Rating: 
Summary: A Great Summer Buffy Book!!
Review: I just finished reading this recently, this summer. I thought it was well written, all of the authors contributing great short stories. These collected stories deal with what happened during the summer after the defeat of the Master. Giles sends Buffy off on a vacation to LA to stay with her father so that she won't have to slay. The gang has to fend off the horrors of the hellmouth without her. The best story in this book though is that last, where Xander and Willow are involved in a summer theater program...it is outstanding!!
Rating: 
Summary: Filling in the gap of Buffy summer fun after Season One
Review: I made a point of reading "How I Survived My Summer Vacation, Volume 1" after watching the first season again of "Buffy the Vampire Season" in chronological order, so I could appreciate the attempt of this collection of short stories to answer the eternal question "What REALLY happened that summer after sophomore year?" But it soon became clear that what is involved here is less filling in the giant gap and more foreshadowing what is to come in season two and beyond. Certainly it is impossible to read about Giles and Jenny without thinking she is half a year way from having her neck broken by Angelus. The six stories here begin with some notion of continuity, as a demon mage named Absalom has shown up to help the Anointed One after the death of the Master. But that only holds up for half the book. The first story, "Dust" by Michelle West, is definitely the best of the bunch, focusing on Buffy, who is suddenly having visions of the death of everybody she touches, which makes going to live with her father for the summer even more difficult than she expected. Nancy Holder's "Absalom Rising" tells of how the Master's minions and Giles, Angel and the Scoobys fought over the Master's bones. Cameron Dokey gets two bites of the apple: "Looks Can Kill" is the second best story in the bunch, focusing on Giles and Angel trying to get along with each other without Buffy to mediate. "No Place Like..." takes us back to Buffy in L.A., where she becomes involved in a nice little ghost story. The last pair of stories try to go for the comedy a bit too much and are hardly worth the effort. "Uncle Dead and the Fourth of July" by Yvonne Navarro finds Jenny dragging Giles to the 4th of July picnic where a group of zombie soldiers show up to have some fun. Then in "The Show Must Go One" by Paul Ruditis has Giles and Jenny going to see a production of "MacBeth" because five of the stage crew are vampires and the other two are Willow and Xander. At the end of this there is but one burning question: Where's Cordelia? Time always stands still between seasons on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," so I am sure we can look forward to future collections of short stories detailing what happened each summer, from the summer Buffy ran away to L.A. to the one she spent in her grave. I am also sure we can look forward to equally mixed bags of good and not so good short stories to download in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Filling in the gap of Buffy summer fun after Season One
Review: I made a point of reading "How I Survived My Summer Vacation, Volume 1" after watching the first season again of "Buffy the Vampire Season" in chronological order, so I could appreciate the attempt of this collection of short stories to answer the eternal question "What REALLY happened that summer after sophomore year?" But it soon became clear that what is involved here is less filling in the giant gap and more foreshadowing what is to come in season two and beyond. Certainly it is impossible to read about Giles and Jenny without thinking she is half a year way from having her neck broken by Angelus. The six stories here begin with some notion of continuity, as a demon mage named Absalom has shown up to help the Anointed One after the death of the Master. But that only holds up for half the book. The first story, "Dust" by Michelle West, is definitely the best of the bunch, focusing on Buffy, who is suddenly having visions of the death of everybody she touches, which makes going to live with her father for the summer even more difficult than she expected. Nancy Holder's "Absalom Rising" tells of how the Master's minions and Giles, Angel and the Scoobys fought over the Master's bones. Cameron Dokey gets two bites of the apple: "Looks Can Kill" is the second best story in the bunch, focusing on Giles and Angel trying to get along with each other without Buffy to mediate. "No Place Like..." takes us back to Buffy in L.A., where she becomes involved in a nice little ghost story. The last pair of stories try to go for the comedy a bit too much and are hardly worth the effort. "Uncle Dead and the Fourth of July" by Yvonne Navarro finds Jenny dragging Giles to the 4th of July picnic where a group of zombie soldiers show up to have some fun. Then in "The Show Must Go One" by Paul Ruditis has Giles and Jenny going to see a production of "MacBeth" because five of the stage crew are vampires and the other two are Willow and Xander. At the end of this there is but one burning question: Where's Cordelia? Time always stands still between seasons on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," so I am sure we can look forward to future collections of short stories detailing what happened each summer, from the summer Buffy ran away to L.A. to the one she spent in her grave. I am also sure we can look forward to equally mixed bags of good and not so good short stories to download in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Two pretty good Buffy tales out of six is not all that bad
Review: I made of point of finally reading "How I Survived My Summer Vacation, Volume 1" after watching the first season from of "Buffy the Vampire Season" in chronological order, so I could appreciate the attempt of this collection of short stories to answer the question "What REALLY happened that summer after sophomore year?" But it soon became clear that what is involved her is less filling in the gap and more foreshadowing what is to come. It is impossible to read about Giles and Jenny without thinking she is half a year way from having her neck broken by Angelus. The six stories here begin with some notion of continuity, as a demon mage named Absalom has shown up to help the Anointed One after the death of the Master. But that only holds up for half the book. The first story, "Dust" by Michelle West, is the best of the bunch, focusing on Buffy, who is suddenly having visions of the death of everybody she touches, which makes going to live with her father for the summer more difficult than she expected. Nancy Holder's "Absalom Rising" tells of how the Master's minions and Giles, Angel and the Scoobys fought over the Master's bones. Cameron Dokey gets two bites of the apple: "Looks Can Kill" is the second best story in the bunch, focusing on Giles and Angel trying to get along with each other without Buffy to mediate. "No Place Like..." takes us back to Buffy in L.A., where she becomes involved in a nice little ghost story. The last pair of stories try to go for the comedy a bit too much and are hardly worth the effort. "Uncle Dead and the Fourth of July" by Yvonne Navarro finds Jenny dragging Giles to the 4th of July picnic where a group of zombie soldiers show up to have some fun. Then in "The Show Must Go One" by Paul Ruditis has Giles and Jenny going to see a production of "MacBeth" because five of the stage crew are vampires and the other two are Willow and Xander. At the end of this there is but one burning question: Where's Cordelia? Time always stands still between seasons on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," so I am sure we can look forward to future collections of short stories detailing what happened each summer, from the summer Buffy ran away to L.A. to the one she spent in her grave. I am also sure we can look forward to equally mixed bags of good and not so good short stories.
