A nice fantasy that brings back memories.
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I've only recently begun reading the Buffy tie-in books. I already love reading SF & Fantasy titles, but as I've been missing the Buffy tv series I thought I'd give the books a try. Apocalypse Memories is the 3rd title I've read, & so far I'd say it's the most enjoyable (Tho' I also enjoyed Child of the Hunt). If you've read the other reviews you'll have seen that there are inconsistancies etc in the books, but in all honesty - who cares. I read this for a bit of light fantasy reading, from a show I already know & enjoy, and I wasn't disappointed. The story was interesting and held my attention, while the characters were close enough to the familiar ones from the show to be 'believable'. Also, as an older reader, I didn't find it too juvenile for my age. I think anyone who likes/loves the show, or just likes Fantasy writing, will enjoy this story.
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Poor effort all round
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SPOILER ALERT... This book is riddled with continuity errors and blatantdisregard for established Buffyverse facts. It is supposed to be set atthe start of Season 7 of Buffy after Willow has arrived back in Sunnydalebut Giles is also there in this. Yet Anya is till a Demon which in theseries by the time Giles gets to Sunnydale she isn't. Those who know theseries know that that means there would be potentials living there aswell, but in this book they are not even mentioned. Giles is also verytactile which is wrong for the season 7 plot. Spike and Buffy are actingclose and he is sane, again wrong. The attitude of Giles towards theimpending apocalypse is unbelievable and irritates. The God, Angels, Christian references are too heavy as Buffy as a series has alwayscarefully avoided tying itself to anyone dominant belief system. Also thisbook is one of those stories that ends with a reset button that meansNOTHING in the entire story ever happened! So the whole thing waspointless.
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btva appo memories MARCH 2004
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Iloved Buffy and was very dissapointed when the show ended, i have collected and read all the novels from the beggining and found some of them to be a dissapointment, the continuity didnt always match up and the characters personalities wasnt always captured very well, ive often thought what a better job a true " buffy fan" would make of the story instead of just a writer and my suspicions were confirmed on this book, its the first ive read where the wrighters really get in to the feel of the book, where it feels like, " yep, thats what Buffy would say" instead of "erm, no she wouldnt say that!"
as to the story line, it was GREAT! the religious notes realy added a great believable twist to the story and i found my self glued!.... a brill read, the ending didnt feel as rushed which i found is always a problem with buffy books, they seem to sum up the ending far to quickly in about two pages mostly and that realy gets to me, but this book was a great read from beggining to end. reccomended to all buffy fans looking for a buffy fix now that the shows over!
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Better than most
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I loved the Willow and Xander relationship in this book. I was also very glad that the book dealt with Willow's grief over Tara's death. I especially loved the Spike and Buffy scenes in this book. I loved their relationship in Season 7 of the show. During the season they grew to trust and believe in each other more than any one else in the world. The TV show ended with Buffy telling Spike that she loves him. This book deals with the beginnings of their beautiful Season 7 relationship.
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Well written, entertaining Buffy book.
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As a big fan of the show Buffy The Vampire Slayer, I've always been slightly disappointed by the books, which never live up to the shows depth, cleverness and characterisation. More recently, books have been making an impression. The crossovers Seven Crows, Monster Island and Cursed were all good, while These Our Actors and Mortal Fear were also entertaining. Fortunately Apocalypse Memories joins this list and in my opinion is better.
The story is at times quite scary (especially from a religious standpoint) and includes enough peril to keep you turning the pages. It's also quite funny at times, and you could well imagine it being a Jane Espenson episode. But best of all is the characters. A flaw in most of the books is that Buffy doesn't act like Buffy, Xander doesn't act like Xander, etc. Because we don't have the actors playing the roles, the writers have to try extra hard, but usually fail. Whats most impressive is that these first time writers have managed to make the characters as true to their screen counterparts as possible. Each character is also given a good amount of space. So even the ones that are usually ignored in these books (i.e Anya) are give a decent chunk of storyline. The continuity is also impressive. There are loads of references to past episodes and events, which will make the Buffy fan smile. And then there's Michael, a brilliant nemesis who I would have loved to have seen on the show. He's actually very charming and you get a strong sense of his discomfort with what he's doing.
The one big flaw, for me, came at the end. It seemed to get a bit silly for a few pages, but then resolved itself.
Overall, a very good read, one that most Buffy fans will appreciate for staying true to the show.
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