strong and Buffy and her friends are portrayed "accurately." It's hard to think of anything else to say--simply put, not much happens in the novel. Plot-wise, Visitors is one of the weakest of the Buffy books, but the "quiet" moments are written well enough that there is still some entertainment to be found within.

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