The Dark Times: Lost Slayer Serial Novel part 2 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

by Christopher Golden

Book Overview

Consequences Sunnydale has always been a haven for creatures of the underworld. But when Buffy Summers awakes in a possible future, she is stunned to discover that Southern California has fallen under... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743411862
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.0" x 0.4" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Part 2: Five Years Later

Part 2 of "The Lost Slayer" opens with Buffy waking to consciousness in a prison cell five years in the future. Her consciousness having been thrust forward by her meeting with the Prophet. For all those years she has been held imprisoned by Camazotz so that a new slayer could not arise. Faith, the other Slayer has finally been killed at vampire hands, and Buffy finds she is sharing her cell with Faith's replacement, August. But August does not want to cooperate with Buffy to seek freedom; instead, she seeks Buffy's death. In a grim battle, Buffy survives and manages to flee the bat demon's prison.And she quickly finds herself in hell. Camazoztz has used Buffy's immobilization to create the opportunity to pursue the takeover of the world by vampires and their kin. Sunnydale and the surrounding parts of California are now vampire run. Humans must either collaborate or cower in their homes. Buffy finds herself on the run with hot pursuit wherever she turns. She must survive, discover her mistake, and find a way to undo it.Back in the other Sunnydale Willow and the rest of the Scooby gang must deal with Giles' loss and a Buffy who is behaving very strangely. By the time they realize the nature of their mistake, the worst has happened and Buffy is captured by Camazotz. For them the ensuing five years is a continual struggle against a mounting evil. Each is deeply changed by the struggle and will be hardly recognizable when they meet Buffy again.Part 2 continues the fine work done by Christopher Golden in recreating the Buffy universe and making the impossible real for the many fans of this series. This is an ingenious plot, and Golden does not miss a chance to heighten the tension or to explore new variations on the vampire theme. The ending is a complete shocker which will leave the reader wondering how Buffy will ever find a way to save the world and those she loves.

Willow tries to rescue Buffy now and in the future

A single bad judgment as the result of a monstrous lie has catapulted Buffy into the future and a world where vampires rule Sunnydale and the Slayer has been held captive for six years. A horrified Buffy learns she is now known as "The Lost Slayer," forgotten by the Watcher's Council. The most dramatic scene in this book comes early, when Buffy stages a chilling escape from her cell after resolving the cliffhanger that ended Part One, when August, the recently imprisoned second Slayer called to replace Faith, decided to kill Buffy so that a new Slayer could be called. This is definitely one of those sequences that is too intense for small children. Meanwhile, in the present, Giles is still being held hostage while Willow and the Scoobys discover something is not right with Buffy. A photograph of Willow appears prominently on the cover of "Dark Times," because Buffy's best bud is a significant figure in both of the time periods in which this tale is told. Christopher Golden might have gone back to the start of Buffy's freshman year at UC-Sunnydale (i.e., the beginning of Season 4 of "Buffy"), but he is obviously setting up Willow's growth as a Wicca on the show. The once and future Willow gets to see almost as much action as the Slayer this time around, which is one of the strengths of "Dark Times." Certainly there are some flaws in the story, having mainly to do with the fact the vampires actually put a door into Buffy's cell (without which, escape would be totally impossible), but such things are easily forgivable when Golden has constructed a storyline that is trying to work on the same sort of operatic level as the best Buffy episodes (e.g., "Becoming"). I can still nitpick the details and thoroughly enjoy the novel. One of the things that makes "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" one of the best shows on television is that there is a dark side, a world in which bad things happen to good people and the world just might come to an end as we know it. In "Dark Times" we get to see such a world, which is as horrific as when Anyanka granted Cordelia's wish that Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale in "Dopplegangland." Unlike "Prophecies," where the book ended with a dramatic cliffhanger that made you rush to pick up the next installment in the series, "Dark Times" ends with a shattering revelation as Buffy receives some unbelievably bad news. Thus, Golden again achieves the main goal when writing a serial novel: to leave the reader dying to find out what happens next.

A great sequal to The Lost Slayer.

In the exciting next chapter to The Lost Slayer, Buffy finds herself thrown 5 years into the furture, and she's in a jail run by vampires. As a matter of fact, most of the area aroud Sunnydale is overrun bu vampires. This is an alternative universe that Buffy is in. She has one mission, to get back to her own reality. I can't say to much about this book b/c i dont' want to ruin anything. Just trust me, if you've read the first books, then you need to read the second. What I liked about the alternative universe that Buffy is in, is that it has the char from Buffy's reality, but they just aren't the same. That's all I'm going to say, I can't give out to much. The end was incredible!! I can't wait for pt. 3.I highly suggest this series. If yer a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then I *highly* suggest you get started on the first book, you won't be sorry.

great sequel nothing like it

if you thought the first one was great, you have not seen anything yet. it starts off with buffy in an alternate future where she has been imprisoned for 5 years. when the universe is seems at it's bleakest, her captors throws in another slayer who tells buffy the only way to change the world is for her to kill buffy. they battle it out to the death and of course buffy wins. she then tricks her jailors into thinking that both of them died and escapes to find the world that she knew is now run by the same vampires that imprisoned her. people are afraid to come out of their homes, people that owned buisness that would not cooperate with the vampires were slaughtered. it seems a bleak existence but buffy does find willow who is now a very powerful sorceres, and xander is a hardened man who rarely smiles or enjoyes life. if you thought the ending to part 1 was good, you have seen nothing yet. surprise is not even cover it. christoher golden has outdone himself and i know i can't wait to read book 3. note to author(why could you not just put all this in one hardcover book and make us pay 23 dollars) the suspense is killing us.

The thrilling second part of The Lost Slayer.

Buffy has found herself trapped in the body of her future self, and the world she finds herself in is anything but pleasant. Southern California, five years into the future, is a nightmarish hell ruled by vampires. Buffy finds herself imprisoned by vampires who have kept her alive to prevent another Slayer from coming. She escapes into this world she herself has created with one mistake five years ago, determined to find a way to return home and prevent this future. Meanwhile, back in the present time, her friends are trying to drive out the spirit that has possessed her body, unaware that it is already too late. Anyone who has read the first Lost Slayer installment won't want to miss this one.