|
Night
of the Living Rerun was one of the few Buffy novels that
slipped through the PB reviewing net, and although it's not exactly
fair to review it three years later, at least it fills in the gap.
To
be honest, I didn't think must of Night of the Living Rerun
when I first read it, and I wasn't impressed by it when re-reading
it.
Even
as an early Buffy novel, Living Rerun disappointed.
Plenty of traditional season one elements are thrown in - Buffy's
dreams, the Master, Joyce's gallery - but the result is nothing
special.
It
always seems more disappointing when a potentially interesting subject
or setting is used in a novel, but used badly. Living Rerun
falls at this hurdle by combining the Salem witch trials - complete
with 17th century Slayer - and present day Sunnydale.
Salem
offers plenty of potential, particularly for a novel based entirely
around the Slayer of the time, but here it's just wasted, as the
characters possessing Buffy, Giles and Xander could really have
been anyone. It looks as if the author wanted to write about Salem
and Buffy gave him the opportunity.
That's
about it. Even given the novel the benefit of the doubt because
it was one of the earliest Buffy novels, it's hard to be
positive about Night of the Living Rerun. Xander being possessed
by a girl provides one or two laughs, but this is definitely one
Buffy novel that you can skip unless you're a real completist.
BACK
TO THE TOP
|
NIGHT
OF THE LIVING RERUN
Written
by ARTHUR BYRON COVER
POCKET BOOKS
$4.99
RATING: 5/10
|
