Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion

So the show was on t.v when I was a kid but for the most part I wasn't allowed to watch it (too violent apparently! :P) but funnily enough my Dad introduced me to 'Charmed' and 'Xena The Warrior Princess', which I found to be equally violent and sexual and filled with demons and what not!

Anyway...

I've seen these Buffy and Charmed books around for years, they're little pocket books based on the series. I picked up a Buffy one the other day called 'Blooded' at a second hand bookshop. I'm surprised at how good it seems! I haven't read much yet but I assumed that they would be poorly written compared to other novels of the same genre because they don't have to try as hard, because they're not creating the characters from scratch and have the success of the t.v show to draw in potential readers!

so yes just a few quick question about the series:

-can I jump in anywhere, I have the 5th book, would it be a better idea to read the books that came before this book?

-on a scale of 1 to 10 how well are they written, I mean are they written like The Princess Diaries series or the Olsen twins books? :/
I'm not that picky (and I know that they're not intended to be become literary classics) but from the first page I've read I saw that Buffy described the vampire as 'badly-in-need-of-Weight-Watchers' ....seems a bit juvenile! The rest is fine!


So are they worth it? I'm 19 by the way! Haha but I love vampires! I hate Twilight type vampire books though!!

I loved watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer when it was on tv but unfortunetly I hated the books they were just so slow and I had a hard time staying interested in what was going on.

I've never read any of the Charmed books, but I have read a good amount of Buffy books.

There are some that really aren't that good. However there are also a fairly good number of decent or really good/great books.

As for where you can jump in, you can really jump in anywhere. Most are stand-alones, there are some series/trilogies available like The Gatekeeper Trilogy, The Lost Slayer Series, The Unseen Trilogy but those are usually clearly stated somewhere on the book. Most of the Buffy novels are stand-alones though.

Hope this helps. :)

I'm a huge Buffy/Joss Whedon fan. I haven't read any of the books but I have read quite a few of the comic book series. Sold as "Buffy Season 8" they continue the series from the finale of the show (and coming soon Buffy Season 9). They are quite popular and are written by actual Buffy writers and sometimes, Joss himself. I would recommend reading these over the books since the people that you can thank for Buffy are actually writing them.

Wow this thread brings back memories! I have all my old Buffy books in a storage unit which I haven't been to in ages!

You don't need to read them in order except for the specific trilogies. Most of the books are entertaining as I remember, but I was around 12/13 when I last read them.

As all the books are written by different authors, some are slower than others. The best ones were always written by Nancy Holder and Christopher Golden.

Blooded is a good place to start, but be sure to check out Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All In A Row, The Evil That Men Do and The Gatekeeper Trilogy.

Enjoy!

Ashley wrote: "I'm a huge Buffy/Joss Whedon fan. I haven't read any of the books but I have read quite a few of the comic book series. Sold as "Buffy Season 8" they continue the series from the finale of the show..."

+1 on this. Loved the comics, much less wowed by the novels.

Also, if you've got the time, there is a lot of good fan fic out there, some of it novel length.