Blood and Fog (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Rating:
Summary: Kinda Fun but not consistent on some parts
Review: It's kinda fun to read this book but some parts are off the consistency with the character development. Spike wanted to sell the vial which in turn directly will hurt Nibblet.. that doesn't work with Spike who wanted to die to protect Dawn in Season 5. He was still feeling guilty for his failure to protect Nib and Buffy (who died and resurrected after 147 days) so that's no way he will ally with Doc even for profit.. Unless he is the Doctor himself by selling the demon's eggs. I still think he is doing that to make money for Buffy because he offered financial help to Buffy before the blowing Spike's crypt happened.

This is not-so important facts that make this book doesn't look
like "Based on the popular tv series... blah blah blah.."

Spike met the First? That's no way either because he should have already told Buffy in the episode "Sleeper" in season 7. I guess this is written before season 7.

Jack the Ripper or The Reaper in ATS season 5? I think in ATS S5 episode 4, is trying to imply that The Reaper is the same person/monster as Jack the Ripper.

Rating:
Summary: Blood and Fog....she's done it again!!
Review: Nancy Holder and Christopher Golden are my two favorite Buffy writers when it comes to these novels based on the show. Once again Nancy Holder has done an excellent job in capturing the characters emotions and actions perfectly.

Blood and Fog is set in Season Six, perhaps a lost episode as I have come to view it and should have been the series finale. She did a very marvelous job of capturing the final closing pages in the epic battle that took place in intense style. (And I would even suggest that Golden's "The Wisdom of War could have even served as a series finale).

We are taken back into the past, into the history of Jack the Ripper who as it turns out is a demon from the farey realm known there as Thack. He appears in London during the Bloody Reign of Jack in which Dru, Spike, Darla and Angelus met up with him, Jack having killed some of Dru's "dollies". It is then that Dru wants to take Jack on and Spike agrees, both teaming up with Elizabeth the Vampire Slayer of that time.

In the present, Sunnydale is blanketed in a mysterious fog that is spreading panic through the citizens and Jack reappears, needing a vial to open the gate of his world and bringing forth nothing short of hell on earth. It's up to Buffy, Willow, Tara and Spike to fight back the foces in a clamatic battle that is one to be read.

Holder captures everyone's persona perfectly. Spike is THE Spike from the show. I could have done w/o him being in the story much less in the series but Spike and Buffy fans should be quite happy.

Overall, I hope this is not Holder's last Buffy book but if it is, she did a great job on ending her run on the series. She should have wrote the series finale, teaming her up with Christopher Golden. Both writers do a great job on this series.

Rating:
Summary: Mostly Just Foggy
Review: Nancy Holder, a long time Buffy writer, pits Jack the Ripper against Buffy in a complete reinvention of the Whitechapel horror, conveniently uprooted to Sunnydale. The timing is pre evil Willow post Xander engagement. This should have been an interesting story, including as it does a host of mythical nasties, the Buffy and Spike relationship, and the entire scooby gang, old and new. But is just doesn't come together the way it should.

The story proceeds in parallel grooves, one about Elizabeth, the Slayer doomed to meet up with Jack in Whitechapel, and the other about modern times, where Buffy has to discover how to close a portal for the umpteenth time. The common personality is Spike who was lurking about with Drusilla when Jack made his debut performance. Other than this link the stories have little in common, and Holder never quite succeeds in blending them together.

I have no clue why Holder siezed on the word Banshee, the word for woman fairy, to use as the name of the king of the Tuatha de Danann. It is one of those little distractions that can mar the effect of a story, and Holder creates several in this one volume. Redefining Jack the Ripper as a dark elf cross-breed doesn't rings false, since it creates the need for one distortion after another in both British history or legend. This is a shame, since there is nothing wrong with the basic plot idea of having Buffy meet a historical monster. Nor should there be anything wrong with a story that lands her in the midst of at ancient conflict between the Fay races. but the two together just don't gel.

Holder tries to anticipate the events to come in the TV series, but only succeeds in drawing an excruciating picture of Willow's inner turmoil and anguish at her seperation from Tara. While this isn't really Holder's fault, Willows degeneration into a weepy, miserable personality is totally out of character from her start as a competent, intelligent woman. I would like someone to write a story that doesn't make her out to be a complete sap during this period, but my Watcher sense tells me that it will be a long wait.

