Doomsday Deck

by Diana G. Gallagher

Book Overview

The gang have been preparing for the Sunnydale Sidewalk Art and Craft Festival. It sees the arrival of Justine, who specialises in Tarot paintings and Buffy has a nagging suspicion that Justine is not... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743400410
• ISBN13: 9780743400411
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.2" x 6.8"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

Better than expected

This book was a lot better than I thought it would be. After reading some of the reviews I wasn't expecting the best Buffy book ever;however,I really enjoyed Doomsday Deck. All the characters act just like they do in the show. Even though Anya wasn't a main character in the third season of Buffy, she still played a nice sized part in this book. I liked that this book explored Tarot cards, which is new to the Buffy universe. Also the plot was really good in this book. The ending was great and I could cleary see every detail. Over all this was an amazing book which I highly recommend to everyone.

A short but pleasant supernatural venture...

I'll spare you the basic rundown of the plot and synopsis, as I'm sure you are aware that it involves a sinister Tarot Deck from the other reviews and the description, so I'll get right into my review and criticism.It's been a while since I've read a "Buffy" novel but this one was a pleasant revisitation to the series and I found it to be a nice change from the general Demon or Vampire going ons in Hellmouth. This novel takes the series into a new dilemma of a Tarot deck and to my knowledge has never been explored by the series thus far, so it was fun to have a change. The characters are essentially the same and Giles role is to a minimum as well, but this is actually a good thing as it spends more time devoted to everyone in general and never really just sets on following the adventures of one particular person. Doomsday Deck is a well written novel that is short and to the point, not taking it's time with much character development or inane dialogue and corny one-liners to fill it's pages, no Doomsday Deck has a goal and it finishes it in a minimal amount of time, which can be for the better or worse. I actually liked the idea of a shorter novel as it helped me finish the novel quicker and the amount of satisfaction was the same. Gallagher did sum this whole Slayer venture quickly and efficiently and accomplishes a fine story that stays true to what the characters personality is and how they might handle a situation in the TV series without going on and on for a good 300 pages. Not that 300 page novels are bad it's just fun to be able to find a "Buffy" adventure that tells an original story and has some nice action sequences and can complete its goal in a relatively short amount of time.Doomsday Deck is a fine novel that I'm sure "Buffy" fans would get a kick out of and I see no reason why a general reader would not enjoy it as well. I can easily recommend this novel to just about anyone; the only downfall one may find is its lack of length (193 Pages to be exact), but other than that slight fault it should be a novel you would be pleased to read, I know I was. I honestly hope this helps in your decision on purchasing this novel whether you pass or buy, thanks for reading.

Another excellant Buffy novel by Diana Gallagher.

Buffy and her friends have got their hands full with helping Buffy's mother out with the annual Sunnydale Sidewalk Art Festival and patrolling to make sure vampires don't prey on the unsuspecting artists. Xander is especially eager to help out - a young artist named Justine has attracted his attention. Justine tells Xander she senses psychic powers surrounding his aura. Xander thinks that means he's psychic, and he allows Justine to do a Tarot card reading for him. After that, Xander begins to act more than a little strange. At first, Buffy thinks he's just infatuated with Justine, but he's not the only one acting weird - after Oz gets a Tarot reading, he begins to act like Xander. So Buffy and Willow go to investigate Justine, who acts pretty weird herself. When Willow is next to fall victim, Buffy learns that Justine struck a deal with the evil demon Kali. Justine plans to hand the world to Kali in exchange for becoming a famous artist. What Justine fails to realize is that the only way Kali can be satisfied is if the entire universe comes to an end. And not only that, but Justine's method of handing the world to Kali involves killing twenty-two people by trapping their souls in paintings of the Tarot cards - and Willow, Oz, and Xander are doomed to be her latest victims. But if Buffy doesn't find a way to stop Justine, it won't be just her friends who will be dead - but everyone in the entire world as well. This was another great Buffy novel by Diana G. Gallagher, who also wrote the excellent Prime Evil, which came out earlier this year.

Adventure in the cards

This book combines the mystery of the Tarot deck with the lives of Buffy and her gang. Joyce asks Buffy and her friends to help staff the Sunnydale Art Fair. But when a stranger comes to town that even vampires fear, the fair takes a back seat to Buffy's need to save her friends and the universe from the evil visitor. The action is very visual. I can see the gang, Willow, OZ, Anya, and Xander as lifeless zombies and the small meaningful glances between Angel and Buffy. The time line of the story is set in Buffy's senior year so Angel and Cordelia are still part of the mix. The colorful plot really engaged me. I found that I got out my Tarot deck and turned the cards with the artist as she read the cards for each character. I highly recommend this book.

Dianas Writing NEVER Fails to please

(mail to LLoyddixon@btinternet.com please) Once Again (Again again!) Diana comes out Tops with another fantastic Buffy novel. The previous Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Sabrina The Teenage Witch books written By Diana G Gallagher have all been wonderful, exciting and unpredictable storys, and if you have read any of her books (which i hope you have) u will understand what i am talking about. The great detailed descriptive writing, which comes from Diana is a breath of fresh air to read, as sometimes books based on ideas from tv series can often fail to capture what you expericence on screen. Well not in this case (Or any from the Buffy series infact) the books have been very sucsessfull and rightly so. Doomsday Deck is no exception of anything i have said above, and enchanting tale about the lives of Buffy and co. It is the time for the Sunnydale Sidewalk Art Festival and that brings to town, a girl called Jusine, who Xander takes quite a shine too!, She is very interested and gives readings in tarot cards etc. She tells Xander he has alot of energy in his aura. Xander thinks his psychic powers have been awakened. But Buffy is not too sure and refusees to have her Tarot read. And she doesnt think Everything with Justine is all quite right......... And when Buffy tries to even touch Justines treasured Tarot deck, Justine lets loose and shows that fact. She aint all there!..but where is she.....who is she?? you'll have to read it to find out! and esp. as Vampires act oddly around Justine, and something seems up with Buffy's friends......but what? hmmmm im not saying a word!, apart from get this book, and enjoy it greatly, its fantastic and i promoise you wont be able to put it down at all. Well done Diana for writing another fantastic novel, keep it up! (and dont work tooooo hard ;)), take care of yourself. -Lloyd