Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4) (Paperback)

~ Joss Whedon (Author), Jeff Loeb (Author), Karl Moline (Illustrator), Eric Wight (Illustrator), Andy Owens (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Willow and Buffy head to New York City to unlock the secrets of Buffy's mysterious scythe, when something goes terribly awry. Buffy is propelled into a dystopian future where there's only one Slayer - Fray, the title character of Joss Whedon's 2001 series, the first comic he ever wrote. Their uneasy alliance falls apart, leading to the death of a major character from the TV series, while back in the twenty-first century, the Scotland base falls prey to a mystical bomb courtesy of the Biggest Bad - Twilight!

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (December 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595823107
• ISBN-13: 978-1595823106
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,490 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not the time of my life, May 21, 2009

By	J. Baer (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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I'm a Buffy fan, and have been enjoying season 8 for the most part. I have to say though that "Time of your Life" wasn't one of the better entries. If you haven't read Fray, then the plot and very language of half of this entry will be bewildering to you. After going online to research it I understood it somewhat better; but there are still a lot of things that don't add up.

Basically, it's a very plot heavy entry, but the plot is a contrived time traveling story. As to the person responsible for sending Buffy into the future to meet Fray, their reasons are never really explained objectively. There isn't much logic or scope to it. I think Joss just wanted his two Slayers to meet up and took any excuse he could to do that.

The subplot involving Xander and Dawn surviving an attack on their headquarters is also rather contrived. Dawn is totally useless as a character except to whine, and the only virtue of the entry is that Xander briefly admits as much. If however the writers develop a possible romantic angle between Dawn and Xander, as was hinted, I am going to throw up.

The one bright point is the story "After These Messages." Buffy, for yet another unexplained reason, dreams she is back in her youth (during Season 1). It was good to see Buffy reliving her high school days. However, there is no hint as to what prompted this.

All in all, this is the weakest entry in season 8. It sill has some of the trademark snappy humor and sharp characterization, but not enough to save it from the total mess that is the plot.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good not great..., October 13, 2009

By	Ross Rankin (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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I'm a huge BtVS fan and own the whole TV series on DVD. I've really like most of the Season 8 comics to date. Volume 4, if you are collecting the graphic novel format versus the individual issues, is the weakest of collection so far. While I did enjoy seeing the Fray characters again, it felt like more of a stunt that a real plot point. The Willow portion also felt unsatisfying as well, sorry its hard to explain while trying to be vague to avoid major spoilers.

The side plot of Dawn, was, in reality, kind of stupid. I appreciate that they wanted to add some more fantastical elements that cover ground they could do in a TV show with a moderate budget, but this was beyond the spirit of the series. The "there are consequences to relationships" is very Joss, but the results here feel like fodder for a few quips and jokes rather than a solid allegory.

So while I'll tune into for another volume, my passion for this version of BtVS is waning and will be gone without a solid set of issues and some new meaty hooks to build my desire and suspense for a volume 6.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Um....what just happened?, August 29, 2009

By	S. Penrose (Small Town, OH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was loving this series and the last trade (Vol. 3) was my favorite. So, my expectations for this were high. Sadly, they were dashed quickly. This tale of time travel and forest creatures fell so short is was depressing. The future slayer story line was hard to follow (so much so that I wondered if I was missing pages), the dialogue was confusing, and the art was atrocious. The reveal of who Buffy met in NYC was lost on me because the art wasn't clear as to who it was. So disappointing. This entire story seems pointless and Dawn being a Centaur is beyond annoying. Big step down. :(