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Buffyverse Novels #17
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: After Image
THE LATE SHOW MAY BE YOUR LAST. Sunnydale, California, hosts more than its fair share of action and horror. It's understandable, then, that news of the long-closed Sunnydale Drive-In's grand reopening with a scheduled night-long festival of classic action and horror movies is met with disinterest or disdain by Buffy, Willow, and Cordelia. Only Xander, who has been spending his afternoons on the drive-in's work crew, is eager to enjoy the rewards of his effort. Buffy is too distracted to sit and take in a movie, anyway. A frightening encounter with a werewolf ends with its vanishing -- not into the woods, but evaporating like a ghost before her eyes. Suspicious people in dated clothing and hairstyles are spotted throughout town but don't appear to be the usual vampires. And most disturbing, a sleeping sickness begins to sweep over town, leaving those affected in a state of extreme drowsiness -- or a coma. It's no wonder no one notices the distinguished-looking gentleman of indeterminate age. His name is Balsamo. At least, that's what he's calling himself this century. But Xander simply knows him as "Boss" and has been promised a prime parking space for the upcoming evening's spectacle....
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 24, 2006
3 people are currently reading
427 people want to read
About the author
Pierce Askegren
20 books16 followersAs a young man, Mr. Askegren took part in his parents high-wire circus act until an accident stopped that career for him at age 11. He acquired a love of comic books and of writing in general, which he turned into a profession. In addition to the Alias book, he wrote several books based on comic book series such as Spider-Man and Iron Man. He died of a heart attack at age 51.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
April 17, 2023
This one is set in the second season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but there are several anachronisms and inconsistencies. It's not a bad story, if a little slow at first, but the characters don't sound quite right, and I suspect the author wasn't as familiar with the show or its continuity as he should have been. (Askegren was mostly known for his comic book work.) There are some amusing moments (it opens with Buffy discussing a killer penguin, so that's cool), but it's one you just have to enjoy as a story and not look for canon.
June 21, 2017
1.5 stars.
If this wasn’t a BtVS book I would have DNF’d it at the half way point…maybe earlier.
This story was about some force putting various people in Sunnydale asleep…well whatever force was at work in the book was making its way out of the book and putting me to sleep too.
Normally I can bust through a 250-300 pg Buffy novel in about 3 to 4 hours. As I was reading After Image I could only read about 20 pages at a time before I had to set the book aside. There were some pros but the pace of this and the lack of anything going on just made those pros not matter.
Takes place in Season 2 sometime after ‘What’s My Line’ but before ‘Surprise’.
Let’s start off with the Pros!
--There were no major continuity issues that I noticed. This takes place between WML and Surprise and other than that the time line is vague. In a lot of Buffy books the author makes the mistake of pinpointing exactly what episodes the book may fall between or on but they’ll mention stuff from future episodes that in the timeline they started out with it doesn’t make sense if you’ve watched the show. --(For example: Xander and Cordelia are still hiding their relationship or just got together which would be during the episode ‘What’s my Line’ but then the narrative will mention Angelus and Buffy being possessed by ghosts in ‘IOHEFY’ so by that point Xander and Cordy would have been exposed by then.)
--The different perspectives. There wasn’t a lot of Buffy in this Buffy novel. It was mostly a Xander outing with a decent chunk of Cordy and a smattering of Buffy, Angel, Willow, Jonathan and Giles. Xander is usually my least favorite of our core team but I appreciated getting a story that was more centered around his character.
And now the cons….
-Nothing/very little happened for soooo long. All we got for about 150 pages was some slightly weird interactions or visuals of people and 1 creature.
-The book was too long. There was nothing happening but there was so much filler and a lot of descriptions about various things. This whole book felt like the author needed to meet a word count but because the plot was really fairly basic the story had to be filled in, in other boring and long winded ways.
-Buffy and Angel’s interactions with each other were a little too awkward for the point of their relationship. During their first meeting in this book I was confused because it read more like early season 1...maybe late season 1 interaction than post-WML. And I think Angel would have at least offered to carry Buffy’s books.
