Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Slayer, Vol. 1
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Slayer, Vol. 1
by Authors:
Yvonne Navarro , Nancy Holder , Christie Golden , Mel Odom , Doranna Durgin , Greg Rucka
Released: 01 October, 2001
ISBN: 0743400453
Paperback
Sales Rank: 48,641
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List price:
$9.00
Our price:
$9.00
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| Book > Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Slayer, Vol. 1 > Customer Reviews: |
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Average Customer Rating: 
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Slayer, Vol. 1 >
Customer Review #1:
 Excellent Read for "Buffy" fans
For any fan of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and especially for fans who love Slayer mythology, this is an excellent read. With short stories spanning the lives of eight different Slayers, each set around a different historical event, theres little not to love about this anthology.The writing is strong and the tales are very engaging. If youre looking for something to tide you over in between new episodes, I highly recommend "Tales of the Slayer."
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Slayer, Vol. 1 >
Customer Review #2:
Into every generation a Slayer is born: meet seven of them
There have been hundreds of Slayers over thousands of years of human history and this first volume of "Tales of the Slayers" begins to reveal the past. We have seen Lucy Hanover in several of Nancy Holders books, walking the Ghost Roads and doing what she can to help Buffy and the Scoobies in the here and now, but only "Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row" by Christopher Golden and Holders "The Book of the Fours" have dealt with past Slayer in any substantive way. Those were novels and these "Tales of the Slayer" are short stories, a distinction that as I constructed this review.Like any collection of short stories these tales are a mixed lot and anybody who reads them will like some more than others and visa versa. I liked "Silent Screams" by Mel Odom, set in 1923 Germany, although it, ironically is the story least about a Slayer of the seven tales. At the other end I would put the first tale, "A Good Run" by Greg Rucka, set in 490 B.C.E. Greece, which tells of the Slayer Thessily Thessilonkikki at the Battle of Marathon. While I like the idea of a Slayer obsessed with doing something important and memorable to justify her brief existence, I would have like to have seen something more creative than a footnote to the Greek battle against the Persians, not to mention something dealing with the Greek conception of vampires. But the biggest problem seems to me to be the story is 18 pages long, hardly enough time to set up let alone deliver the payoff. In contrast, Odoms story proceeds at a crisp pace and while it makes an ironic contrast to what Hitler was doing in Munich in 1923 he comes up with an even better twist on the German Expressionistic film movement in general and the classic "Nosferatu" in particular. Yes, it will remind you of "Shadow of the Vampire," but it is making a different point. I really liked the historical figure who turns out to be the Slayer in Christie Goldens "The White Doe" (and I appreciate the story even more having read the About the Authors section at the back of the book) and the encounter the Slayer and Elizabeth Bathory in Yvonne Navarros "Die Blutgrafin." Nancy Holder deals with questions of class in "Unholy Madness" while Navarros second tale deals with the issue of race," both of which touch on the idea that people might not be happy with who the Slayer is and where she comes from (Holders story also offers the most chilling point in the book, bottom page 119). Doranna Durgins "Mornglom Dreaming" also has an intriguing premise, a Slayer who does not know she has been called, which is the story I most would have liked to have seen as a novel instead of a short story. Conversely, Odoms tale is perfectly suited to this format. I suppose my compromise suggestion would have been fewer stories developed with more depth (i.e., novellas). Still, these stories reflect what you would hope from such a mixed bag of tales: Slayers learning they have been called and their final battles, with only one tale comfortable with the idea of exploring the middle rather than the beginning or the end. Yes, there is high drama to be found in the birth and death of Slayers, but the mother lode is going to be in between and that is what needs to be mined in Volume 2
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Slayer, Vol. 1 >
Customer Review #3:
Uneven, but entertaining
We learned from the beginning that a Slayer is born into every generation. In "Tales of the Slayer," we meet seven of them."Tales of the Slayer" starts off with A Good Run by Greg Rucka. It tells the story of a Slayer in ancient Greece and lasts only 19 pages. The story of A Good Run could have had the chance to be better, but it has no character or plot development. If you watch the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then you know that the Slayers weve met have certain qualities: skill, cunning, etc. In some of these stories, the Slayers just seem, well, incompetent. The Slayer in Die Blutgrafin doesnt have the ability to sense danger. If she was the Slayer, shouldnt she get all the characteristics of one? The best tale in this book is Silent Screams by Mel Odom. It tells the story of a Slayer in Germany in 1923. It is very well written and has a very entertaining premise. Guests are invited to the screening of a horror movie, and one of the guests is the Slayer, Britta Kessler. The deaths in the movie seem all too real, and the ending is mysteriously left out. I think you can figure out what happens next. Overall, "Tales of the Slayer" is an entertaining compilation. New Buffy writers Christie Golden and Doranna Durgin impressed me with their tales of past Slayers. I hope we may see more of them in the future. But there are still the uneven stories thrown into the mix. A Good Run is too short for me to be able to tell whether or not I liked it. And White Splits the Night has a disappointing ending. However, the other tales make up for error in those.
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Slayer, Vol. 1 >
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