Post by midwesternwatcher on May 2, 2010 18:51:08 GMT -5
I just finished another book. I'll post my review of it, I hope it helps somebody.
“Resurrecting Ravana,” by Ray Garton, is an “in the background story” set during Season 3, apparently in the late Fall and early Spring of Buffy's senior year at Sunnydale High. Stephen Platt, the guidance counselor, has already died, and Faith plays no role, so she must've already joined the Mayor's camp.
Whether you like this story will probably depend on what kind of Buffy fan you are.
If you love to see Buffy and her friends meet and beat a fancy new kind of demon, and solve a mystery while they're at it, then this one is for you. The demons are Rakshasa, which come from the imagination of the Indian subcontinent. They're different from most other Buffyverse monsters in size, shape, hue, and behavior, and in the kind of threat they pose.
The story is well-made, too. This author knows how to build a sense of dread and gloom, and keep it growing. He throws in a few well-figured plot twists and false leads, too, so we're never quite sure what we've got until we get it.
On the other hand, if you're mainly interested in character development and relationships, or in life problems and moral choices, or in resolving the many unknowns in the Buffyverse, this one won't give you what you want.
The season 3 relationships are all there — Buffy and Angel, Willow and Oz, Xander and Cordelia — but none of them figure in the story, except for the friendship between Buffy and Willow.
Willow is also the only Buffyverse character that Ray Garton really gets, at least in my opinion. In “Resurrecting Ravana,” Willow tries to magically cure Oz of his werewolf problem. That makes sense, she would do that; I should've thought of it. Also, when Willow feels a coldness between her and her friends, she tries to make herself more useful, thinking that will get her back in their good graces. That makes sense too. It's too bad Garton doesn't do as well with the other characters.
There's one other thing about this book that bothers me, though I don't know if it would bother anybody else. Much of the action takes place in the town of Sunnydale, not at the High School.
What's wrong with that? Well, the Buffy show, and most of the stories that developed from it, are about Buffy's life. Marti Noxon says we have a parable about growing up, presumably about Buffy growing up. And Buffy's life in Sunnydale doesn't extend much beyond her school. Everyone who is important to her, except Angel and her mother, is connected to it. She doesn't go in for scouting, or go to ballet school, or have a church group like some girls do. When we start wandering into the town, I feel like I'm in a different story.
To sum it up, I think I'd recommend this book to completists like myself, but otherwise, I won't try to persuade anybody one way or another.
“Resurrecting Ravana,” by Ray Garton, is an “in the background story” set during Season 3, apparently in the late Fall and early Spring of Buffy's senior year at Sunnydale High. Stephen Platt, the guidance counselor, has already died, and Faith plays no role, so she must've already joined the Mayor's camp.
Whether you like this story will probably depend on what kind of Buffy fan you are.
If you love to see Buffy and her friends meet and beat a fancy new kind of demon, and solve a mystery while they're at it, then this one is for you. The demons are Rakshasa, which come from the imagination of the Indian subcontinent. They're different from most other Buffyverse monsters in size, shape, hue, and behavior, and in the kind of threat they pose.
The story is well-made, too. This author knows how to build a sense of dread and gloom, and keep it growing. He throws in a few well-figured plot twists and false leads, too, so we're never quite sure what we've got until we get it.
On the other hand, if you're mainly interested in character development and relationships, or in life problems and moral choices, or in resolving the many unknowns in the Buffyverse, this one won't give you what you want.
The season 3 relationships are all there — Buffy and Angel, Willow and Oz, Xander and Cordelia — but none of them figure in the story, except for the friendship between Buffy and Willow.
Willow is also the only Buffyverse character that Ray Garton really gets, at least in my opinion. In “Resurrecting Ravana,” Willow tries to magically cure Oz of his werewolf problem. That makes sense, she would do that; I should've thought of it. Also, when Willow feels a coldness between her and her friends, she tries to make herself more useful, thinking that will get her back in their good graces. That makes sense too. It's too bad Garton doesn't do as well with the other characters.
There's one other thing about this book that bothers me, though I don't know if it would bother anybody else. Much of the action takes place in the town of Sunnydale, not at the High School.
What's wrong with that? Well, the Buffy show, and most of the stories that developed from it, are about Buffy's life. Marti Noxon says we have a parable about growing up, presumably about Buffy growing up. And Buffy's life in Sunnydale doesn't extend much beyond her school. Everyone who is important to her, except Angel and her mother, is connected to it. She doesn't go in for scouting, or go to ballet school, or have a church group like some girls do. When we start wandering into the town, I feel like I'm in a different story.
To sum it up, I think I'd recommend this book to completists like myself, but otherwise, I won't try to persuade anybody one way or another.