-Some of the lines of dialogue didn’t seem to match the characters. Willow and Giles were fairly on point but there was a line or 2 that Buffy says that sounded more like a Xander line. There were a couple words here and there that Buffy wouldn't say. Minor nit-pick but still annoying.
-And lastly (or at least the last thing I’m going to talk about) I figured out pretty much what was happening in the first 30-50 pages and then I had to wait 100 more pages for it to be revealed in the narrative (at least a little bit) and then another 50 or more pages for the characters to figure it out.
So this was not a good BtVS novel experience. I will never read this one again. I’m happy it’s over.
If this wasn’t a BtVS book I would have DNF’d it at the half way point…maybe earlier.
This story was about some force putting various people in Sunnydale asleep…well whatever force was at work in the book was making its way out of the book and putting me to sleep too.
Normally I can bust through a 250-300 pg Buffy novel in about 3 to 4 hours. As I was reading After Image I could only read about 20 pages at a time before I had to set the book aside. There were some pros but the pace of this and the lack of anything going on just made those pros not matter.
Takes place in Season 2 sometime after ‘What’s My Line’ but before ‘Surprise’.
Let’s start off with the Pros!
--There were no major continuity issues that I noticed. This takes place between WML and Surprise and other than that the time line is vague. In a lot of Buffy books the author makes the mistake of pinpointing exactly what episodes the book may fall between or on but they’ll mention stuff from future episodes that in the timeline they started out with it doesn’t make sense if you’ve watched the show. --(For example: Xander and Cordelia are still hiding their relationship or just got together which would be during the episode ‘What’s my Line’ but then the narrative will mention Angelus and Buffy being possessed by ghosts in ‘IOHEFY’ so by that point Xander and Cordy would have been exposed by then.)
--The different perspectives. There wasn’t a lot of Buffy in this Buffy novel. It was mostly a Xander outing with a decent chunk of Cordy and a smattering of Buffy, Angel, Willow, Jonathan and Giles. Xander is usually my least favorite of our core team but I appreciated getting a story that was more centered around his character.
And now the cons….
-Nothing/very little happened for soooo long. All we got for about 150 pages was some slightly weird interactions or visuals of people and 1 creature.
-The book was too long. There was nothing happening but there was so much filler and a lot of descriptions about various things. This whole book felt like the author needed to meet a word count but because the plot was really fairly basic the story had to be filled in, in other boring and long winded ways.
-Buffy and Angel’s interactions with each other were a little too awkward for the point of their relationship. During their first meeting in this book I was confused because it read more like early season 1...maybe late season 1 interaction than post-WML. And I think Angel would have at least offered to carry Buffy’s books.
-Some of the lines of dialogue didn’t seem to match the characters. Willow and Giles were fairly on point but there was a line or 2 that Buffy says that sounded more like a Xander line. There were a couple words here and there that Buffy wouldn't say. Minor nit-pick but still annoying.
-And lastly (or at least the last thing I’m going to talk about) I figured out pretty much what was happening in the first 30-50 pages and then I had to wait 100 more pages for it to be revealed in the narrative (at least a little bit) and then another 50 or more pages for the characters to figure it out.
So this was not a good BtVS novel experience. I will never read this one again. I’m happy it’s over.
December 28, 2021
Actual Rating: 2.5 Stars.
I love the tv show 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', but I have yet to read a book based on the series that captures the same magic. They just all seem a little fan fiction to me (which I suppose in a way they are) and the characters come off as a bit wooden.
This was ok, but nothing overly exciting. The plot was a typical monster of the week thing without much depth and the dialogue was a little forced. I also kept flicking to the back to see how many pages were left which is never a good sign. It wasn't bad - just not overly engaging.
I have a whole pile of these that a lovely friend gave me so I will keep reading in the hopes that one of the books will recapture that Buffy magic.
I love the tv show 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', but I have yet to read a book based on the series that captures the same magic. They just all seem a little fan fiction to me (which I suppose in a way they are) and the characters come off as a bit wooden.
This was ok, but nothing overly exciting. The plot was a typical monster of the week thing without much depth and the dialogue was a little forced. I also kept flicking to the back to see how many pages were left which is never a good sign. It wasn't bad - just not overly engaging.
