Summary:
This is a collections of short stories about slayers through the ages. It starts and ends with Buffy, and passes through Japan, in the year 980, France in 1320, the Caribbean in 1661, London in 1843, Georgia in 1864, London again, 1897 this time, New York in 1922, and Chicago in 1943. This volume, like its predecessor, is a glimpse at all those who came before the Slayers we knew, and gives a little more insight to the way things worked according to the Whedonverse.
Thoughts:
Some stories were good. Others shouldn't have even made it to print. But that's the risk you take when diving into a book of short stories, isn't it? Even when they're all based in the same subject matter, they still have varying levels of quality, and this book is, of course, no exception.
It starts with a Buffy story set in 2000. It's absolute crap, and reads like fan fiction. Most of the rest are fairly good, though some seemed to run a little too long for my taste. The 1843 London one is a rip-off of Dickens' Christmas Carol, only with a Watcher meeting Slayers of the past, present, and Buffy, from the future. There are two with Slayers masquerading as men (one as a pirate captain in the Caribbean, the other as a Lieutenant in the Union army during the Civil War), and both are very interesting stories. I'm torn over a possible favorite, though, because I liked the Caribbean one, the 1943 Chicago Slayer, and I really liked the ending Buffy story, written by one of the show's regular writers.
I think, though, if I were to choose which volume I enjoyed more, I would probably say vol. 1. This set had all happier endings, except for Buffy's second story, and a Slayer's existence is not all rainbows and puppies. Also, this seemed to focus a little too much on the Watchers' points of view, pointing out that the Watchers were there to take care of their Slayers, and were always right about one thing or another. I wasn't looking to read Tales of the Watchers. If I were, I'm fairly sure there's something like that out there. I wanted Slayers' stories.
That said, I'll probably hunt down the other two volumes, in the hopes there's more good material, and also because I'm the crazy type that loves Buffy and needs as much material about the show as possible. Sad, but true.
Still reading the Kermit book, and will probably pick something else up too.
7 down, 43 to go...
Pages: 351
Genre: Fantasy, and a little mystery?
Grade: B-/C+
Would I Read Again?: I don't regret reading it...
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