Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Night of the Living Rerun

Buffyverse Novels #8

by Arthur Byron Cover

Buffy's dreams about trailing witches through Puritan-era Salem set the stage for a symbolic replay of the night the Master tried to escape from his supernatural prison, in a story based on the television series. Original.

Genres: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Fantasy, Young Adult, Vampires, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Horror

178 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1998

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

In every generation there is only one Slayer!


SHE IS THE SLAYER!

Aah! The good old days of Season One!

Before the appearance of characters like Kendra, Faith, etc... and that awesome quote starting to lose some bit of its strength.

Hey, don't misunderstand me!

I love Faith! And I like a lot Kendra. And so on.

But the thrilling feeling of that Buffy was the Chosen One, the only with the power of The Slayer was indeed an awesome impact.

I am not afraid of the darkness. The darkness is afraid of me.


SHE HAS THE POWER!!!

Oh, yes. Buffy was awesome and even I have some theories of what happened after of Season One.

You know? Buffy is "dead" for some seconds before Xander used CPR.

The ancient power of The Slayer never considered the possibility that a slayer might be revived, so Buffy was alive again.

And Kendra was activated.

But if you see how strong was Buffy on Season One compared with following seasons.

I think that while Kendra was a slayer too.

Both were sharing a part of the entire original power.

Of course, the events at the end of Season 7 are hard to fit in that theory.

Anyway, getting back to this good novel...


CREEPY FUN READING!

Maybe it isn't something that would win any Writing Award but it was fun to read.

Full of pop cultures refferences and geeky humor.

Just like was the good ol' Season One. When things were simpler.

Also, you have here that the main bad guy is The Master.

And even cooler is that you can read the story of a slayer from the past...

...and no any slayer but the one who was active on 1962's Salem!

Samantha Kane was her name, and while her canonic status on the Buffy Universe is kinda blurry due being developed in a novel, still it's a really entertained story.

If you are fan of Buffy and you like the mood of the Season One, definitely this is a very good option to read.

Buffy rules!

[Kathi · Rating 3 out of 5]

„Die Nacht der Wiederkehr“ ist der 4. Band der „Buffy, im Bann der Dämonen“ Buchreihe. Die Geschichte ist interessant, teilweise wirklich auch sehr spannend, empfehlen würde ich das Buch aber nur Hardcore Buffy Fans. Die Geschichte spielt abseits vom offiziellen Kanon, sie kam in der TV-Serie nicht vor.

Irgendwie fehlt der typische Buffy Humor, die Charaktere wirken teilweise auch beinahe fremd. Ich habe ein wenig das Gefühl, dass der Autor die Serie nicht gut genug kennt oder es sich hier um eine schlechte Übersetzung handelt. Von mir gibt es daher leider nur 3 Sterne.

Die Bücher der Buffy Reihe konnten mich bisher noch nicht so recht überzeugen. Richtig gut fand ich eigentlich nur „Halloween“. Hoffentlich sind die Folgebände besser. Richtigen Fans der Serie kann ich die Bücher aber trotz Kritik empfehlen. Sie sind zwar sehr kurz, unterhaltsam sind sie aber auch.

[gremlinkitten · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utterly terrible, boring, and cliche. The plot involves the Salem Witch Trials, reincarnation, and zombies, which I'm not saying can't work, it just didn't with this one. Not one thing or person in this book bore any resemblance to those in the series, other than using the same names, and the dialogue was beyond awkward. I'm not even sure the author ever saw the show. Everything was so cardboard. No, I'm wrong, it was far worse than that, more like cardboard that had been out in a torrential downpour. For a week. Gross, soggy, mushy cardboard. Filled with rat turds. Not recommended at all.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the second original (not based on a script) Buffy novel, I believe. It's intended for a younger audience, but I thought it was much more even and better written than most. It's set within the continuity of the first season of the show and features The Master. And zombies. And the Salem witch trials... what more can you ask? I thought the characters voices were well captured, and the book has a nice theme. Good, fun read if you can't make it out to The Bronze that evening.

[Briar's Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back to Buffy!

I read this book after Coyote Moon which was a HIT for me. This book didn't hold up as strong as Coyote Moon did but I still enjoyed it. The Salem Witch Trial angle was super interesting but did have me wondering what the lore of the Buffy universe really is. Now crazy dreams on top of vampires and werewolves? This whole paranormal universe is insane.

Regardless, this story was easy to read and engaging. I think if I knew more about the Buffy-verse by watching the television show that I would get more out of it.

Three out of five stars.