I have a whole pile of these that a lovely friend gave me so I will keep reading in the hopes that one of the books will recapture that Buffy magic.
August 13, 2020
After Image feels like a stand alone episode of Buffy that would fit in during season 2 of the show. There’s a new drive-in movie theater in town and Xander’s got a job there. Around the town of Sunnydale, there’re rumblings that things didn’t go well the last time there was a drive-in theater open. Shortly after it opens, Buffy encounters a werewolf unlike any she’s seen before. It walks on two legs like a person. At the school a new sexy nurse named Inga is spotted but nobody at the school has hired a new nurse. Cordelia sees a cheerleader whose hair and makeup are decades out of style. Of course, there’s also a new guy in town who’s very interested in magic.
It’s a fun era of Buffy to revisit, with Xander and Cordelia sneaking off for makeout sessions and Joyce still oblivious to Buffy’s extra curricular calling. Willow is interested in magic but hasn’t tried anything yet. The exact timing of the adventure is tough to pinpoint exactly. Jenny Calendar and Oz are not present, Angel’s not bad yet and Spike and Drusilla aren’t even mentioned. The only extra characters that make an appearance are one of Cordelia’s friends named Aura and a Magic Box employee with purple hair. This puts this as having to take place after “What’s My Line” (Season 2 Episodes 9-10) and before “Surprise” (Season 2 Episode 13). There are two great stand alone episodes in there, “Ted” and “Bad Eggs” that this could fit right in with.
Unfortunately, while the plot feels right for this era of Buffy, the characterization does not. Mainly this comes across in dialogue. Buffy saying “watch this” during a fight, Cordelia diving into mystery solving, and the entire Xander/Jonathan storyline feel wrong. Xander and Jonathan have plenty of interactions after this in the series, and one guy waiting at the hospital bed of the other while grieving changes the dynamic of those future interactions in a way that’s inconsistent with the series.
Pierce Askegren seems to be most interested in developing Cordelia in this book. Here he introduces a recurring motif of Cordelia being useful and defensive about how she’s not stupid. Some of these moments are related to horses, because of course rich people know all about horses. I appreciate that Askegren tried to give her some character moments but more than any other character she felt off while I was reading this. If I were a highlighter/dog ear-er I would have some better examples of this, but instead you’ll just have to trust my overall opinion of it.
It’s a fun era of Buffy to revisit, with Xander and Cordelia sneaking off for makeout sessions and Joyce still oblivious to Buffy’s extra curricular calling. Willow is interested in magic but hasn’t tried anything yet. The exact timing of the adventure is tough to pinpoint exactly. Jenny Calendar and Oz are not present, Angel’s not bad yet and Spike and Drusilla aren’t even mentioned. The only extra characters that make an appearance are one of Cordelia’s friends named Aura and a Magic Box employee with purple hair. This puts this as having to take place after “What’s My Line” (Season 2 Episodes 9-10) and before “Surprise” (Season 2 Episode 13). There are two great stand alone episodes in there, “Ted” and “Bad Eggs” that this could fit right in with.
Unfortunately, while the plot feels right for this era of Buffy, the characterization does not. Mainly this comes across in dialogue. Buffy saying “watch this” during a fight, Cordelia diving into mystery solving, and the entire Xander/Jonathan storyline feel wrong. Xander and Jonathan have plenty of interactions after this in the series, and one guy waiting at the hospital bed of the other while grieving changes the dynamic of those future interactions in a way that’s inconsistent with the series.
Pierce Askegren seems to be most interested in developing Cordelia in this book. Here he introduces a recurring motif of Cordelia being useful and defensive about how she’s not stupid. Some of these moments are related to horses, because of course rich people know all about horses. I appreciate that Askegren tried to give her some character moments but more than any other character she felt off while I was reading this. If I were a highlighter/dog ear-er I would have some better examples of this, but instead you’ll just have to trust my overall opinion of it.
May 6, 2020
All in all, a fun adventure where the main happenings were not what I expected them to be basedon the blurb on the rear cover. It's always a nice surprise when a book breaks away from what you think is going to be a common horror trope, even if it is a favorite trope of yours.
