These Our Actors (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Rating:
Summary: Willow and Spike take on the Addams family
Review: As the front cover indicates, "These Our Actors" by Ashley McConnell and Dori Koogler features Willow the good Wicca of Southern California with the Big Bad Spike. Willow is taking a drama class at UC-Sunnydale and when helping at the theater she discovers the place contains the spirits of characters from plays performed in the past. The class is taught by Professor Addams, who has some interesting ideas on the relationship between drama and magic rituals. Even more interesting, we learn that Spike knows Addams from the days when he was still human. It seems Addams is interested in going back to the time before the first drama, when the point was to literally invoke the gods. Of course, this begs the question as to why Addams would want to do such a thing, but you know it just cannot be for anything good.

"These Our Actors" is one of those plays where we alternate chapters between the past and the present (ironically, it turns out that Koogler did the story set in the past concerning Spike and McConnell did the tale set in the present with Willow and her drama class, which is the exact opposite of what I originally thought). Although I have to profess that I am getting a bit tired of blasts from the past showing up in seemingly every "BtVS" novel, the parallel story lines work well here for the most part. The story of Spike in the past also deals with what happened right before and after Drusilla turned William the Bloody (Bad Poet) into a vampire, an event that was covered in flashback in the episode "Fool for Love." Of course, this finally gives us an opportunity to get around to the obvious scene that was missing from that episode, namely how Spike got his name, as the new vampire takes his revenge on those who taunted them. Under the story telling principle that it is a small world after all, Cecily, the object of William's affection who taunted and humiliated him, is the daughter of Addams. For me the highpoint of the novel was when Spike--albeit it with help from Drusilla, Angelus and Darla--take his revenge on Addams and his daughter. It is really evil, wicked, bad, mean and nasty. I think I actually shuddered when it became clear what was going to happen.

Overall, "These Our Actors" does a nice job of capturing the character of Spike, especially in the story line dealing with the time he became a vampire. I am not exactly sure when the story takes place in the show's chronology, but apparently it was a time when Buffy was still taking classes or at least considering doing so, but also when Willow is comfortable going public with her relationship with Tara. That suggests early (?) in season 6. This only matters because I think the characterization of Willow skews too much towards the "old" Willow who tended to lack self-confidence as a Wicca. But then I usually find that most writers of these original novels based on the hit TV series created by Joss Whedon are so enraptured with the "original" Willow that they resist recognizing her growth and maturity on the series. Drusilla, Angelus and Darla are more central to the story than Buffy, which is fine for this tale, and I especially like the way Dru is depicted in the novel. There is also a treat for students of drama as memorable lines from great plays are sprinkled throughout the book, testing your knowledge of who said what when (e.g., "Attention must be paid").

Finally, I have to take issue with something that was tossed off in this novel. No, it is not the question of how a vampire survives on an ice flow for a month without the sun getting to them or whether Medea the princess of Colchis was ever properly considered a queen when she lived in Greece with Jason, but rather the extremely disparaging remarks Giles makes about Anoulih's version of "Antigone." I do not think the French dramatist can be faulted for using the ancient Greek myth about the ill-fated daughter of Oedipus as a text from which to construct a morality play that would speak to the situation of France under the German occupation during World War II. But more to the point, Anoulih's modern version has the virtue of making the title character the main character of the play. When I teach my students about the key concepts of a Greek tragedy they read "Antigone" and almost always immediately point out that it is Creon, not Antigone, who is the tragic figure in the play. After all, Antigone is executed for obeying the laws of the god and burying her brother (if a handful of dirt on the face can be called burying), but Creon ends up losing his wife and son because of his actions. There are plenty of plays to ridicule, but Anoulih's "Antigone" is not one of them and Giles should have known better.

While not a great "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" novel, "These Our Actors" is certainly well above average without any major faults that make you want to demand a rewrite. The climax is a pretty good payoff for the set up, which is always a good sign in these books. The parallel stories work pretty well, although that usually means you are more interested in one of the two at any given time. But the Spike in the past story line can stand on its own and for that matter so does the Willow in the present once you know how Adams and Spike know (and hate) each other.

Rating:
Summary: Great story
Review: As the front cover indicates, "These Our Actors" by Ashley McConnell and Dori Koogler features Willow the good Wicca of Southern California with the Big Bad Spike. Willow is taking a drama class at UC-Sunnydale and when helping at the theater she discovers the place contains the spirits of characters from plays performed in the past. The class is taught by Professor Addams, who has some interesting ideas on the relationship between drama and magic rituals. Even more interesting, we learn that Spike knows Addams from the days when he was still human. It seems Addams is interested in going back to the time before the first drama, when the point was to literally invoke the gods. Of course, this begs the question as to why Addams would want to do such a thing, but you know it just cannot be for anything good.

