Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Go Ask Malice gives us a much deeper insight into the character of Faith from the hit television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Go Ask Malice takes place less than a year before Faith’s first appearance in Sunnydale. The story gives a look into the childhood that Faith had growing up, her first watcher, the origins of some of her more trademark antics and staples, her transition from Potential to Chosen, even her Cruciamentum, and then it culminates with the murder of her watcher and running from Kakistos. AnyBuffy addict and any Faith fan will love reading this novel.

As fun as it is to see the origins behind her tattoo, the meaning behind her infamous “5 by 5″, the revealing of her last name, and even who the loser guys are that she mentions in her first appearance, nothing will compare to how this story is told though. It’s told in diary format.

Faith’s diary that is.

Now doesn’t that just blow your mind? Faith writing and keeping a diary? It doesn’t seem plausible, and in fact I’ll admit, I was leery of the book myself for just that reason. The premise that the story is told from the point of view of Faith and is written by her in her diary seems a bit far fetched. However, in the second entry Faith makes mention of how and why she came to be keeping a diary and the reason behind it fits her to a T. Her very first entry in the diary might give you a bit of a heat attack though, it’s something more akin to what Buffy or even Cordelia would write! That’s the true irony of her very sarcastic and biting first entry. She hasn’t even met these two people yet but already she can imitate them. Priceless.

Because the story is told in diary format you can expect some of the entries to have lines, and in some cases, whole paragraphs blotted out. While this lends to the credibility and atmosphere of the book it’s very irksome. Also there are some entries that read more like an actual novel and don’t stay true to the diary theme. Looking beyond that though I strongly believe that any Buffy fan, in general, is going to enjoy reading this book and all Faith fans will be absolutely thrilled to get some more insight into the enigma that is Faith.