shadowscast: First Slayer shadow puppet (Default)
shadowscast ([personal profile] shadowscast) wrote2004-12-10 04:53 pm

I bought a Buffy book.

Now that for the first time in my life I have a steady job (therefore: $ but no time), I'm beginning to master the art of the Impulse Buy.

I bought a BtVS pro novel! Spike & Dru: Pretty Maids All In A Row, by Christopher Golden. Look, it was on the discount rack, and the cover's all pretty and blood-soaked red with a yummy picture of Spike and Drusilla. I'm curious to see how it measures up to fanfic. Plus, hey, Spike & Dru, 1940 - not actually a period I've seen ficked much.
shapinglight: (Default)

[personal profile] shapinglight 2004-12-10 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
There's some okay stuff in it - but some of it bored me too. I'll be interested to know what you think when you've read it.

[identity profile] amerella.livejournal.com 2004-12-10 11:20 pm (UTC)(link)
I read that one after it got some okay reviews. It doesn't measure up to fic but I actually sort of enjoyed it in the end. Miles ahead of any other BtVS books I've peeked at, anyway.

[identity profile] flurblewig.livejournal.com 2004-12-10 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, I quite enjoyed that one! It's better than a lot of the other novels, but doesn't hold a candle to a decent fic :-)

[identity profile] kimberly-a.livejournal.com 2004-12-11 12:20 am (UTC)(link)
I read the first chapter or so, but Spike seemed out-of-character -- like the writer hadn't actually watched all the episodes in which Spike appeared, but just had some kind of summary of personality traits to work from -- which ruined it for me. I didn't read beyond that. I'm curious to hear what you think, especially if you read the whole thing. :)

[identity profile] shadowscast.livejournal.com 2004-12-11 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
Peeking inside the front cover, I see the copyright's 2000. That means the author was working with canon up to S5 at most; probably just S4. At that point, we didn't know much about Spike other than he liked punk music, violence, and Drusilla (and hated Angel). So I'll try not to be too hard on the author with respect to characterization.

[identity profile] trepkos.livejournal.com 2004-12-11 09:37 am (UTC)(link)
None of the books I've read measure up to good fanfic, of which there's a lot. Also, the story gets a bit repetitive, and the minor characters don't get much of a look in.
I wouldn't bother buying any more if I were you, though parts of "The Lost Slayer" quartet aren't bad.
Most of them are pretty pedestrian, and keep telling you stuff you know already, as if that proves that the authors have watched the show.

[identity profile] nihilistbear.livejournal.com 2004-12-11 05:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Actually, that's one of the better ones, or so I've heard. I want to own it too, but finding the damn thing is impossible

[identity profile] shadowscast.livejournal.com 2004-12-11 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Well hey, after I've finished it if I don't feel an overwhelming need to keep it around, I can mail it to you if you'd like. You're conveniently in the same country as me, so yay! - relatively cheap postage.

[identity profile] nihilistbear.livejournal.com 2004-12-11 08:51 pm (UTC)(link)
That would be great! Just let me know, and I'lls end the address.