Rating:
Summary: Two pretty good Buffy tales out of six is not all that bad
Review: I made of point of finally reading "How I Survived My Summer Vacation, Volume 1" after watching the first season from of "Buffy the Vampire Season" in chronological order, so I could appreciate the attempt of this collection of short stories to answer the question "What REALLY happened that summer after sophomore year?" But it soon became clear that what is involved her is less filling in the gap and more foreshadowing what is to come. It is impossible to read about Giles and Jenny without thinking she is half a year way from having her neck broken by Angelus. The six stories here begin with some notion of continuity, as a demon mage named Absalom has shown up to help the Anointed One after the death of the Master. But that only holds up for half the book. The first story, "Dust" by Michelle West, is the best of the bunch, focusing on Buffy, who is suddenly having visions of the death of everybody she touches, which makes going to live with her father for the summer more difficult than she expected. Nancy Holder's "Absalom Rising" tells of how the Master's minions and Giles, Angel and the Scoobys fought over the Master's bones. Cameron Dokey gets two bites of the apple: "Looks Can Kill" is the second best story in the bunch, focusing on Giles and Angel trying to get along with each other without Buffy to mediate. "No Place Like..." takes us back to Buffy in L.A., where she becomes involved in a nice little ghost story. The last pair of stories try to go for the comedy a bit too much and are hardly worth the effort. "Uncle Dead and the Fourth of July" by Yvonne Navarro finds Jenny dragging Giles to the 4th of July picnic where a group of zombie soldiers show up to have some fun. Then in "The Show Must Go One" by Paul Ruditis has Giles and Jenny going to see a production of "MacBeth" because five of the stage crew are vampires and the other two are Willow and Xander. At the end of this there is but one burning question: Where's Cordelia? Time always stands still between seasons on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," so I am sure we can look forward to future collections of short stories detailing what happened each summer, from the summer Buffy ran away to L.A. to the one she spent in her grave. I am also sure we can look forward to equally mixed bags of good and not so good short stories.
Rating:
Summary: Giles and Jenny Get Top Billing!
Review: It's a Buffy book, without so much Buffy in it! Finally a book that expands on the Rupert Giles and Jenny Calender characters. This book, with it's six interlocking short stories, shares some insight into the "other" characters in the Buffy universe. Buffy fans need not be disappointed as that Buffy has a few short stories to herself. However, it's nice to see the characters, such as Giles and Jenny, independantly and have their own adventures sans Buffy. A must have book for the Giles fans out there.
Rating:
Summary: Giles and Jenny Get Top Billing!
Review: It's a Buffy book, without so much Buffy in it! Finally a book that expands on the Rupert Giles and Jenny Calender characters. This book, with it's six interlocking short stories, shares some insight into the "other" characters in the Buffy universe. Buffy fans need not be disappointed as that Buffy has a few short stories to herself. However, it's nice to see the characters, such as Giles and Jenny, independantly and have their own adventures sans Buffy. A must have book for the Giles fans out there.
Rating: 
Summary: How I Survived Reading this Book
Review: It's a Buffy the Vampire Slayer tie-in book. And the first one I've read. I don't know how it compares to the others, but it was a rather interesting experience. I counted one mention of Cordelia in the entire book - I thought she'd deserve more mention than that?The book is made up of six short stories, and the first story confounded me at first, but as it went on, it seemed to have a storyline that was present, but by the fifth story it had disappeared. I, on a whole, would not recommend this book unless you are a die-hard Buffy fan that has to read the novels too. I think I'll just stick to the tv show from now on, unless I get really bored.
Rating:
Summary: How I Survived Reading this Book
Review: It's a Buffy the Vampire Slayer tie-in book. And the first one I've read. I don't know how it compares to the others, but it was a rather interesting experience. I counted one mention of Cordelia in the entire book - I thought she'd deserve more mention than that? The book is made up of six short stories, and the first story confounded me at first, but as it went on, it seemed to have a storyline that was present, but by the fifth story it had disappeared. I, on a whole, would not recommend this book unless you are a die-hard Buffy fan that has to read the novels too. I think I'll just stick to the tv show from now on, unless I get really bored.
Rating:
Summary: try harder
Review: the title of this book makes it sound like this book was going to have great promise. it deals more with giles and jenny than it does with the main characters of the show. buffy is even thrown in a couple of times but is mostly forgotten. willow and xander virtually don't exist. this book is like it was written by giles as a slap in the face that he doesn't get enough credit or something. every once in a while they will throw in angel for a brief moment or two. when they put on the title that this is volume one, i shudder to think what the rest of the books are going to be like. i can save those who have not bought the book some time and say don't bother.
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