Customer Reviews

Wicked Willow I: The Darkening (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) (Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Simon Pulse))

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

"The Darkening" is the first book of the "Wicked Willow" trilogy by Yvonne Navarro which asks the question, "What if Evil Willow was never stopped?" The story begins with Willow inspecting Warren's skinned corpse at the end of "Villains." Buffy, Xander, and Anya show up to see Willow's handiwork but before the wicked witch of Sunnydale can say "One down, two to go" she experiences a split second of weirdness and things become very different. Instead of going after Jonathan and Andrew, Willow decides to banter with Buffy over Warren's fate, turning her cold fury into hot rage in the process. Nothing is going to stand in the way of her revenge.

Okay, so we have a reasonable set up to explore the path not taken. However, the problem is that is Wicked Willow is at DEFCON 5 at this point and we are still in the prologue of the first book of a trilogy, then it is going to be hard to keep escalating from here to the end, seven or eight hundred pages later. So instead, Navarro executes a sharp turn, which is sort of necessitated because if Evil Willow is never stopped then the world ends. Now Willow's immediate plan is no longer revenge, but resurrection, despite rather impressive indications that Tara cannot be brought back from a natural death. However, this decision undercuts the entire set up. Willow wins the initial battle between Buffy and Giles, but this time the victory is quicker and more significant. Then we settle into something of a waiting game where interesting new developments, such as Willow's selection of a pair of pets, really does not go anywhere. Navarro comes up with a great character idea in Ross, but abandons him as well. At the end, when the characters take stock of their situation and reaffirm their goals, I did not get the sense that we had moved much beyond where we essentially started.

Season Six of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" just came out on DVD so the way the unexpected way the season finished, with Darth Rosenberg turning out to be the surprise Big Bad at the end and with the world being saved this time around by Xander and the memory of a yellow crayon. The whole point of telling an alternative version of a story is to come up with something special and Navarro has not really let the cat out of the bag on what that would be here. Ironically, given that Evil Willow wanted to end the world, the alternative has to be something else, which, by definition, would tend to be less significant.

I also have a continuity question with "The Darkening" in that it is suggested that Dawn no longer has memories of the Scoobies that predate her appearance in Season Five. If there was something in "BtVS" that suggested that was the case I must have missed it. Then there is the idea that Dawn, who finally gets a moment to do something in "Grave" because there is really no other choice, would be sent off to be part of a battle on purpose, which I do not buy. Then there is the issue of Tara's Ghost, which I suspect is more than it appears to be. After all, I do not think she really sounds like Tara and since she is the biggest change between this alternative story line and the original I am both wary and suspicious.

However, the most problematic character in the book is Anya, which makes sense because she is the most problematic character in the series and in the "BtVS" original novels. The Anya who talked Xander into attending the Prom during Season 3 ended up replacing him as the comic relief in the series and the idea that she would not stop talking about their sex life was done to death (and beyond). Anya's lack of the social graces was also overplayed: she had been a vengeance demon for over a millennium, so how come in all that vengeance mongering she failed to pick up on any contemporary social conventions? But here the question is her feelings for Xander, which seem to be rather different from what they were in the final three episodes from Season Six. Navarro is trying to take more advantage of Anya being a demon again, and I keep tyring to figure out if she is going to be playing a pivotal role in what is to come.

The goal of the first book in a series such as this is have us wondering what will happen next, but with "The Darkening" I am still trying to figure out what is going on in the first book that provides a great hook for the next volumes. When I compare what we had at the end of either of the first two volumes in Michael Golden's "The Lost Slayer" serial novel, what we have here does not even compare. There may well be something suitably wicked coming this way and it could be set up by what is here, but we have yet to come to the point in the "Wicked Willow" tragedy where we get hooked big time. I give this one the benefit of the doubt only because I cannot imagine the editors would give the go ahead for a "BtVS" trilogy that would not justify being told in more than one book. But at this point the best that can be said is that the pieces are being moved into position for something bigger and better.

This is BAD rewrite of the Season 6 finale when Willow went bad.
She sets up a place of her own and hangs out with other witches (who arent really witches) and does nothing. She is supose to be all evil but it's not happening. Tara's ghost starts hanging out with her too, and then Willow send all kinds of stupid monsters to attack the Scoobies.
Then blah blah blah it drags on and then finally a few months later she is rescued by Xander just like in the Tv series. The whole part in between is a huge waste of money and time.
Don't buy this book, at least not new. Wait for the newer ones to come out, they might be better.

Negative stars.

The Dark Magic Willow was a bad enough idea, to take a bad idea and run with it is far worse. But not only is the concept bad, the writting is on the level of Fan-Fiction. I was shocked to learn that Ms. Navarro had written other books because this looks like a first attempt to me.

Save your money and time. Even if you like Willow there is none of the Willow we knew here. Even for an AU.