The character voices are on point, except for a few scenes, and there are some thoughts/references that make it obvious that this was written in 2006, despite taking place in late 1997.
Props to the writer for showcasing Cordelia's empathy , which was always present on the show even in her more self-absorbed period. Also props for writing Xander and Cordelia's relationship in its early days so very well. I feel like certain moments in the story try to place it before What's My Line? but said relationship means that those comments make little sense. So, that's one negative. The other continuity error is that Willow makes no references to Oz at all, and by the X/C are clandestinely smooching, Willow has been introduced to her future boyfriend and is at least charmed enough by him to talk about him with Buffy. The lack of mention of both Oz and Ms. Calendar makes it difficult to place the story within the show's wider continuity and makes it lack certain important character beats.
The character voices are on point, except for a few scenes, and there are some thoughts/references that make it obvious that this was written in 2006, despite taking place in late 1997.
Props to the writer for showcasing Cordelia's empathy , which was always present on the show even in her more self-absorbed period. Also props for writing Xander and Cordelia's relationship in its early days so very well. I feel like certain moments in the story try to place it before What's My Line? but said relationship means that those comments make little sense. So, that's one negative. The other continuity error is that Willow makes no references to Oz at all, and by the X/C are clandestinely smooching, Willow has been introduced to her future boyfriend and is at least charmed enough by him to talk about him with Buffy. The lack of mention of both Oz and Ms. Calendar makes it difficult to place the story within the show's wider continuity and makes it lack certain important character beats.
December 14, 2017
Not the best Buffy tie-in novel I have read. I think this is the only one from this particular author and it shows. The storyline in itself was okay, an alchemist using a drive-in as a conduit to project characters from the movies to act as a method of harvesting souls to keep him alive. But even though it was actually a relatively short book (around 25o pages) it actually felt long. Buffy and the scoobies were actually quite wooden in this book and I didn't get the feel for them. I just really has trouble getting into it and did not enjoy it as much as I usually do with a Buffy book.
3 stars. finished, disappointed.
3 stars. finished, disappointed.
November 19, 2018
Buffy and the scoobies have a new mystery to solve. Xander gets a new job at the drive in that has been renovated. Buffy keeps having weird characters show up to harass her only to have them disappear once she hurts them. Buffy thinks the drive in is connected but cannot figure out how. People are going into deep sleep comas for no good reason. This was a pretty good story. A bit different and enjoyable.
February 27, 2024
Not a massive fan of this book. I don’t feel like the characters were captured as well as they have been in other books, it didn’t feel authentic. Also, the story was a bit of a drag and didn’t make a lot of sense, in the end I understood what happened but.. it was just anticlimactic. Maybe because I didn’t really enjoy it from the start that the end just made me shrug my shoulders I guess.
August 30, 2025
This was an entertaining story. It is still early BTVS, but Angel and Cordelia have joined the gang. I liked the plot and thought the drive-thru angle was novel. Also liked the early season friendships; they are fun to see as their relationships are so fraught later on. All in all, a good read.
December 12, 2017
Rushed ending, but pretty satisfying overall.
January 14, 2019
3.5 stars. Too long & too weird.
See full review under Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vol. 2 (BTVS Collection #2) omnibus.
See full review under Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vol. 2 (BTVS Collection #2) omnibus.
April 13, 2019
Review to come.
December 15, 2023
Not a bad Buffy novel. It's set in season 2 so a real blast from the past. An easy read if you want someting Buffy.
May 11, 2025
A good, fun read. I love the Buffy show, so I just had to give this a try.
January 21, 2023
So I was sick today and just remained on the couch most of the day, reading. Got through this season 2 book
It is a book of two parts. The first part felt a bit off and slow, but after half of it I was well into it and really regretted the demise of the villain, I wanted to see him again! He had Ethan potential. But then the books are usually monster-of-the-week style
That said, ok, so at first the author wants us to believe that Giles has NEVER HEARD of a drive-in movie theatre. Because it is an American thing and how could a middle aged Brit know about it? What? Having Xander explain the concept of a drive-in to Giles was wild.
The book also states that Angel has an eidetic memory and that this is due to his vampire abilities… is this part of the show? I really can’t remember. Does that mean that all vampires do?
