For a series that originally concluded almost fifteen years ago, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is still very much a part of our cultural consciousness. That probably shouldn’t be a surprise, given how much it changed the landscape of primetime television and brought the usually taboo subject of the supernatural and occultism slap-bang into everybody’s homes. It also gave vampires a much-needed renaissance, and without the success of Buffy it’s hard to imagine True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, or even Supernatural and Grimm making it to the small screen. Of course, there’s also a downside because, without Buffy, there may never have been Twilight. But, on balance, that seems like a small price to pay for a show that was so consistently genius and made witchcraft and the undead cool again. (Actually, without the blockbuster success of 1996’s The Craft, would there ever have been a Buffy TV series? Yes, Joss Whedon’s original Buffy movie was released in 1992 but it disappeared almost without trace… hey, this is quite a fun game!)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer FAQ is just the latest in a long line of tie-in products intended to either keep the show’s memory alive and/or soullessly rip off the Slayermeister’s (un)die-hard horde of merchandise-hungry fans. So, which one is it? Should you take a stake in David Bushman and Arthur Smith’s epic tome or should you drive a stake through its dark 370-page heart?

Thankfully, it’s the former. Bushman and Smith have really gone to town with the level of research they’ve put into this volume, covering everything from the movie that started it all to an in-depth look at the Scoobies and the ‘big bads’, to the backgrounds of the Watchers and the Slayers, to a look at the soon-to-be-fanged residents of Sunnydale and a night crawl through the halls of Sunnydale High. Of course, there are breakdowns of each of the seasons but they’re brighter and breezier than you normally find in books like these, giving detail without bogging the reader down in minutiae and with a handy-dandy ‘Seasons Highlights’ list at the end of each chapter. After that we get an overview of Monsters of the Week, Magic+Mythology (which is especially well-researched) and a brief look at the Angel TV spin-off, the comic books and the spin-offs that never made it plus a glimpse into Buffy academia vs Buffy fandom.

This is a book that established Buffy fans will get a Slayer-sized spinning-kick out of and new fans will treat with the reverence of Willow’s favourite grimoire, although if you’re still a newbie making your way through the series you’ll probably want to read this afterwards to avoid spoilers. Whichever one you are, you’ve got a Hellmouth of a treat in store.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER FAQ: ALL THAT’S LEFT TO KNOW ABOUT SUNNYDALE’S SLAYER OF VAMPIRES / AUTHOR: DAVID BUSHMAN, ARTHUR SMITH / PUBLISHER: APPLAUSE THEATRE & CINEMA BOOK PUBLISHERS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW