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Average Customer Rating: 
Crossings (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) >
Customer Review #1:
 Crossings is enjoyable
I enjoyed Crossings for the most part. It could be a little slow at some parts and the story was pretty standard sci fi but the relationships - especially Buffy and Dawns relationship after their moms death - were explored well. I would recommened this to someone who has a few hours to relax and wants a quick read.
Crossings (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) >
Customer Review #2:
 FUNNY, ENTERTAINING
Beware video game buffs! The trouble starts when gamers get snared in the web of the demon Dredfahl, who usurps their bodies for his minions and sends their souls to a video game dimension, where they have to capture enough bones to bring forth the master demon, Torqualmar. The victims dont realize that the video game dimension is real, and when they die in it, they are truly dead.
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lt;br /gt;The Scoobies need all their combined talents to save Xander, whose body gets hijacked, and save the world once again. Willow uses magic, seances, Spike uses his strength and warrior sense, and Buffy uses her Slayersense to solve this case. Even Dawn is useful in this book, making an important discovery.
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lt;br /gt;Mel Odom is my favorite Buffy author. This book shows his humorous side. The portrayal of Anya and Xander at the Star Trek festival is very funny (Dont wear a red shirt!). The names of the demons are also entertaining-"Dredfahl", "Manik" and the name of the other dimension "Ollindark". The story is fast-paced, the characterizations well done. There were no boring parts at all!
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lt;br /gt;The book also ties into the series at that time, with Buffy struggling to assume the parental role, Willows increasing immersion in magik, and Taras growing concern.
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Crossings (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) >
Customer Review #3:
 Jhaemans Review
CROSSINGS
lt;br /gt;Mel Odom (2002)
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lt;br /gt;RATING: 3/5 Stakes
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lt;br /gt;SETTING: Season Five
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lt;br /gt;CAST APPEARANCES: Buffy, Willow, Anya, Xander, Spike, Willy, Tara, Giles, Dawn, Amy (as rat)
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lt;br /gt;MAJOR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Robby Healdton (Xanders friend); Stephie McConnell (Robbys girlfriend); Bobby Lee Tooker (demon hunter); Derek Traynor (medium); Dredfahl (villain); Malik (demon); Torqualmar (demon)
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lt;br /gt;BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: "Buffy and Dawn are having difficulty settling into their new roles, now that their mother is gone. Buffy herself is reluctant to cross over to the role of parent, and the two are bickering more than usual. In fact, Buffys distraction prevents her from noticing strange behavior among the video-game crowd. One of Xanders friends goes medieval outside the Sunnydale movie theater, laughing and babbling that he cant be stopped-hes only in town on a temporary visa. Puzzled, Anya and Xander investigate. It seems that people whove been testing a new video game have been demonstrating creepy tics. As the Slayer attempts to put all of the pieces together, Anya is abducted into an alternate demon universe. Buffy had better figure out how to get her friend back to Sunnydale, before the game is over, for good. . . ."
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lt;br /gt;REVIEW
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lt;br /gt;Crossings is a solid, standard Buffy novel with a straightforward plot. In a demon dimension, a bad guy named Dredfahl hopes to resurrect a powerful demon named Torqualmar by assembling all of the latters bones. In other to quicken the search, Dredfahl has hit upon a clever scheme: he uses virtual reality video game testers on Earth as the minds and souls of actual demons in his native dimension, thus increasing the demons intelligence and combat ability. While playing the "game", however, the gamers own bodies on Earth are taken over by the demons original minds. As expected, chaos ensues (though the back-of-the-book summary contains a mistake and Xander, not Anya, ends up in the other dimension).
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lt;br /gt;Set shortly after the death of Joyce, author Mel Odom does an excellent job developing Buffy and Dawns grief, as well as Buffys difficulty figuring out whether she should try to be a sister or a mother (or somehow both). Although more humor would be a plus, the characterization of all the Slayerettes is good, with Xander and Tara getting more of the spotlight than usual for Buffy novels.
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lt;br /gt;Two new characters have potential, although their introduction seems somewhat unnecessary: Bobby Lee Tooker, a southern musician-turned-demon hunter and Derek Traynor, a John Edward-style psychic medium. The action is exciting and easy to visualize, and the heroes figuring out the problem early was actually refreshing. The main downside is the villain, Dredfahl. He has no personality to speak of and his major motivation, resurrecting a powerful demon, is now extremely clichýd in the Buffyverse and should be ruled out of bounds for all future stories.
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lt;br /gt;All in all, Crossings is a middle-of-the-road Buffy book. There are others I would recommend before it, but on its own terms its not bad.
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