Thursday, April 15, 2010

Not the Best of Buffy


Blood and Fog
By: Nancy Holder
Simon Pulse 2003

When Sunnydale is blanketed in a mysterious fog, Buffy enlists the help of Spike to help her unravel the mystery of a demon, who Spike later discovers to be Jack the Ripper.  Spike encountered him before with Drusilla, Angelus and Darla in Victorian London, and knows the magiks he evokes from the Celtic Faery to attain his power.

In Blood and Fog we are once again transported back to the 1880’s when Spike and Angelus were causing havoc on the streets of London.  Since this book takes place during the sixth season of Buffy when Spike has an alliance with Buffy and the Scoobies, it is nice to be able to go back and remember what he is really like.  I always enjoy when we can see that. 
The story of Jack the Ripper initially sounded very interesting to me, but I didn’t like what Holder did with it.  Historically not that much is known about JTR, other than who his victims were.  There are a lot of theories as to who he was, but it is essentially unknown who he really was.  This leaves a lot of room for interpretation.  Holder makes JTR a mangled monster, a devotee of an ancient dark Celtic following called the Faery.  Of course Buffy can’t kill a human, so it was necessary to make his a demon of sorts.  But I still didn’t like this route.  I think it would have been better if Jack had of been, not the killer or demon himself but the one pulling the strings, conjuring a demon to do his bidding.  Not my favourite Buffy based story.

                Story              *
                Characters      ***
                Readability      **
                Overall rating   **

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