Rating:
Summary: The blurb above descriping this book is totally inaccurate.
Review: Neither the First, Doc or Rack appear in this book and I never found an evil agenda either.
The novel doesn't present a redeemed Spike but rather one that is reminiscent of the Spike at the end of Season 2. He fights to save the world as it is because he likes it that way as much as he does for the love of Buffy. If you are a rabid Pro Spike fan don't be put off by Buffy's musings at the beginning of the book. She thinks of him as everything evil but this is not typical of the book. If you are a rabid Anti Spike don't be put off either. There are lots of flashbacks of evil Spike and he is shown to enjoy chaos and violence. Overall, if you have enjoyed other books by Nancy Holder you should enjoy this one.

Rating:
Summary: A Fairly Good Substitute for the Show
Review: Now that 'Buffy' has ended its seven-year run, the only new adventures the show's diehard fans will get will be in the 'Buffy' novels. I have usually tried to avoid them like the plague, but I decided to give them another shot. They may pale in comparison to the actual show, but hey - they are better than nothing, right?

I decided I would read this one, "Blood and Fog", so I must have read every review written here for it - and I didn't know which ones to believe. Half of them said, "If you're a fan of Spike and/or Spuffy you HAVE to read this book!", while the other half said, "If you're a fan of Spike and/or Spuffy DO NOT read this book - it is not for you." Well, I am a fan of Spike and a big Spuffy supporter, so I was torn. To read, or not to read? I figured the only way I would figure out which reviews were accurate would be to read it myself. So I did, and here is what I have to say.

First off, the book is great - so far the best out of all the 'Buffy' novels I've read. It's written well (with a few typos, however), and the characters are all written in character. I will repeat what everyone else has said about the author's description of Spike - first of all, his hair is bleached blonde, not white. Second of all, back in 1888 he had his natural brown hair still, since hair dye didn't actually exist back then. Anyone who has seen either "Fool for Love" or "Lies My Parents Told Me" can prove that, which makes me wonder how anyone let that description slip past editing. But you can easily get over that fact, as well as the other Spike mistake, about how he tells Buffy if he ever got his chip out, he'd kill her, when only a few episodes into the sixth season it was revealed that his chip no longer worked on her anyway. But once you get over these minor oversights in character detail, you can enjoy the book for what it is: a twisted story about Jack the Ripper (trust me, I'll bet you've never pictured Jack like the way he is in this book).

So do I think this book is Spike/Spuffy-friendly? Sure. But not as much as most of these reviews say. Since most of the book takes place in either 1888 London (with Spike, Dru, Darla and Angelus), or in another dimension, hardly any time is spent on any of the Scoobs at all. And despite Buffy and Spike gracing the cover, there are hardly any scenes with them together (so in other words, not much Spuffy at all). So if you like Spike/Spuffy, I think you'll like this book. If you hate Spike/Spuffy, I think you'll like this book. Like I said, it's well-written (this one didn't seem so young adult-y as usual), and the plot is interesting. If you miss the show and need something, this is a quick fix. And I think you'll be satisfied.

Rating:
Summary: This book is written by a Buffy-illiterate author
Review: Okay, either Nancy Holder has never seen an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer after Season 2, or she absolutely detests the show. I'm appalled that a tv-tie-in book with this many canonical errors actually got published.Many reviewers here have mentioned the error of Spike talking about killing Buffy if he had the chip out, when in fact in season 6 of the show, he could have done just that if he'd wanted to. I won't go into the many other Spike-Buffy inconsistancies and just plain errors the book contains, I'll just say that if you are a fan of the Spike-Buffy pairing, this book just isn't for you.The book flashes back to the time of Jack the Ripper, but honestly, it's presented so badly that the family of Jack the Ripper should sue. And I wanted to throw something when Holder described William the Bloody (Spike) as having bleached blond hair at this time; we've seen flashbacks on the show, and that is *not* what he had at that time! Gah, it's just so frustrating that a professional author could be so clueless about her subject matter! There are fans out there who really do care about this, and want to read something of quality and accuracy.This book isn't for them.I suppose if you positively hate the character of Spike, care nothing about continuity, and don't give a fig about the show's seven years of history, you won't mind spending your money on this. Otherwise, I'd suggest looking else where for a good read. It's rare that I've been so disappointed and disgusted in a book. I wish there was a way to give a negative rating.

