Rating: 
Summary: Sub-par Buffy
Review: Buffy and friends become involved with Arianna, a troubled young woman on the cusp of sixteen whose abilities rival those of Buffy herself. They try to befriend her and discover the truth about her. Scott Ciencin knows how to write the characters and has a good grasp of the show's vernacular, but he is less successful at crafting a compelling story. Most annoying, he gives Arianna an ability that would allow her to easily resolve the tension and uncertainty that torments her, yet provides an excuse for not exercising it that is very flimsy and contrived. The humor leans toward the cute and lacks the bite that characterizes the best writing of the series. If this is the type of story that had appeared on air, Buffy would not have lasted seven seasons.
Rating:
Summary: Sub-par Buffy
Review: Buffy and friends become involved with Arianna, a troubled young woman on the cusp of sixteen whose abilities rival those of Buffy herself. They try to befriend her and discover the truth about her. Scott Ciencin knows how to write the characters and has a good grasp of the show's vernacular, but he is less successful at crafting a compelling story. Most annoying, he gives Arianna an ability that would allow her to easily resolve the tension and uncertainty that torments her, yet provides an excuse for not exercising it that is very flimsy and contrived. The humor leans toward the cute and lacks the bite that characterizes the best writing of the series. If this is the type of story that had appeared on air, Buffy would not have lasted seven seasons.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't judge a book by the back cover
Review: I don't usally buy Buffy YA titles, I just stick to the adult ones. But I read the back cover and desided to take a gamble. And it reenforced my promise never to read Buffy YA books. Scott Ciencin spends way too much time on his own chacters, and on Dawn and Buffy, that there zero cacterzaion for anyone else, ie Willow or Xander for exsample. To the point of all the story really needed was the man's own chacters, and Buffy and Dawn. Everyone else plays such a small role I don't know why Scott put them in there at all. It was so bad I couldn't even finsh the book....
Rating: 
Summary: This is an okay read.
Review: I love Buffy books, and when I read the back cover to this book, I was really excited to read it. When I was done, I felt that something was missing. Perhaps it could have used more plot twists. On night when Buffy was on patrol, she comes across some demons, and to Buffy's suprise, she sees a girl that could handle herself aganist demons. The next day, Dawn befriends a girl that's picked on. Dawn quickly becomes her friend, but wonders why she won't stand up to those who are picking on her. Dawn brings the girl homes, and to Buffy's suprise, the girl that Dawn brought home is the same girl that could hold her own aganist demons. Buffy and the scooby gang set out to find out who this mysterious stranger is. When they find out who she is.....will any of them be safe. This is the coming of age for a demon. The style of writing is okay. I feel it could have used a bit more of a plot twist. Over is it was okay. If you're a Buffy fan, go ahead and read it. I read better Buffy books, but then, I also read worse.
Rating:
Summary: Huh?
Review: I read the first chapter and I was puzzled. Then I went back, read it again, and laughed. My tenth grade creative writing class can make a better effort at a plot, dialogue, and characterization than that, and be witty to boot. As for the quality of the writing, just the dialogue in the Quick Stop scene was enough to make my head spin around and explode. After reading this, I wasn't sure whether the author was high, or if he just hadn't seen a lot of Buffy and decided to make up the show and the characters' personalities (into something so juvenile and whacked out, it was almost incomprehensible). Did they let a 13-year-old fanboy write this? No, that can't be, because there is fanfiction out there that is many, many levels above this. ... Don't waste your money on this atrocious mess.
Rating: 
Summary: Sweet Sixteen rocks
Review: I thought that Sweet Sixteen was a great book to read. The Story was really creative and we got to see a different side to Buffy and Dawn in the book. I think that Buffy being a kind of mentor to Arianna was absolutely brillant and the whole story was great. The whole back story of the girl getting superpowers and buffy seeing herself in the gilr and wanting to help her kind of reminds me of why I like the Buffster. Two thumbs Up.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent story with some fresh twists
Review: I took a while getting around to "Sweet Sixteen" since it was a YA, but found it definitely worth the visit. Ciencin's witty prose has the Buffy vernacular down cold, and he knows how to write a story that hooks you from page one. Excellent set-up in Chapter 1, and it just gets better from there. His mastery of the familiar personalities shows he is a fellow fan, and the emphasis on new characters gives the book a freshness that is invigorating. I'm amazed to see that this is Ciencin's Buffy debut; let's hope he'll be persuaded to do more.
Rating: 
Summary: There's something odd about Dawn's classmate Arianna...