I've read most of the Buffy books. I'm big fan of the show and got hooked on the books early on. I have to say that this is one of the best of series.

Imagine if Giles, Xander and the gang hadn't been able to turn Willow back to good. Imagine a world where Willow is the new 'big bad' in Sunnydale. Imagine that Buffy's next mission is to stop her best friend. Having seen Willow go so far down the evil road during the season six finale, its not hard to imagine. And, Yvonne Navarro does a brilliant job of bringing that possible world to life.

The Darkening tells the story of Willow's grief. She turns her back on her friends and desperately tries to both make those responsible (in her mind) pay for her loss of Tara and to bring Tara back.

The Darkening captures the motivations and behaviours of the characters perfectly -- from Willow's grief and angst over her loss of Tara to Anya's pointed truth-telling. We get an incredible look into the world that might have been.

The Darkening is a 'must read' for any Buffy fan.

As someone else posted the book is riddled with spelling errors which could be forgiven if the plot was actually interesting. The wicked Willow thing was already a rip off of the Dark Phoenix story in X-Men and this novel carries the plot to the point of absurdity. In any case, there is no what if to wicked Willow, the story was played out on the show. The logical conclusion of wicked Willow not stopping is the end of the world. There's a reason that this was a path not taken. The polt gymnastics used to keep the plot going don't make any sense. In addition, Willow is completely out of character here as are Anya, Buffy and Xander. (...)Dont waste your time.

What if Willow didn't return to being a good witch? What if, after stealing all of Giles' power Willow didn't respond to the pain of the world, and didn't decide to destroy the earth? What if, instead, she became so fixated on bringing Tara back the nothing else mattered? What if she really, really liked being a dark witch? One thing is certain, the Scooby Gang would be in a world of hurt.

These are Yvonne Navarro's assumptions in her new alternate history trilogy about the Buffyverse. Despite Buffy's best efforts and being haunted by Tara, Willow is intent on draining the world of enough power to defy the rules and return Tara to life. Never mind that Tara doesn't want to come back, never mind the folks who used to be her friends. Wiillow is going to have her way.

The first part of the darkening rehashes episodes 20 thru 22 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer right up to the confrontation in the Magic Box. Then, where the original Willow heads for the temple on the bluff, this Willow sets up a luxury pad in a warehouse and assembles a coven to help her work the dark arts. Throw in a few surprising pets and an extremely bad attitude and trouble, thy name is Willow.

For those of us bloodthirsty types Willow never really got a fair shake when Tara died. Her friends barely noticed Tara's death, and then are so concerned about Willow's eternal soul that they never quite got the idea that Willow was in an excruciating amount of personal pain. If Zander had not finally realized that he had to get through to Willow the person the world would have cooked. This time that isn't an option.

This is the first volume of a trilogy, and Navarro leaves us with no hint about whether there is a path to redemption for Willow. Now her only connection to her humanity is the ghost of Tara and that is tenuous at best. Much hangs in the balance, and Navarro has certainly got my attention for the duration.

While I liked it enough to give it five stars you have to seperate the show from the book a little while reading it if you can do that you will like this book

It is difficult to believe that this one time socially challenged underdog has become one helluva wicked wicka. But that is what we get here. Having seen the episode on TV, I was able to picture her every move. Even more so, Navarro depicts a Willow mindset that we only saw physically on TV. This is a must have for any Buffy fan. Go Scoobies.

Right on, evil Willow! What a story... I have many of the Buffy books and this one may be my favorite. As an avid fan of both the Buffy TV series and the Buffy books, I have been waiting for a female foe to definitively defeat Buffy in a fight and witchy Willow has done it! She is more powerful than Faith or Glory! Actually, their battle is not much of a fight. Willow beats her so bad that it makes blond Buffy look like a cupcake! The ONLY thing that stops Willow from finishing Buffy off is a ghostly intervention at the last second. This book is very special!

I admit, I was excited for this book to come out. Having always been a fan of alternate universes and the infamous "what if?" scenario, the idea behind this trilogy was right up my alley. Add in my favouritest little redheaded Wiccan in her darkest hour, and not reading this was out of the question. That said, I'm pleased to report that the book really didn't fail to disappoint. I was hooked from the first page, and sped through the whole thing in a few hours. Watching Darth Rosenberg interacting with The Ghost of Tara is simply heartbreaking; having Tara as Will's conscience is a perfect touch.

If I had one complaint about the story, it would have to be in the dialogue. While the idea behind the character's words rings true enough, the actual speech patterns tend not to. But what's more disconcerting is that sometimes they do - but then it jumps back to a sort of strange formalization, and the effect can be jarring. Not enough to detract from the overall enjoyment of the story, but enough to keep me from awarding five stars. That aside, the story was wonderfully paced and I'm anxiously awaiting the second installment.