Rating:
Summary: Bloody 'ell, as Spike would say
Review: Okay, it was competently written, yet I still hated this book. The characters were consistent with the show. However, that's not really a good thing. This book is set somewhere in the middle of season six, before Willow nuts out but after Tara has left her. Since I've always thought it would have been better if they'd gone out with Buffy's Noble Sacrifice of season five, and that the writers of season six dropped the ball on the "Big Bad", the "little bad" and changed Buffy's character almost beyond recognition, I have to wonder why one of the definitive Buffy authors decided to write about this particular time period. In other words, it's just no fun to read about addicted Willow, masochistic Buffy and lovesick Spike. In one fell swoop, the sixth season writers swept away everything I loved about these characters and turned them into whiny basket-cases, which Holder buys right into for this book. Yuck. That said, with a nod to the others who noticed the typos (SO professional), I had a couple other problems with the book's writer.

Holder has some flashback impulse she needs to reign in, okay? It seems that every story she writes has all these flashbacks. Not just one or two to give some flavor to the proceedings, but tons of backstory delivered in flashback that generally falls into the "nice, but unnecessary" column. Note to Nancy: STOP IT.

Then there are the completely unnecessary characters, usually mentioned by name. She peppers the story with people we don't need to know, who die at the end of the paragraph. I also don't need to know names, addresses, phone numbers and favorite colors of characters who exist only to tie up a loose end that wasn't necessary in the first place. (Spoiler Example: No need for the bigot Watcher's ancestor, Olivia, even Giles. The whole sub-story was stupid and gratuitous.)

But, if you like sixth season characterizations, you would probably like this book. Buffy, Spike and Willow are dead on. There are even a few funny places. And some of Spike's observations about the Watcher's Council are interesting. It sure gave me the impression that no matter what the Council thinks, the best Slayers listen to themselves more than the Council.

Rating:
Summary: The author is just repeating the party line...
Review: Quite a mix of reviews about this book, and so I had to add my two cents worth. The truth is, I think Nancy Holder did not do enough research concerning the season she was writing about (6).
Lots of inaccurcies, as has already been pointed out. Holder has a nice style of writing and I think is a skilled enough story teller, but when you're working with a tv show, it's important to fans to get the background correct. (Such as that blasted chip not working on Buffy.) Also problems with the flashbacks; go back and watch Fool For Love and Darla, Nancy.

I had to laugh at the reviewer who said that Spike wasn't a knight in shining armour in season 6. He was a soulless vampire who was desperately lovesick, being used and abused by the show's glum, martyred, put-upon, shallow, suicidal "hero" of the show. Most fans are able to relate to unrequieted love; few of us (hopefully) can relate to not wanting to live. Ergo, sympathy for Spike and not so much for Buffy. It's a pity that writers cannot see this. There's a great story to to be told there.

All in all, Blood and Fog isn't a horrible book, but just like all the others, where Spike is irredeemably bad (heh, he proved otherwise in season 7) and Buffy is just the poor widdle victim (in her mind only.) It gets tiresome, the same old thing after awhile. And I think the author could have watched some of the shows and made the book a bit better. Why write about a tv show if you're not going to take canon into account?

I recommend These Our Actors in the Buffy genre instead.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book with lots of Buffy and Spike sexy stuff.
Review: There is alot of great Buffy and Spike. Anyone that likes Buffy and Spike would love this book. Dawn and Spike also are really cute in this book and have the kind of friendship they had back in season 5. I am so happy that the old and dead Buffy and Angel books are starting to die out. My only problem what the characterization of Spike was off at times, but if Spike fans and B/S shippers will love this book over all.

Rating:
Summary: finally an adult themed book
Review: this book brings jack the ripper to sunnydale. while the scooby gang is trying to figure out a way to stop him, the writer delves into some interesting history on not only jack the ripper,
but on spike, dru, angelus and darla when they first encountered jack in 1888. i think the writer did a beautiful job on the characters and actually the sex acts in the book were more for the mature than in any other previous book, but this show was now meant for the younger audiences and neither really should the books. they also have willow having withdrawal pangs on magic and spike playing a bigger role than usual but i love angel and spike could have stayed out of the show as a regualar if it was left up to me. but overall it is a beautiful book for any history nuts like me and i think you will enjoy it.