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Title: Obsidian Fate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Score:
Author: Diana G. Gallagher
Rating: Not available
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Review of Obsidian Fate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

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Comments for Obsidian Fate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

• Posted on 2004-10-20
  A cure for insomnia has been found!
  
  I just finished Obsidian Fate today in a waiting room after weeks of merely reading a chapter a night, hoping that the plot would get interesting, or the author would find a way to fit each of the actual characters into this situation, or that the next page wouldn't be an endless discourse on ancient Aztec ritual, lifestyle, bathroom habits, etc. Overall, I was hoping that this book wouldn't turn out to be as disappointing as a previous reviewer claimed. But, all in all, it was. The characters were NOT themselves and they were several typos (it's sad if the author couldn't even decide how to spell Angelus, often confusing it with [Los]Angeles).
  
  Some of the dialogue did come to close to making me smile, but it was spaced so far apart by all these introspective moments when the author decided it was important to know the redundant feelings of several minor characters who all end up dead anyway. It just felt like filler material, like the author was getting paid per word, or something. But that doesn't apply to action scenes, which were short and very difficult to follow. Gallaher spends so much time describing thoughts and clothing but she completely glosses over scenery and structure. I couldn't picture the huge temple fight scene at all at the end because the author doesn't take a second to say where the heck anything is! It was really frustrating and happened repeatedly throughout the novel.
  
  In conclusion, it was a flop as a story, but it did succeed in putting me to sleep each night. I'm donating this to my local library - I recommend any fool interested in reading it look there before a bookstore.
  
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• Posted on 2004-06-23
  The problem with trying to write a tie-in novel...
  
  I do not envy the writers who try to jump into the Buffy phenomenon. It must be amazingly difficult to write an engaging, exciting novel when you are unable to change characters or situations in any major way. Add to this the fact that you must mimic someone else's characterizations rather than being free to create your own, and the task becomes even more daunting.

  However, I have to believe that it can be done better than this.

  The characters feel very forced. I have read fanfiction that had a better grasp of the characters' speech patterns and behavior. For example, Cordelia was just a bit too biting, Xander a bit too useless, and Giles' feelings for Jenny a bit too overblown. We only see Giles mourn for Jenny once on the show and though I believe that he did it more off camera, I cannot believe that he was thinking about her with the degree of purple prose that Ms. Gallagher uses.

  The other problem is the actual events of the story. I have read on other reviews that the author is accurate in her use of this mythology. If so, it would be refreshingly rare and I applaud this. However, I had trouble believing the rest of the story. I understand the desire to make a story which is bigger than just another episode of the series, but this is not the way to do that. The events of the finale would have had lasting repercussions on the town of Sunnydale that would have affected the later episodes of the series. You simply cannot do this when you are writing within an established and ongoing world.

  In general, I would be happier with this series of novels if the authors would stop trying to create bigger monsters and explosions, and start getting deeper into the characters. In my mind the characters, their relationships, and their emotions is what the show is really all about. The demons are just the backdrop.
  

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• Posted on 2003-12-29
  A So-So Scoobie Tale
  
  While the author generally has a good hold of the voices of the characters, and some of the dialogue made me smile, this novel is not one of the best. The problem comes in the plot. It's quite dull. The developement is mostly logical, but threat is not always intriguing. The plot made me want to give up on the book, but the dialogue made me want to continue reading. I expect this author could do much better with a different topic.
  
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• Posted on 2002-03-17
  Aztec Hell
  
  Diana Gallagher is the best writer of the Buffy books (everyone's overrated opinion of Holder and Golden notwithstanding), and this is the best of her titles. I was ready to give up on the series altogether, until I read this one.

  Most of the Buffy authors simply hew to the T.V. formula, making their entries nothing more than an episode that wasn't filmed. Such an approach is certainly acceptable, but it's much more interesting when the author can develop the characters in a more mature light, as Gallagher does.

  The only criticism I have of this book is that its apocalpytic ending is a slight bit over the top, but it's quite satisfying for all of that. Buffy is up against Tezcatlipoca, the "Smoking Mirror" of Aztec mythology, who seduces the weak and the jealous into assisting his plans for recreating the world in his own image. Gallagher presents an extremely well-drawn loser character prefiguring the T.V. series' Jonathan, who manages to be both evil and genuinely pathetic.

  Recommended for fans, and as a starter book to interest the newbies.
  

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• Posted on 2000-11-27
  For fans only ...
  
  Not one of the better Buffy books. Fans of the show will find it enjoyable, as the author employs many of the personality quirks that we have come to recognize in our favorite characters (Giles preference of Jelly doughnuts, for instance). The plot itself however is somewhat lacking, and at times unbelievable even for this genre.
  
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