Product Description

Buffy Summers is hip, modern and pop culture savvy. Rupert Giles, her Watcher is a stuffy Brit whose idea of bliss is a good book and a strong cup of tea. Odd as the duo may be, they have managed to avert their fair share of apocalypses.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #207341 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 191 pages

Customer Reviews

Can Giles save Buffy from a string of really bad birthdays?
Actually, Volume 1 of "The Journals of Rupert Giles" is one of the better novelizations of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." The difference is the framing device created by Nancy Holder, which is not altogether surprising given she is one of the best writers of Buffy books with or without her frequent tag-team partner. In the wake of Buffy's 20th birthday part Giles summons the demon Krathalal to make a blood pact to ensure the survival of the Slayer. We all now how traumatic Buffy's birthdays have been starting with her 17th and Giles is no fool. Besides, he senses his time as Buffy's Watcher is coming to a close and he has long since accepted the word's Quentin Travers meant as a rebuke: "You have a father's love for the child."

In negotiating the deal Krathalal makes Giles look back at Buffy's last three birthdays: "Helpless" (teleplay by David Fury), when Giles let the Watcher's Council do their incredibly stupid test of the Slayer without her powers, the Cruciamentum (yes, a dramatic episode, but, sheesh, what a stupid ritual for people with a supposedly vested interest in keeping Slayers alive'I really think they were tired of her and were trying to take her out); "A New Man" (teleplay by Jane Esperson) when Giles turns into Fyral demon, which is worse than being a fifth wheel in Buffy's life, especially since he has to turn to Spike for help; and "Blood Ties" (teleplay by Steven S. DeKnight), the events of earlier in the day when Dawn discovered the truth about herself and Glory almost killed them all. Ironically, it is the actual Watcher's journal that Giles keeps which reveals the truth to Dawn.

Will Krathalal protect Buffy and keep her alive until her 21st birthday? Well, we watched Season Five so we know the answer to that one, but that is not the point here. This book has to do with the departure of Rupert Giles (and Anthony Stewart Head) from Buffy. Holder makes these novelizations not simply retellings of the episodes but re-examinations of Giles and his relationship with the Slayer. After all, in "Helpless" he is fired, in "A New Man" he feels useless, while in "Blood Ties" he fails her. Usually I give novelizations four stars as a matter of course, but this framing device bumps it up one more. We should not have been surprised that Holder put some effort into this job. Of course, we cannot help but wonder how there will be a Volume 2 of "The Journals of Rupert Giles," since the Watcher has returned to England.