Power of Persuasion

Rating:
Summary: Good "Buffy" fix
Review: If you're a fan of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and are a big reader (why else would you be here?) you really ought to do yourself a favor and read these books. Author Elizabeth Massie captures the feel of "Buffy's" world so well that I could clearly see the characters come to life in my head. Although I did find the normally conversation challenged Oz to be a bit wordy here at times. He's the quiet sexy one (the perfect man ;) but he seemed to have quite a bit of dialogue in this story and it stuck out.

This one is an original novel (not a novelization based on a TV episode) about a young girl with a dictator-like father who is totally fed up with his attempts to run her life and prays to the "goddess" for help.

Then a new library administrator, Ms. Moon, and her two too-perfect-to-be-true girls arrive in Sunnydale and quietly begin to stir up discontent between the sexes. Soon the female students are carrying on about "inequality" and "injustice" and, much to Cordelia Chase's dismay, are rallying around the Moon girls who have become the most popular students in school. The guy's aren't immune either and walk around in a dazed state blindly worshipping the Moon sisters. Even poor Giles is affected. Momma Moon wants to do away with all of his "weird" books and even though he finds the idea offensive his brain gets muddled and he begins to pack them. Buffy catches him in the act and realizes that someone is once again up to no good in Sunnydale and she intends to stop it.

I saw where this one was going immediately but that's okay because reading it was *almost* as much fun as watching a Buffy episode. There's a little wit, there's Slayer action and there's lots of hanging out with the Buffy gang. Worked for me.

Rating:
Summary: Buffy the Vampire Slayer versus a pair of Killer Muses
Review: In "Power of Persuasion," to quote the back cover blurb, "the female population of Sunnydale starts strutting its girl power." Certainly this is an intriguing idea for any book dealing with the trials and tribulations of surviving the horrors of high school, let alone a Buffy the Vampire Slayer book. Unfortunately the quest for gender equality results not from enlightenment but rather a new evil force. In fact, the evil force turns out to be Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, and two of her daughters, the Muses Calliope and Polyhymnia, who represent epic poetry and sacred singing respectively (I know exactly what you are thinking: Melpomene should have been one of them. I totally agree. You people know your Muses).

Now, certainly I love mythology as much as the next person, but there is absolutely no reason to use psychotic man-hating Muses as the villains in this story. First of all, this conception runs totally counter to the image of the Muses as the inspiration of all creativity. Secondly, there is not reason for bringing the Greco-Roman gods and goddesses into the Buffy mythos. Indeed, it only presents problems (e.g., what does Zeus think about Buffy killing two of his daughters?) as does the idea that Buffy can take out immortal beings. Consequently, there is no legitimate reason for the Muses to be in this novel (Sorry for the rant; I am putting together a classical mythology class.)

In terms of the writing, Elizabeth Maasie does tend to have the characters make quips at each and every opportunity, but that is a standard problem with the Buffy novels. However, the character of "guest star" Allison Gianakous is fully developed and that is a plus, since all of the attention is usually devoted to Buffy and the Scooby Gang and it rare indeed when new characters are adequately developed, so that was certainly nice to see. But my main complaint remains, that these are just the wrong villains to toss into the Buffy universe. I am really surprised, because you would think a writer would really know better than to offend the Muses, even in a downloadable e-book.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting plotline but definitely the wrong villains
Review: In "Power of Persuasion," to quote the back cover blurb, "the female population of Sunnydale starts strutting its girl power." Certainly this is an intriguing idea for any book dealing with the trials and tribulations of surviving high school, let alone a Buffy the Vampire Slayer book. Unfortunately the quest for gender equality results not from enlightenment but rather a new evil force. However, the evil force turns out to be Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, and two of her daughters, the Muses Calliope and Polyhymnia, who represent epic poetry and sacred singing respectively (I know exactly what you are thinking: Melpomene should have been one of them. I agree).

Now, certainly I love mythology as much as the next person, but there is no reason to use psychotic man-hating Muses as the villains in this story. First of all, this conceptions runs totally counter to the image of the Muses as the inspiration of all creativity. Secondly, there is not reason for bringing the Greco-Roman gods and goddesses into the Buffy mythos. Indeed, it only presents problems (e.g., what does Zeus think about Buffy killing too of his daughters?) as does the idea that Buffy can take out immortal beings. Consequently, there is no legitimate reason for the Muses to be in this novel.

In terms of the writing, Elizabeth Maasie does tend to have the characters make quips at each and every opportunity, but that is a standard problem with the Buffy novels. However, the character of Allison Gianakous is fully developed and that is a plus, since all of the attention is usually devoted to Buffy and the Scooby Gang and it rare indeed when new characters are adequately developed, so that was certainly nice to see. But my main complaint remains, that these are just the wrong villains to toss into the Buffy universe. I am really surprised, because you would think a writer would no better than to offend the Muses.

