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The second book in The Xander
Years series follows the usual format of three episodes novelised in a
single volume, along with some linking material for good measure and the
usual batch of familiar photos.
While the first volume concentrated
on Xander's lack of success with Sunnydale's female population, the three
stories here - The Pack, Go Fish and The Zeppo - deal more with his
more general attempts at attaining popularity.
Kicking things off, season one's
The Pack is probably the weakest episode here, with Xander and a group of
new-found friends possessed by hyenas after a school visit to the zoo.
Of more interest is the death of Principal Flutie in this episode, clearing
the way for his far more interesting replacement.
From the tail end of season two,
Go Fish sees Xander "undercover" in the swim team, on the trail of
the killer of two of the team's now ex-members. Unfortunately being a
novelisation we lose two of the episode's really great moments - Buffy,
Cordy and Willow's reaction to Xander's revelation that he's on the swim
team and Cordy thinking that Xander has been turned into a fish monster.
Finally, The Zeppo where our hero
gets to go for doughnuts, drive around in a big car, lose his virginity and
prevent Sunnydale High from being blown up by a bomb. It's just a
shame that his friends are too busy trying to prevent the Hellmouth from
being reopened to notice what he's up to.
Despite the fact that it contains
one of the series' weaker episodes, The Xander Year, Vol. 2 manages
to rise above many of Pocket Books' previous novelisation
triple-bills. The linking material is better than usual and the
novelisations aren't quite the script plus "he said"/"she
said" that some of the others have been.
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THE
XANDER YEARS, VOL. 2
Written by JEFF MARIOTTE
POCKET BOOKS
£4.99
RATING:
7½/10
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