The Book of Fours

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Buffy Book
Review: Through a world of nightmares that Buffy, and Faith have been sharing during their slumbers, an evil has invaded the small town of Sunnydale, setting a huge disaster on all of the resident Sunnydale innocents. The nightmares revolve around four figures that represent the four elements: fire, water, earth and air. Each figure carries a box, covered in bones and grafted skin. Giles soon learns that the last time that these figures were seen, were by India, Buffy's immediate predecessor. Now Buffy is cramming every bit of information about India, and these strange figures into her brain, so she knows exactly how to save Sunnydale, and the innocents who reside there.

This was an amazing addition to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer book series. Holder has created an intricately woven novel, featuring a brand new, never before seen slayer, India Cohen. The scenes are written so descriptively, that you feel as if you are right there with the Slayers, fighting the evil that lurks around Sunnydale. A must-have book.

Erika Sorocco

Rating:
Summary: Out of Focus
Review: Unlike Immortal and the Gatekeeper Trilogy, which Nancy Holder co-wrote with Christopher Golden, The Book of Fours has a notable lack of focus about it.

The plot itself is good and most of the original characters are interesting, particularly India and Kit, they slayer and watcher previous to Buffy and Giles. However, the sub-plots are thin and plentiful making the story feel incredibly unfocused and the main plot jumps around too much. I have the distinct impression that much of the story cut in the editing process.

There are more characters in this book than in most soap-opera series on television, which also makes the book hard to follow. The original characters probably outnumber the characters from the series (which include many semi-regulars such as Spike, Dru, Willy the Snitch, Angel, Faith, Kendra and the Master, among others) and Holder gives back story on every single one of them, which detracts from the plot a great deal. In addition, characters from previous books make apperances and if you haven't read the Gatekeeper Trilogy and Pretty Maids All in a Row, you will be lost.

There are a few great one-liners in the story, one in particular dealing with a surfboard really cracked me up, but again they aren't as plentiful as in her earlier works and much of the Buffy-lingo seems forced.

The best part about this book, however, is the promise of a follow-up story dealing more in-depth with India and Kit, the former slayer and watcher with a forbidden love. I'm looking forward to it and I'm hopeful that next time the editor will do a better job of molding the text into a memorable and enjoyable book.

Rating:
Summary: Earth, Air, Water and Fire
Review: We're used to strange events in Sunnydale, but the latest problems make it doubtful that there will be a Sunnydale in the near future. An unstoppable forest fire, hurricanes, downtown tidal waves and a gratuitous earthquake pummel the unlucky city, and the Slayer and her faithful companions begin to smell a rat, or several rats. Buffy, Faith (appearing for the first time) and even poor Willow find themselves having nightmares, the very same nightmares. And the keep running into very irritated mummies with unpleasantly sharp axes.

Giles investigates and realizes that a universal bad hair day is in the works. The mummies are called the Wanderers, serving a prehistoric evil known as the Gatherer. To make matters worse, a voodoo queen and a gangster demon are also chasing Slayers. Not just the two current slayers, but their immediate predecessors India Cohen and Kendra become tangled up in the demonic plot. Even Willow and Cordelia must become directly involved in what becomes a titanic struggle to prevent the Gatherer from conquering Sunnydale and the rest of the world.

This is a complex plot, rich in parallel threads and frantic action. Perhaps a bit too complex. Prepare to have to pay attention. No one is quite who they seem to be and our young heroines must face magic and betrayal before they can confront their opponents.

Lately some of the Buffy chronicles have been slightly short on plot, but Nancy Holder has served up one of her best. At a time when the television series seems bogged down in one tragedy after another, it's a true relief to settle down with a Buffy story that is about the strength and courage that is the hallmark of Buffy and her companions.

The book provides a great mix of story and Slayer lore that will delight all fans. Despite the many zigzags taken by the plot, Holder manages to keep everything working together. This one's a keeper. Hopefully the author will figure out how to put Sunnydale back together again in time for the next novel.

Rating:
Summary: Rush Job
Review: What happened? Holder is capable of much better than this. Up to the last thirty or forty pages the book is great, but then it runs right off a cliff.

First, the good: Holder understands the characters, and writes them wonderfully. Their dialogue is true to form, often quite witty, and she provides interesting insights into their psyches. The inclusion of Faith is especially welcome, and long overdue. Buffy's predecessor in the Slayer business, India, is a fabulous character, and Holder's passages about (and especially by) her are a joy. The plot is epic and interesting, and suspense is well-maintained.

Unfortunately, the book has major problems, most of which give the impression that Holder was up short against a deadline. It's poorly edited, for one thing. There are passages toward the end that are repeated verbatim. Characters suddenly know things they haven't been told, or if they have, they then act in contradiction to it - case in point, one of the major characters in the story sets the good guys up for a fall; they shouldn't realize that and yet do, and fall for the trap anyway.
Numerous minor character inclusions early in the story never pan out to anything, and only take up space and diffuse the focus, seeming as if Holder intended something to happen with them but simply didn't have the time to flesh them out.

The finale is impossible to follow - again, as if Holder simply didn't have time to write it thoroughly enough. The menace of the piece has a clear objective, achieves it, and yet for some insufficiently explained reason fails. The action at the end is so fast, it can't be comprehended - a Slayer falls, a ghost takes her place (doesn't it? couldn't really be sure), but the ghost is physically real (I think; my head hurt, by that point)...and then, people who died are inexplicably just still alive, the ghost is - uh, what happened to the ghost? - the betrayer character is suddenly back in everyone's good graces, because - uh, why was that, again? Did I miss something? (You get the idea.)

Hardcore fans may still enjoy this one, as long as they're sufficiently forewarned about the hopelessly muddled ending.