The Story

Set in Joss Whedon’s Buffyverse. At some point in the 21st century, a Slayer destroys all vampires on earth. Centuries in the future, vampires (known as lurks) have somehow managed to return to earth, and have a rather ambitious leader who wants to open up the Hellmouth. To prevent this, a demon comes to earth to train this generation’s Slayer (Melaka Fray)… except she has no knowledge of what Slayers are and really has no desire to hunt them when she could be getting paid for being a kick-butt thief.

The Thoughts

I was never a die hard Buffy fan, like I am for Firefly or Dollhouse. Yes, I enjoyed it, but I never got so emotionally involved with the Buffyverse. I haven’t seen every episode – heck, there are probably whole seasons where I haven’t seen ANY episodes. I’ve no doubt if I were to set aside time to watch as much of Buffy as I could, that I would completely love it… but I’ve just never really had the desire to. That said, I’ve wanted to read Fray for years.

First thing’s first – you don’t have to be a Buffy fan to understand this story. It takes place so far in the future that you won’t be confused over who certain characters are or what roles they play – because the characters from Buffy aren’t there. And you only need a very limited knowledge of the Buffy canon to understand this. Mainly that there are vampires, there are Slayers and there are Watchers. There is a Slayer in every generation, and she has vampire-butt-kicking powers. Watchers are members of a secret organization that works to prepare the Slayer to kick vampire butt. And vampires, well they like to suck human blood.

As always, Joss has created a totally awesome and strong female character. (REALLY wish more authors would do this!) She has a mind of her own, is stubborn and can seriously kick butt. Yes, she needs a little convincing that she is a Slayer and that she needs to fight the lurks, but once she makes up her mind, she is definitely a force to be reckoned with.

And look how absolutely gorgeous this illustration of her is:

Melaka is positively beautiful! She exudes strength in these illustrations. And all of the rest of the images are just as gorgeous – even those that are rather creepy and disturbing, or heartbreaking, or full of action. The colours are a lot more vivid than I picture in my mind for typical dystopian futures.

Overall, I loved it, and it was definitely over way too quickly!

This is my first book for the RIP IV challenge.

The Bottom Line

A brilliant story from a brilliant storyteller – definitely what you’d expect from Joss Whedon, that’s for certain. I’d highly recommend this, and not just to Buffy fans. The illustrations are gorgeous and the story is completely engaging. Definitely worth a couple hours of any vampire fan’s time.