Product Description

There is definitely something not quite right about the Traveling Carnival. Perhaps it's that no one can recall the arrival of its hard-to-miss caravan of old-style wagons, countless performers, and horse-drawn carts. Maybe it's the creepy calliope music that tirelessly beckons visitors. And no-one who visits its Hall of Mirrors seems to come out the same as they went in. Somehow they have different personalities. When a once-shy pair of homely twins begin to parade around Sunnydale High like divas, Buffy and the others decide to investigate the Carnival firsthand. But soon it becomes apparent that the price of admission is higher than they imagined. Willow is consumed by envy, Cordelia by greed, and Xander by gluttony. Angel reveals a dangerous new persona, while dark anger rises in Giles. More powerful still is the blinding pride that threatens to overwhelm Buffy and destroy all those she loves.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #132208 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Nancy Holder lives in San Diego with her husband Wayne and young daughter Belle. She is a four-time Bram Stoker award winner for her work in supernatural fiction and the author of several Buffy and Angel bestsellers.

Customer Reviews

Carnival of Souls
I have finished reading COS, and only bought it because it was set during the classic years of buffy which i personally think was when the show was at its best. Well COS was an intresting read for numerous reasons. It was clever how the 7 deadly sins was used and you were able to laugh at how the characters were acting. it was nice to see angel being lustful and giles and buffy nearly coming to blows. Also there is some good continuity because you are able to tell that the story is set after the episode ted and before the episode suprise. holder talks about events like the arrival of kendra happening and the demon egyhon infecting jenny calender and angel destroying it.

Now for the bad parts. Nancy holder has taken ideas from pervious buffy books and in ways added them into COS. First is the idead of a carnival in COS. in another buffy book called child of the hunt. there is a renaissance fair which is in a way a carnival. another is in colony xander eats alot and gets fat. in COS he eats alot and nearly dies. you can see what im on about. another thing is some poor continuity. nancy holder writes that it was the master's assasians who attacked buffy and angel at the ice rink during the episode whats my line pt 1. this is wrong because the master as dead. and the order of taraka was sent by spike. the final thing is holders attempt to include spike even though he isn't in the story and attempts to imply that buffy thinks about him alot. this is because in the first chapter there is a least three times that holoder writes that there is something that reminds buffy of spike. i wsnt suprised she didnt write " buffy stared ata bush that was devious and sinister and reminded her of spike."

But overall this book is an ok read minus some bad points. i hope others will enjoy it as well

Holder: What happened?
Having read the vast majority of Holder's Buffy books, I was eager to read this addition, yet sadly unrewarded. Indeed, I was so disappointed at the poor characterisation (each fulfilling little more than a stereotype for the purposes of the story; Xander, in particular, was particularly poorly treated), the rushed (given away wholly in ch 1) plot, and unexplained, impossible to fully understand, and completely waffly conclusion that I must inquire as to whether Holden has a) hired a particularly unskilled ghost writer or b) had a brain transplant. Where has the Holder gone that we all know and love, and more to the point, when is she coming back?