"These Our Actors" is one of those plays where we alternate chapters between the past and the present (ironically, it turns out that Koogler did the story set in the past concerning Spike and McConnell did the tale set in the present with Willow and her drama class, which is the exact opposite of what I originally thought). Although I have to profess that I am getting a bit tired of blasts from the past showing up in seemingly every "BtVS" novel, the parallel story lines work well here for the most part. The story of Spike in the past also deals with what happened right before and after Drusilla turned William the Bloody (Bad Poet) into a vampire, an event that was covered in flashback in the episode "Fool for Love." Of course, this finally gives us an opportunity to get around to the obvious scene that was missing from that episode, namely how Spike got his name, as the new vampire takes his revenge on those who taunted them. Under the story telling principle that it is a small world after all, Cecily, the object of William's affection who taunted and humiliated him, is the daughter of Addams. For me the highpoint of the novel was when Spike--albeit it with help from Drusilla, Angelus and Darla--take his revenge on Addams and his daughter. It is really evil, wicked, bad, mean and nasty. I think I actually shuddered when it became clear what was going to happen.

Overall, "These Our Actors" does a nice job of capturing the character of Spike, especially in the story line dealing with the time he became a vampire. I am not exactly sure when the story takes place in the show's chronology, but apparently it was a time when Buffy was still taking classes or at least considering doing so, but also when Willow is comfortable going public with her relationship with Tara. That suggests early (?) in season 6. This only matters because I think the characterization of Willow skews too much towards the "old" Willow who tended to lack self-confidence as a Wicca. But then I usually find that most writers of these original novels based on the hit TV series created by Joss Whedon are so enraptured with the "original" Willow that they resist recognizing her growth and maturity on the series. Drusilla, Angelus and Darla are more central to the story than Buffy, which is fine for this tale, and I especially like the way Dru is depicted in the novel. There is also a treat for students of drama as memorable lines from great plays are sprinkled throughout the book, testing your knowledge of who said what when (e.g., "Attention must be paid").

Finally, I have to take issue with something that was tossed off in this novel. No, it is not the question of how a vampire survives on an ice flow for a month without the sun getting to them or whether Medea the princess of Colchis was ever properly considered a queen when she lived in Greece with Jason, but rather the extremely disparaging remarks Giles makes about Anoulih's version of "Antigone." I do not think the French dramatist can be faulted for using the ancient Greek myth about the ill-fated daughter of Oedipus as a text from which to construct a morality play that would speak to the situation of France under the German occupation during World War II. But more to the point, Anoulih's modern version has the virtue of making the title character the main character of the play. When I teach my students about the key concepts of a Greek tragedy they read "Antigone" and almost always immediately point out that it is Creon, not Antigone, who is the tragic figure in the play. After all, Antigone is executed for obeying the laws of the god and burying her brother (if a handful of dirt on the face can be called burying), but Creon ends up losing his wife and son because of his actions. There are plenty of plays to ridicule, but Anoulih's "Antigone" is not one of them and Giles should have known better.

While not a great "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" novel, "These Our Actors" is certainly well above average without any major faults that make you want to demand a rewrite. The climax is a pretty good payoff for the set up, which is always a good sign in these books. The parallel stories work pretty well, although that usually means you are more interested in one of the two at any given time. But the Spike in the past story line can stand on its own and for that matter so does the Willow in the present once you know how Adams and Spike know (and hate) each other.

Rating:
Summary: Great story
Review: This was one of the few BtVS novels that held my interest. It was an odd - but nice - change to see Willow and Spike teaming up. I enjoyed the flashback chapters to Spike's life pre-America, which he spent (in this book) in England. I also liked how the authors incorporated the scenes involving Cecily from season five's "Fool for Love" into the book. Another thing I liked about the flashbacks were the story and events chronicling the lives and nightly events of Darla, Spike, Angelus and Drusilla in the 19th century. It was interesting and fun to read about the possible storylines that could have happened, not to mention Spike killing his victim with a railroad spike for the first time! Very gruesome, but inevitably a scene you just *have* to read.

Something that surprised me was my own reaction to the book. For example, every other chapter takes place back in 19th century England with the four vampires. These are the main characters throughout half of the book, which makes you have a very odd affection toward them; and feel that they're the protagonists. So in this very weird way, I would feel glad or relieved whenever the evil vampires would prove successful over their enemies, a.k.a., the "good guys".

The only thing that bothered me about this book was how Angelus and Spike almost always got along, because in the show, it appears that the two have always hated each other from the start. I also felt that a few of the things Drusilla said every now and then were out of character. I always thought her to be a woman with very few and commendable words, but in this book she speaks in quite long sentences using many intelligible words, which I don't recall ever seeing much of in the series.

The climax of the story is a big one at that, with a quite surprising twist in the end. There isn't much Scooby action since it revolves mainly around Willow and Spike, so if you are fond of either (or both) of these characters, this book will suit you well.