Review: In "Sweet Sixteen" first-time Buffy author Scott Ciencin comes up with an interesting plot idea to revitalize several standard Buffy themes. Thus we are introduced to Arianna, a young girl who is chosen for a mystical purpose, albeit something other than vampire slaying, although exactly what is part of the novel's guessing game. However, the key twist here is that Arianna is one of Dawn's classmates, which brings to the forefront the deep desire of Buffy's sister to be a real Scoobie, the expanding world of the Buffy mythos, and the living hell that is school when you are a teenager. This is a book where there are more demons than vampires running about, but the true evil in "Sweet Sixteen" has a human face. Arianna's mother is such a horribly abusive parent that it seems reasonable to both the poor girl and the readers that her father would have to be an improvement. But this is the Buffy universe where the dictum that it is better to deal with the devil you know is pretty much gospel. One of the strengths of this book is the way Ciencin captures the horrible way young teenager girls treat each other. What Buffy and Willow had to endure with Cordelia and the Cordettes is nothing compared to what Dawn and Arianna have to put up with the Sweater Mafia at school. (Question: What grade is Dawn in? Arianna is the one who turns 16 in "Sweet Sixteen," which is the same age Buffy was at the beginning of Season 2, when she was a junior in High School. But I certainly have never gotten the feeling Dawn was that old at this point, i.e., late in Season 5.) My main complaint is that Ciencin engages is one of those convenient plot manipulations that drive me crazy, wherein Arianna discovers she has a particular power and then avoids using that particular power because if she did the story would be over. Ciencin puts off this eventuality until the key dramatic moment, but it is just too artificial for my tastes, especially after a couple of scenes where Arianna toys with the idea of using her power but backs off each time. However, Ciencin has an excellent feel for dialogue for these characters and exploring the idea that there are others out there besides the Slayer who have been called by the Powers that Be (or whoever is behind the Buffy universe) has long been overdue.
Rating:
Summary: There's something odd about Dawn's classmate Arianna...
Review: In "Sweet Sixteen" first-time Buffy author Scott Ciencin comes up with an interesting plot idea to revitalize several standard Buffy themes. Thus we are introduced to Arianna, a young girl who is chosen for a mystical purpose, albeit something other than vampire slaying, although exactly what is part of the novel's guessing game. However, the key twist here is that Arianna is one of Dawn's classmates, which brings to the forefront the deep desire of Buffy's sister to be a real Scoobie, the expanding world of the Buffy mythos, and the living hell that is school when you are a teenager. This is a book where there are more demons than vampires running about, but the true evil in "Sweet Sixteen" has a human face. Arianna's mother is such a horribly abusive parent that it seems reasonable to both the poor girl and the readers that her father would have to be an improvement. But this is the Buffy universe where the dictum that it is better to deal with the devil you know is pretty much gospel. One of the strengths of this book is the way Ciencin captures the horrible way young teenager girls treat each other. What Buffy and Willow had to endure with Cordelia and the Cordettes is nothing compared to what Dawn and Arianna have to put up with the Sweater Mafia at school. (Question: What grade is Dawn in? Arianna is the one who turns 16 in "Sweet Sixteen," which is the same age Buffy was at the beginning of Season 2, when she was a junior in High School. But I certainly have never gotten the feeling Dawn was that old at this point, i.e., late in Season 5.) My main complaint is that Ciencin engages is one of those convenient plot manipulations that drive me crazy, wherein Arianna discovers she has a particular power and then avoids using that particular power because if she did the story would be over. Ciencin puts off this eventuality until the key dramatic moment, but it is just too artificial for my tastes, especially after a couple of scenes where Arianna toys with the idea of using her power but backs off each time. However, Ciencin has an excellent feel for dialogue for these characters and exploring the idea that there are others out there besides the Slayer who have been called by the Powers that Be (or whoever is behind the Buffy universe) has long been overdue.
Rating:
Summary: Not Just Another Pretty Face
Review: In Sunnydale demons are no surprise to Buffy. Not even when a bunch of them show up in line for cat food at the local Quick Stop. Buffy, as usual, to the rescue. Except that this time an unassuming looking middle school student loses her cool and unexpectedly rips a demon to shreds. But before Buffy can say "hello" the girl is gone and the mystery gets filed away. For our regular girl wonder realizes that someone has elected her target in the demonic equivalent of 'Survivor.' This time the show seems to be called 'Get That Slayer." The unexpected demon stomper is Arianna DuPrey, a fellow student at Dawn's school. Arianna, the child of a hypercritical mother, has spent most of her life avoiding attention. Now she finds herself in the possession of the kind of powers that she has previously only fantasized about and she is terrified. While she is trying to cope with this she attracts the attention, and then the friendship of Dawn, who has had her own struggles with being different. When Buffy discovers that Dawn's new friend is also the mystery girl from the Quick Stop there is a bit of a scramble before Arianna begins to accept that Buffy, Dawn, and the rest of the Scooby gang actually want to help her discover that has happened to her. For Arianna, who has always been a loner, this is a major, and sometimes difficult, adjustment. But Arianna's coming into her powers has awakened one more player. Sensing an opportunity for freedom and power another Aurek Kiritan arouses himself to seek re-entry into the human plane. Arianna's father, her mother's demon lover, returns to the human plane, intent on having his half-human young daughter assume the role of the Reaver, a creature of legend, intent on bearing destruction wherever she goes. For this he will give her three gifts and require her willing consent. Only one thing stands in his way - Buffy and her band of friends, who keep reminding Arianna of her human half. Into this relationship he must drive a wedge or face the destruction of his own dreams. The conflict in this book between Arianna's need to be special and Buffy's own need to be human sets up a relationship that will bring change to both. And the normally petulant and slightly impossible Dawn reveals her own in inner strength in the mirror of care and acceptance she holds up to both her sister and her friend. Arianna's confusion about whether her father is hero or horror, her inability to resolve her feelings for Dawn and Buffy, and her indecision about her own nature make this a particularly poignant book. As is often the case, Buffy books such as this one from Scott Ciencin have a lot to say about more important things than the slaying of vampires. This one does that particularly well, using fine writing and a memorable plot. Great reading.
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