Customer Reviews
good but not great - By: , 25 Sep 2002 
Although this book has a great story line & shows imagination i found myself skipping over lenghtly discriptions of characters & places which only feature of one or two chapters. However I would still say its worth while reading.
A Chinese/Demon gang tries to take over Sunnydale - By: , 18 Jul 2002 
At firstin "Revenant," it seems that the real world is suddenly intruding into the quiet little town of Sunnydale. As if being on the Hellmouth was not fun enough, a Chinese gang has hit town & is clearly trying to take over. But this is a Chinese gang that employs not only automatic weapons but also demons & a bit of good old fashioned Chinese magic. Mel Odom does a nice job of incorporating some elements of Chinese mysticism into the Buffy mythos & his characterization of the Slayer & her cohorts is certainly above average. The most interesting sub-plot involves the arrival of a beautiful martial-arts warrior, with whom Xander becomes hopelessly smitten. This is carried off well until the very end of the novel, at which point, following a hysterical exchange of apologies between Buffy & Xander, we suddenly jump ahead to the post mortem & are denied the actual farewell between the couple we have been rooting on throughout the story.
By the time I finished reading this Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel I kept thinking there was too much of one thing & not nearly enough of another. With all the weaponry the Chinese gang brings to town, you would have to think that somebody else besides Angel was going to be hit by all those hail of bullets (nice touch by Odom having Angel's face get messed up for a whilein the story). Guns are a touchy itemin the Buffy universe, where only the occasional vampire (Darlain "Angel" comes to mind) bothers to try & shoot it out with the Slayer. This is because it is awfully hard to get close enough to kick somebodyin the chest when they are shooting an Uzi at you. That being said, I have to admit I was surprised that Mayor Wilkins was not more of a presencein the story. After all, Sunnydale is his town & has been for well over a century. Consequently, it very hard to believe he & the Dark Forces he serves would not do something about these invaders. Of course, this would open up the opportunity for some sort of temporary alliance, but at the very least the Mayor should be doing a lot more to defend his turf. Despite these caveats, "Revenant" is an above average Buffy novel & I will be interested to see what Odom comes up with the next time around.
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Unbelievable! - By: , 29 May 2002 
This book was the very first Buffy book that I read; already being a massive fan of the hit show, I thought that I'd give the books a go. A Chinese gang hits Sunnydale & sparks off racial tensionin the town. Naturally, Buffy is worried, but best friend Willow, is even more so. Her new friend Jia Li has been feeling the backlash from the hostility: it's ripping her family to shreds. Jia stays true to her ancient Chinese customs but her brother, the angry Lok, is prepared to throw away his Chinese customs for the modern lifestyle. While Giles & Buffy try to find out who is behind the gang warfare, more tension mounts as Willy's bar is attacked & there is a shooting incident at the local mini-mart. This book is beautifully written by the fantastic Mel Odom, with Angel also featuringin the book. This has to be one of the most tense booksin the Buffy series that I have read. This book will have your blood pumping, your heart racing & you on the edge of your seat. Believe me, it'll be hard putting the book down, even to get a little shut eye!
Entertaining and unputdownable! - By: Anna Funnell (anna.funnell@cableinet.co.uk), 13 Nov 2001 This was the first Buffy book I read (following recommendations from people who'd read lots) & as with many TV tie-in novels, I expected it to be pretty pathetic. To my surprise, it was fantastic! The characters are beautifully drawn & really do feel like those we see on the screen, the quality of writing is excellent, & the story kept me on my toes right up till the end. My only criticism: too many pages of fight descriptions - what's overin a few seconds on TV takes far too long to read (and follow)in a book. But that's not going to stop me reading it again...and again...and again...!
Good! - By: , 10 Apr 2001 This was a very good original novelisation of Buffy which was made very enjoyable by the extensive character/setting descriptions. The narrative, however, didn't completely satisfy me because it left a few questions unanswered, but on the whole, I enjoyed this book, particularly because it made very good use of Chinese culture.
