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John
Passarella's debut Buffy novel sees two new arrivals in Sunnydale
- Solitaire, a vampire able to withstand daylight and Vyxn, an all-girl
band with a week-long residency at The Bronze. Through in
the obligatory school problem - this time Buffy has the school's
guidance counsellor hassling her - and the result is a pretty run
of the mill Buffy novel.
Part
of the problem is that neither of the supernatural threats are particularly
involving.
Solitaire,
so-called because of his loner tendency and his own take on calling
cards, starts off reasonably promising, but the more stand-alone
nature of the novels means that his displacing Sunnydale's supposed
head vamp Skull John has none of the impact that Spike's killing
of the Annointed One does. That act showed us that not only
was there a new order in town, but that Spike's threats weren't
idle ones, but this seemed little more than one vamp we've never
heard of killing another one.
The
idea of a vampire who can walk around in sunlight was something
that the television series itself explored in The Harsh Light
of Day, and at least Ghoul Trouble doesn't simply retread
the same ground as the TV series.
All-girl
band Vxyn provide the Slayer's other main threat, in a manner that
may remind some readers of the Sliders episode Stoker,
although their tendency of wearing a lot of leather (or actually
not-a-lot of leather) would have got Xander's attention anyway.
But
being the Slayer isn't all about killing vampires and ghouls, there's
school to fit in as well, and Buffy has the challenge of appeasing
a new guidance counsellor, although she's not exactly in the Kathleen
Topolsky league.
Ghoul
Trouble serves up the usual amount of slaying and one or more
of the Scooby Gang getting in trouble and having to be rescued,
and provides a reasonably entertaining couple of hours, but it's
pretty average stuff really. BACK
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