Buffy the Vampie Slayer is now well over 20 years old, but the franchise seems to be in the midst of a renaissance. As well as that TV reboot that’s in the works and BOOM! Studios’ comic book relaunch, this new young adult book series follows on from the events of the original show and introduces us to a brand new Slayer born to vanquish vampires, demons and the forces of darkness.
In fact, Nina Jamison-Smythe is the “last Slayer”, the final Potential activated before the end of magic (see the Buffy season 9 comics for more). The trouble is, she has no interest in being a Slayer as she’s been training to be a Watcher all her life, like her father before her – Buffy’s first Watcher, Merrick. Nina will have to embrace her destiny, though, when an ancient apocalyptic prophecy involving her family starts to play out.
First of all, White’s novel definitely doesn’t follow the BOOM! approach of doing away with continuity – to follow along with this story to its fullest, you need to be familiar with Buffy, Angel, the original 1992 movie and the Dark Horse comics. Of course, White recaps all the salient info when needed for the newbies but there’s a real sense that this is a Buffyverse book written by a fan for fans.
Where Slayer carves out its own corner of Joss Whedon’s universe is in twisting the canon to serve up something new. A Watcher becoming a Slayer is a nice subversion of the usual rules and Nina’s not only reluctance to be a Slayer but also devout pacifism and hatred of a Slayer’s “kill first, ask questions later” MO is a fascinating critique on the franchise’s core concept.
There are some things that will hopefully be improved in future instalments, however, as Slayer is clearly not the end of Nina’s story. The actual plot itself could be stronger, with certain twists and revelations signposted a mile away. That said, the character work makes up for this – the central sister dynamic is a highlight – and Nina is a worthy successor to the Slayer lineage. It’s definitely a good time to be a Buffy fan.
SLAYER / AUTHOR: KIERSTEN WHITE / PUBLISHER: SIMON PULSE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
