Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Title: Go Ask Malice (Buffy the Vampire Slayer S.) - Author: Robert Joseph Levy - Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fiction - Published By: Pocket Books - Published On: 03 July, 2006 - Price: £7.19

Wow. This book BLEW ME AWAY.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and that my favorite character is Faith Lehane, the "bad" Slayer. After Buffy ended its run on TV (and during it, as well) loads of books were released about the show and the characters. Some filling in the blanks between seasons or during certain characters’ abscences, others just continuing the story. A few books have featured Faith, but I didn’t really like any of them. The Faith written in those books (which, by the way, are written by different writers, who did not necessarily have anything to do with the TV show) was not the same Faith I knew from the show. In general, the books left me disappointed.

Which is precisely why I was a bit hesitant when I heard a book was being released about just Faith, focusing on her past and what happened to her before she came to Sunnydale. That part of Faith has always been left a bit vague on the show, and it’s part of the mystery of the character, part of what makes her so appealing. I was worried this book would totally ruin it for me by giving her a background that was somehow wrong.

Boy, did I worry for nothing! Robert Joseph Levy has Faith down! The book is awesome from start to finish. It follows Faith in her normal life, with strange things happening to her, meeting her Watcher, being called, and how she finally ends up in Sunnydale. The story itself is just perfect. Everything he describes about Faith’s past, her upbringing, her friends, it all fits perfectly. We meet some of the old friends she has mentioned in Buffy episodes (Steve the klepto, Kenny the drummer), and I could not find a single continuity error. I was also very impressed with the written dialogue. It all feels so Faithy - it could have come straight off the show instead of just being a tie-in novel.

The book is pretty dark, I must warn you. If you know anything about Faith, you’ll know that it has been hinted in Buffy that she did not have a particuarly happy childhood, and that is not glossed over in Go Ask Malice. Personally, I love darkness and gritty stuff, so it was right up my alley...but just a warning for those who don’t appreciate that as much. If this was a Buffy episode, it’d definitely be rated 18, along the lines of Five By Five.

I really loved it though. A book every Faith fan should read - it will not disappoint, and it will fill you in on anything about Faith’s past you may have been wondering about! Summary (from Amazon)

All her life, Faith has been a loner. Growing up in a broken home in south Boston, the only friend she could talk to was an imaginary companion called Alex, who helped her to escape to a fantasy world of monsters, far from the grim reality of her everyday life. But when social services take her away from her mother, Faith discovers all too soon that monsters themselves are real.

When Diana Dormer, a representative from the Watchers’ Council, comes to prepare her for her destiny - to be the Slayer, the Chosen One; to stand alone against the forces of darkness - Faith is better equipped than most for the task ahead. Then her childhood companion, Alex, returns to bring her a warning in her dreams. Something is coming for her, something beyond her wildest nightmares: a force so deadly and unforgiving that it has inspired fear for a thousand generations - and its name is Malice. As memory and fantasy begin to merge, Faith’s two world’s collide, with cataclysmic results - and a violent battle begins for the Slayer’s soul.