I was annoyed by Swedish nurse ”Inga” and the fact that Willow twice referred to her in context of ”the Alps” (you are thinking of Switzerland, dear)
Getting the characters voices was a labored effort that was felt in the first half.
The writer kept refering to Buffy using a boka, I tried to look it up but couldn’t find it.
There were also strange contradictions like the writer stating that Buffy moved unnoticed with an ”easy grace”, only to follow that with that her shoes ”gritted audibly” against the ground. Is she quiet and graceful, or loud and noticeable, sir? Make up your mind.
I did like that Buffy reflected on how while Giles can’t fill the gap of her father, he makes his abscence less felt.
There is also a lot of Angel, which I liked. I liked that he tried to explain Punch and Judy puppets to Willow and Buffy, then lamented that Giles wasn’t there, that it is a ”European thing”. Liked the general call backs to his Angelus days. Good stuff.
I liked Joyce in it. However it establishes that Buffy has a voracious Faith like appetite, which felt off.
Oh and, these books are starting to make me like Cordelia! They’re giving her all these great moments, while staying true to character, that is really warming me to her. This was another good book for her, in case Cordy fans need some more Queen C in their lives.
If I keep reading these, I might even grow to like Spike. Who knows?
It is a book of two parts. The first part felt a bit off and slow, but after half of it I was well into it and really regretted the demise of the villain, I wanted to see him again! He had Ethan potential. But then the books are usually monster-of-the-week style
That said, ok, so at first the author wants us to believe that Giles has NEVER HEARD of a drive-in movie theatre. Because it is an American thing and how could a middle aged Brit know about it? What? Having Xander explain the concept of a drive-in to Giles was wild.
The book also states that Angel has an eidetic memory and that this is due to his vampire abilities… is this part of the show? I really can’t remember. Does that mean that all vampires do?
I was annoyed by Swedish nurse ”Inga” and the fact that Willow twice referred to her in context of ”the Alps” (you are thinking of Switzerland, dear)
Getting the characters voices was a labored effort that was felt in the first half.
The writer kept refering to Buffy using a boka, I tried to look it up but couldn’t find it.
There were also strange contradictions like the writer stating that Buffy moved unnoticed with an ”easy grace”, only to follow that with that her shoes ”gritted audibly” against the ground. Is she quiet and graceful, or loud and noticeable, sir? Make up your mind.
I did like that Buffy reflected on how while Giles can’t fill the gap of her father, he makes his abscence less felt.
There is also a lot of Angel, which I liked. I liked that he tried to explain Punch and Judy puppets to Willow and Buffy, then lamented that Giles wasn’t there, that it is a ”European thing”. Liked the general call backs to his Angelus days. Good stuff.
I liked Joyce in it. However it establishes that Buffy has a voracious Faith like appetite, which felt off.
Oh and, these books are starting to make me like Cordelia! They’re giving her all these great moments, while staying true to character, that is really warming me to her. This was another good book for her, in case Cordy fans need some more Queen C in their lives.
If I keep reading these, I might even grow to like Spike. Who knows?
December 31, 2016
Slightly too lengthy but otherwise interesting enough Buffy outing. I've never much cared for Jonathan (and still don't, after reading this), but I really did enjoy the way that Cordelia was presented here: as someone who has useful information, and a source of intelligence as well as snark.
The petty petty thing that is knocking this down from a three star read, for me, is the irritation of a single paragraph: one that claims that science and the scientific method date back to the Renaissance. If you want to ignore the scientists of ancient China, India, the Middle East etc. and claim that early modern science dates back to the Renaissance, you might squeak a pass, but there is no excuse for whitewashing Ibn al-Haytham out of history. al-Haytham was the Iraqi-born Muslim who worked out the scientific method some centuries before the Renaissance. This is not obscure information. In fact it's pretty basic stuff in the history of science, and a bit disappointing that it was let slip through because al-Haytham was a fantastically interesting genius and deserves to be remembered.