Rating:
Summary: Buffy the Vampire Slayer versus a pair of Killer Muses
Review: In "Power of Persuasion," to quote the back cover blurb, "the female population of Sunnydale starts strutting its girl power." Certainly this is an intriguing idea for any book dealing with the trials and tribulations of surviving the horrors of high school, let alone a Buffy the Vampire Slayer book. Unfortunately the quest for gender equality results not from enlightenment but rather a new evil force. In fact, the evil force turns out to be Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, and two of her daughters, the Muses Calliope and Polyhymnia, who represent epic poetry and sacred singing respectively (I know exactly what you are thinking: Melpomene should have been one of them. I totally agree. You people know your Muses).

Now, certainly I love mythology as much as the next person, but there is absolutely no reason to use psychotic man-hating Muses as the villains in this story. First of all, this conception runs totally counter to the image of the Muses as the inspiration of all creativity. Secondly, there is not reason for bringing the Greco-Roman gods and goddesses into the Buffy mythos. Indeed, it only presents problems (e.g., what does Zeus think about Buffy killing two of his daughters?) as does the idea that Buffy can take out immortal beings. Consequently, there is no legitimate reason for the Muses to be in this novel (Sorry for the rant; I am putting together a classical mythology class.)

In terms of the writing, Elizabeth Maasie does tend to have the characters make quips at each and every opportunity, but that is a standard problem with the Buffy novels. However, the character of "guest star" Allison Gianakous is fully developed and that is a plus, since all of the attention is usually devoted to Buffy and the Scooby Gang and it rare indeed when new characters are adequately developed, so that was certainly nice to see. But my main complaint remains, that these are just the wrong villains to toss into the Buffy universe. I am really surprised, because you would think a writer would really know better than to offend the Muses, even in a downloadable e-book.

Rating:
Summary: Girl power can be dangerous....
Review: My favorite Buffy book (and i've read a lot) I love the character development and how the 'goddesses' took over everyone, and the scenes in the Greek resturant were hilarious!

Rating:
Summary: Enthralling!
Review: Myself being a huge fan of the Buffy TV series, I was eager to read the books. This was the first book I read in the novel series, and boy did it intrigue me. I couldn't put this book down, I wanted to find out what happened, I wanted to see how the characters either died or recovered and I wanted to see the climax of the movie, how it finished and why the story even came about in the first place. The title Power of Perusasion is very good, I think it means many different things: the power of the Buffy books and their sense of persuasion that makes you want to read more Buffster stories. The power of persuasion, the power of the villains, how they persuade the regular Buffy characters to become almost unearthly. And finally, the power of the intrigue of this book. I was seriously enthralled in the plot, and had a sense of persuasion to keep reading. If there is a flaw its that the way the villains die is not exactly clear enough, but this is still a highly recommended read.

Rating:
Summary: Unique
Review: Overall this book was okay. Why? It had a unique plot I guess with the whole mythology thing. (I'm into mythology.) But the villains were a little cliched. If you haven't read the rest of the Buffy books out there you probably don't know what I am talking about. Anyway in at least three three other Buffy novels the bad guys are demons/goddesses who convientally become new teachers/staff at Sunnydale High and Giles ends up falling victim to them. Other than that the book was okay, I did find that the ending was a little confusing-but mostly I liked it. 3 and half stars.

Rating:
Summary: Jhaeman's Review
Review: POWER OF PERSUASION
By Elizabeth Massie (1999)

RATING: 2/5 Stakes

SETTING: Season Three

CAST APPEARANCES: Buffy, Angel, Willow, Xander, Giles, Oz, Anya, Cordelia, Joyce, Principal Snyder, Hank Summers

MAJOR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Allison Giankous (Greek student); Radello Giankous (Allison's father); Mo Moon, Polly Moon, Calli Moon (Muses); Viva (vampire)

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: "When the female population of Sunnydale starts strutting its girl power, the push for gender equality seems like a normal expression of `90s feminism. After all, a girl trying out for the football team isn't usually a sign of imminent danger. But when the guys start acting like powerless pawns and a few even turn up dead, Buffy Summers notices that the local womyn's movement has reached a feverish--and probably unnatural--pitch. The Slayer is the only one who can see straight during the ultimate battle of the sexes. Her friends--including Giles--are spellbound by the malignant muses permeating the school. Even the local vampires are acting strange. Alone in her search for answers, Buffy must figure out who's behind the sinister sisterhood . . . and close the gender gap before the feminist revolution goes too far."

REVIEW

Power of Persuasion starts out strong, introducting us to Sunnydale student Allison Giankous and her father, Radello. When the latter suddenly decides to open up a restaurant, Allison is mortified by her father's terrible cooking and cluelessness about running a business. Not a standard Buffy book opening by any means, but providing one-shot characters with interesting backgrounds and personalities makes their inevitable meetings with the Scooby Gang far more interesting than normal. Crisp dialogue, humor, and a certain sense of . . . "meanness" successfully draws the reader in and bodes well for the rest of the book.

Unfortunately, the strong opening is followed by lacklustre middle and a disappointing ending. The plot of Power of Persuasion involves a trio of ancient Greek muses coming to Sunnydale and starting up a war between the sexes by entrancing women (and some men) into becoming militant and aggressive. Unfortunately, what could have been an interesting story about female empowerment (a core theme of Buffy to begin with) or even the evils of reverse-discrimination becomes an almost farcical caricature of modern feminism and is rather boring to boot. After making Allison and her father interesting characters, each gets entranced by the muses and loses both the reader's and the story's interest. (On a side note, Xander, Giles, and Willow all get entranced as well; I think a moratorium should have been established early on prohibiting the alreadly-incredibly cliched mind-controlling of Scoobies.) The muses themselves have an incredibly dorky backstory involving the Titanic, while the story's ending is sappy and the way Buffy kills the muses is almost laughable (in an unintentional way).

There are some nice bits: Buffy feeling torn between her mother and father; Buffy and Oz having a debate over nature vs. nurture on gender attitudes; and Buffy's visit to a funeral home to find liquified brains. Still, in the final analysis, I'm really not sure what happened to make the book so bad after a promising beginning. I suppose the moral of the story is that even good dialogue and characterization is not always enough to redeem a story with a poorly thought-out plot.

(c) 2004 Jeremy Patrick-Justice ([e-mail])

Rating:
Summary: "We've Sensed Something In You..."
Review: Set in season three of the television show, "Powers of Persuasion" is one of the most worthwhile "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" novelisations out there. Author Elizabeth Massie brings together a great twisting story, lively characterisation and sense of danger and camaraderie that made the first three seasons of "Buffy" so enjoyable.

Taking a male vs female conceit and adding to it vampires, Greek goddesses, mind-control, corpses, and even the Titanic, Massie creates an interesting and page turning Buffy-story. As well as this is the perfecting fitting subplot, dealing with the slightly more mundane problem of Buffy's parents' having alternative activities for her to perform, that will force her to make a decision between them. Massie has a good grasp of the characters (only Oz seemed a bit off-kilter to me, maybe a bit too talkative), and keeps the story rolling along nicely.

Buffy is immediately suspicious of the two new students at Sunnydale High School; Polly and Callie Moon, who are demanding equal rights between the male and female student body, and taking this stand to extreme levels. Their mother Mo Moon is also on the scene as a library inspector that is making Giles's job a misery, and all three of them seem to have an odd definition of the word 'equality', since every man that is in their presence for long becomes a mindless servant, and every female a staunch supporter.

Soon all of Buffy's allies are under the thrall of the three women, save Oz and Cordelia, and ironically enough Buffy finds added support within the vampire community. The vampires are not happy about the Moons' presence in Sunnydale, as they interfere with the quality of their blood supply. To top it off, the bodies of dead male students are being found around town, and their disembodied voices are haunting Buffy's mind.

The mystery soon begin to unravel as Buffy pieces together the facts (that the sisters love jewellery and have 'magic' breath) with the information the vampires give her, and discovers their true identities. They are Greek goddesses (but I'm not going to tell you which ones - see if you can guess before Buffy does), and the Slayer has absolutely no idea how to kill a goddess...

A full season before a goddess actually appeared on the television screen (Glory of season five), Buffy took on three goddesses pretty much by herself, by following her own plan. One of the striking features of this book is Buffy's independence and her extreme responsibilities, and with the absence of Angel and the bewitchment of most of her friends, she's on her own for the most part of the book.

There are a few little complaints, namely involving the subplot of the dying high-school boys - there is no real reason for them to die past the fact that the killer just likes doing it (if you're going to kill people in your book, they should at least die for a decent reason) and how and why Buffy can hear their voices is unexplained. Likewise it is never really explained how the presence of the Moon girls affects the blood of the students which in turn cuts off the vampires' food supply. Massie also fails to wrap up a few plot threads: the goddesses are apparently summoned to Sunnydale by the actions of Allison Gianakous, but she doesn't seem to fully understand this or suffer consequences for it, and the conflict between Joyce and Hank Summers isn't fully resolved - what parent did she end up choosing?

But all in all, "Powers of Persuasion" is far above average in the context of all the "Buffy" books out there. Massie is possibly the best author in terms of displaying Buffy's pathos - of a girl so desperate for a normal life, but who keeps on fighting anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Okay. Not great in the least...
Review: The characters were all out of character (even when they were under the 'influence'). Oz talked too much. Come on authors, short responses, doesn't talk much, lacking in exclamation marks. Oz isn't that hard of a character to get down. I'm writing a Buffy novel at this time, and I find Oz to be the easiest character to pinpoint. (Giles is the hardest because of his depth) Also, Cordelia does NOT hang out with the slayerettes. Even in the third season (this is the point the book took place) she totally ignored Buffy and her friends. Come on, when have you ever seen Cordy come running to Buffy practically shreiking for assistance in her problems? Can you say never? Not to mention Massie ended every sentence Cordelia said with much. Can you believe that much? Rude much? I don't think so much? So very not cool much? Poor writing much? 'Nuf said...