Customer Reviews

The Willow Files (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Very cool novelization of three BTVS episodes-- "I Robot,You Jane", "Phases",and "Dead Man's Party". This character's going from wallflower to confident hacker-slash-spellcaster is shown, and we get a chance to share Willow's POV on events. Very well written,and I love the "file" format used here. Something a little different.

I like Willow, probably 'cause I'm just like her. Anyway, this book is a novelization of 3 eps from the show(I Robot,You Jane, Phases, and Dead Man's Party)that are basically about Willow. My fave is "Phases."

I hope the author writes another book like this about Willow. If she does I know the next 3 eps she should use(Lover's Walk, Gingerbread, and Dopplegang Land)

This one is great! Willow is my favorite character, and this book is all about her! It's written really well, and I like knowing not only what Willow is doing but what she is thinking and feeling while fighting vampires and other creatuers along with Buffy and Xander and everybody else! I hope all other Willow fans will get a copy!

Three stories are set in this book: Gingerbread Doppelgangland Choices All three are based on the teleplays of Buffy the Vampire tv series.

As a newcomer to the Buffy world via books and the series, I was pleased to be able to read this book about my favorite character, Willow. I haven't seen these shows so I was coming into this book fresh, and I highly enjoyed them. I could picture the voices of the characters as I read, and I got a full "program" in my head while I read these stories.

Yvonne Navarro doesn't make a dry read, her stories are creative and enjoyable. The book is aimed at a younger crowd (16 and up) but for Buffy fans they will highly enjoy this new series of the Buffy clan.

Willow is the best part of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She is smart and she is cute and when she loves somebody it does not matter if they are a werewolf or whatever. If I could not be Willow I would love to have her as a best friend. These stories focus on her and that is why I really like them. I wish I had all these episodes on tape. I am not happy they cancelled the DVD for the first season. I like all of the Buffy stories but I like the ones with Willow the best. She's a good witch!

I have a soft spot in my heart for Willow and wasn't disappointed with the way author Navarro brought her to life. Even though I had already seen the three episodes the book was based upon I still found myself smiling at all of the accurate "Buffy" wit and happily became entranced with the stories again.

Yvonne Navarro manages again to capture the character of Willow as best as anyone could, even better. Navarro took three Willow-centric episodes from Buffy's third season to show how Will has matured in her life as well as her Wiccan ways. The three episodes written in this book also show the strong bond Willow has with her Slayer-esque best friend, Buffy. In the first story, "Gingerbread", the town of Sunnydale is taken back after Joyce, Buffy's mom, discovers two dead children in the playground while uninvitedly accompying her daughter on patrol. When witches and occults are blamed for the deaths, Joyce organizes a group - MOO - that is against all things witchcraft. After Buffy, Willow, and their friend Amy are accused of being witches (2 out of the 3 are) and then captured, it's up to the rest of the gang to save their friends and figure out why Sunnydale is willing to burn 3 innocent people at the stake. In the second story, "Doppelgangland", Vamp Willow from the alternate reality shown in the episode "The Wish" is transported to Sunnydale after Anya and Willow mess up a spell that, unbeknownst to Willow, was supposed to get Anya's power-centered necklace back from that reality, to the present one. "Doppelgangland" is one of my favorite episodes, and also foretells of Willow's newfound sexuality on the show. In the final story, "Choices", Willow is captured by Faith after helping Buffy and Angel retrieve an object that is important for the Mayor (The main villian in season 3) not to have. "Choices" really shows Willow and Buffy's friendship in the end. Navarro excells at tying these stories by using a computer diary of Willow's to explain stuff that has happened in between these episodes and such. I can't wait for The Willow Files Vol. 3!

It is interesting to look back and see how few episodes during the first three seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer actually focused on our beloved Willow. The Wicca in training is pivotal in two of these three novelized tales and has a great speech but minor role in the third. From the first season we have "I, Robot . . . You, Jane" in which Willow accidentally unleashes Moloch the Corruptor into cyberspace while scanning book on demons into the computer. There is a wonderful scene in this story where Buffy, Willow and Xander bemoan their lousy loves lives (involving a vampire, a demon and a she-mantis respectively). "Phases" from the second season of Buffy is where Willow learns that Oz is a werewolf, which is really more about him than her, but he is her boyfriend it does matter to her (and justifies the picture on the cover). Finally, we have "Dead Man's Party," which heralded Buffy's return from her self-imposed exile in L.A. from the earliest part of the third season. As I indicated above, Willow does not have a lot to do in this episode, but she does have one of her best moments when she reads Buffy the riot act after discovering the Slayer packing to leave town again.

Buffy novelizations only get four stars because five stars are reserved only for original Buffy stories. But one of the things I especially liked in Yvonne Navarro's novelization is that her framing device consists of daily journal entries from Willow's computer. Not only is that in keeping with Ms. Rosenberg's character, it also allows some insights laid out in Willow-speak (you have to hear her words in your mind for this to work). This is much more effective than most of the other bridging devices employed by writers of other Buffy novelizations. Since Navarro's first novel "AfterAge" was about the end of the world as we know it courtesy of vampires, I am now going to have to track down one of her Buffy novels to see how she does on an original tale about the Slayer. More importantly, I eagerly await the new volume of "The Willow Files" which must surely include at least one of the Vamp Willow episodes, "The Wish" and/or "Doppelgangland," from season 3!

I loved this book. Even though Buffy is my fave character in the show this book made me like Willow alot more. And the Oz And Willow relationship is really cute. If you like the show this is a good book for you!

The Willow Files is a novelization of three episodes which focus on Buffy's best friend Willow,the quiet computer nerd. In the first story she has an online romance with dire consequences. The second is a story of love. Willow has to deal with changes in her new boyfriend. Dead Man's Party the last story explores Buffy's and Willow's friendship. I enjoyed the way the author ties the three together. Willow and Buffy fans will enjoy this book. But even someone who has never seen the TV series would find these stories a good read.