The petty petty thing that is knocking this down from a three star read, for me, is the irritation of a single paragraph: one that claims that science and the scientific method date back to the Renaissance. If you want to ignore the scientists of ancient China, India, the Middle East etc. and claim that early modern science dates back to the Renaissance, you might squeak a pass, but there is no excuse for whitewashing Ibn al-Haytham out of history. al-Haytham was the Iraqi-born Muslim who worked out the scientific method some centuries before the Renaissance. This is not obscure information. In fact it's pretty basic stuff in the history of science, and a bit disappointing that it was let slip through because al-Haytham was a fantastically interesting genius and deserves to be remembered.
September 15, 2008
In this book, Willow has a fibre optic cable going into her bedroom to provide her with high-speed internet access. It's set in Season 2, i.e. 1997.
In 1997, nobody had fibre-optic cable broadband.
Barely anybody has it now, in 2008!
ARGH!
This technological historical inaccuracy really bugged me. Otherwise it was a decent Buffy tie-in. Battle scene seemed a bit short. Willow kept wanting to do magic and people kept telling her she wasn't ready, which jarred too. Some of the dialogue didn't seem completely in character. Cordelia and Xander stuff was done very well. Story was creative, although it felt a bit squashed into a little volume.
In 1997, nobody had fibre-optic cable broadband.
Barely anybody has it now, in 2008!
ARGH!
This technological historical inaccuracy really bugged me. Otherwise it was a decent Buffy tie-in. Battle scene seemed a bit short. Willow kept wanting to do magic and people kept telling her she wasn't ready, which jarred too. Some of the dialogue didn't seem completely in character. Cordelia and Xander stuff was done very well. Story was creative, although it felt a bit squashed into a little volume.
November 13, 2008
My Book Group is reading Vampire Stories for November. Many members are big Buffy fans while I have never quite caught on to enthusiasm. So I am giving Buffy a try.
I enjoyed this book despite the fact that I wasn't sure about something so popular from television. I did feel at a disadvantage though for not having the back story of which this book was the newest episode. Some of the characters were not clear to me and I never did quite understand the villian and what his particular evil/special powers were.
I plan to read more.
I enjoyed this book despite the fact that I wasn't sure about something so popular from television. I did feel at a disadvantage though for not having the back story of which this book was the newest episode. Some of the characters were not clear to me and I never did quite understand the villian and what his particular evil/special powers were.
I plan to read more.
May 9, 2015
Another enjoyable Buffy novel featuring the "Scooby" gang! It's not the best Buffy book ever written, but the story is interesting and keeps you reading. Even Buffy's Mom makes an appearance. I miss the series (and Angel, too) so it's fun to read the various books based on the Buffy universe. If you miss Buffy, too, then here's another readable adventure.
July 31, 2011
eh the book is okay but lets be honest there have been better ones. if you want a good buffy book i would recommend queen of the slayers. this one seemed to just run out of time so the ending was cut wayyyy tooo short!
June 2, 2014
This was not one of my favorite Buffy novels, but it was still fairly entertaining. Just took me a bit longer to get through it than usual because it drags a bit toward the middle. Overall, I like the concept, so it's worth reading if you're a die-hard fan of the show.
July 13, 2014
I really enjoyed reading this book it seemed like an episode of the series. The character's were fleshed out well and the plot was well thought off with some interesting fights, humour and character development.
March 3, 2008
Weak story.
February 25, 2019
Still going strong
Read
May 24, 2013Awesome!!!
April 30, 2017
It's ok. Not bad, but not great either. A couple things stood out though. 1) Nurse Kitty Forman? That "70s Show already has that character. A little originality wouldn't hurt here. 2) season 2 Buffy would never have done Slayer reading, nor remember what ectoplasm is. It would have been more believable if she quoted Ghostbusters. 3) "A biker screamed a bad word." The phrase was so elementary that it made my brain seize. 4) Cordy laments the snack machines not taking credit cards like they do in more civilized places. While the book was published in 2006, it's set in 1998 and machines didn't take cards then, even in civilized places. 5) and we come to my last point. Season 2 of Buffy takes place in 1998. It was like the author didn't even try to make it seem like it was the late 90s.
I give it 3 stars. It's an OK read, and passes the time, but that's just about it.
I give it 3 stars. It's an OK read, and passes the time, but that's just about it.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews