Product Description

Buffy wakes up in what appears to be an alternate future but back in the present, her friends puzzle over her behaviour, unaware that the Prophet inhabits her body. Either they must find a way to bring her back or she must return on her own - if she can overcome the nightmare that awaits her.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #871405 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Customer Reviews

Willow tries to rescue Buffy now and in the dark future
A single bad judgment as the result of a monstrous lie has catapulted Buffy into the future and a world where vampires rule Sunnydale and the Slayer has been held captive for six years. A horrified Buffy learns she is now known as "The Lost Slayer," forgotten by the Watchers Council. The most dramatic scene in this book comes early, when Buffy stages a chilling escape from her cell after resolving the cliffhanger that ended Part One, when August, the recently imprisoned second Slayer called to replace Faith, decided to kill Buffy so that a new Slayer could be called. This is definitely one of those sequences that is too intense for small children. Meanwhile, in the present, Giles is still being held hostage while Willow and the Scoobys discover something is not right with Buffy.

A photograph of Willow appears prominently on the cover of "Dark Times," because Buffy's best bud is a significant figure in both of the time periods in which this tale is told. Christopher Golden might have gone back to the start of Buffy's freshman year at UC-Sunnydale (i.e., the beginning of Season 4 of "Buffy"), but he is obviously setting up Willow's growth as a Wicca on the show. The once and future Willow gets to see almost as much action as the Slayer this time around, which is one of the strengths of "Dark Times." Certainly there are some flaws in the story, having mainly to do with the fact the vampires actually put a door into Buffy's cell (without which, escape would be totally impossible), but such things are easily forgivable when Golden has constructed a storyline that is trying to work on the same sort of operatic level as the best Buffy episodes (e.g., "Becoming"). I can still nitpick the details and thoroughly enjoy the novel.

One of the things that makes "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" one of the best shows on television is that there is a dark side, a world in which bad things happen to good people and the world just might come to an end as we know it. In "Dark Times" we get to see such a world, which is as horrific as when Anyanka granted Cordelia's wish that Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale in "Dopplegangland." Unlike "Prophecies," where the book ended with a dramatic cliffhanger that made you rush to pick up the next installment in the series, "Dark Times" ends with a shattering revelation as Buffy receives some the worst possible bad news. Thus, Golden again achieves the main goal when writing a serial novel: to leave the reader dying to find out what happens next. Now that I have finished the series, it is clear "The Lost Slayer" is on that same rarified level as "The Gatekeeper Trilogy" when it comes to "BtVS" books. Do not miss out on this one.

fantastic emotional rollercoaster
Golden does it again the whole set of 4 was captivating, could not put it down. A must buy for buffy fans. So what does this set contain? fighting action , conflicted emotions, serious imagination, a great plot and narrative and character development all this and many unexpected twists and turns that keep you guessing.

Wow, wow, wow
The first thing that you notice is that it is written by Christopher Golden (the best buffy books are by him). Secondly this book is better than the first part and sets out the history of what happened during the five years buffy was imprisoned. The whole thing leads up to an incredible cliffhanger that will leave all buffy fans shocked and impressed by.