[Bunny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read for Book Roast's Magical Readathon: NEWTs Exams. Subject: Charms, O Level. (Paperback)

I feel like instead of reviewing this book, I should just provide links to good pieces of fanfiction.

Because that's the only reason to read these books, really. I collect them, but have a tendency not to read them. I'm like those people who collect barbies "for their kids" then never take them out of the box.

I am not saying my books are in good condition. This book was published 15 years ago, after all.

Anyway, not the point. This book is set during season 1, and it feels like it was written when the first season was still airing. As in, no one knew what these characters were supposed to sound like.

Because in which of the many Buffy universes would Giles ever use the term "stalkerazzi"?

The rest of the characterization is even worse. Seriously, it's just agony to read.

Not to mention, a large portion of this book is told with flashbacks to the Salem Witch Trials. Characters that are rapidly recognized from The Crucible.

And yet, the dialogue is very much 1990s as opposed to 1600's. Soooooooooo. We again return to shitty writing style.

So bad. Exactly what I would expect from a Buffy novelization but hadn't stumbled upon before. Sad.

36 books in 31 days: Book 10

[Marcia Arguelles · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
It was okay, I guess.

[Deanie Nelder · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the plot of this season 1 era novel was Jossed before season 1 had finished, it's still a clever idea. The Master can escape his hellish underground prison if he (and the souls of his followers) can possess people and recreate the event that got him trapped in the first place.

The first 80-90% of the book was a solid 3.5-4.0 stars. The characters were true to their TV selves and the plot was interesting. And the climax to the book lasted all of 1 page. Buffy stabbed someone. The end. It was over so soon I actually reread back a few pages to make sure I didn't miss anything. Nope. It was a lame end to an otherwise good book.

[Malischa Nijenhuis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morgen deel 5,6,7&8 lezen. Van deze serie🥰😇

[Anastasiaadamov · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not pleased at how the characters behaved and were very far apart from characters in the TV show. I just could not get past that. Also the zombies made no sense...

[BookLoversLife · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was intriguing. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the first one. It took a while to get into, but once I did, i enjoyed the aspect of the gang having to rerun a time before. Each of them are imbued, as such, with a spirit from the time of the Salem Witch trials and have to redo what happened before. It was a fun story line and was easy to read.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 1 out of 5]

Second Buffy tie-in novel, second one-star rating. Why are they so dire? The series was awesome and scary and witty, the books are... not. They're written at such a low level. Infodump in the middle, idiotic ending. The plot is deeply unconvincing (that's putting it kindly) and full of mistakes - why is Buffy saying that she knows what death is like when the Master is still alive? And the less said about how this book presents the Master the better. I was cringing, and not in a good way.

The tone in this one is the biggest culprit - it's trying too hard to be clever and funny every second sentence, and not really succeeding at either. Buffy herself is straining for laughs every line, like she's been transformed into a one-woman gag machine. TV Buffy was witty, but it wasn't her sole characteristic and it wasn't hammered to death. That low level I was talking about? This book reads to me as if its target audience were 10 year old boys, and reluctant readers at that - this is an audience that needs more books, don't get me wrong, but it's not what I expect from Buffy.

[Slayermel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, it would have made an excellent episode. This is a book that was written to go along with season one of Buffy.
Buffy finds herself having very detailed dreams, where she is a past slayer during the Salem Witch Trials. Giles and Xander find themselves also having strange dreams. It would appear all of their dreams are linked and providing them with a clue, to a prophecy of an evil that will try to return. Buffy and her friends will need to try and solve the prophecy and put an end to it before evil is unleashed.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I realize I had already read this back in 2021: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vol. 1

So here's my review of this book: Night of the Living Rerun by Arthur Byron Cover.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4198808174

Definitely recommend!! WARNING! There will be spoilers for Coyote Moon and Portal Through Time in the review above!!

[Pearl · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ★

It's got the OG Scooby Gang plus Salem Witch Trails, what more can you ask for?

I wasn't expecting anything amazing or mind blowing going in, just wish the climax was more than one page....Seems like the author gave up on the story and wanted to wrap it up as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, this would have been a really fun episode to watch!

[Stefy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a lover of this one at all and the ending was so…eh

Makes me wonder what I thought way back when I first read this.

I like the idea of past lives intertwining with the present to create the story but it was so…like a badly acted movie/tv show 😆

Ah well, at least it’s another book down

[Ulrik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Årets sidste læsning - i hvert fald noget som færdiggøres - er denne lille bog. Jeg er i gang med et større Buffy projekt, hvor jeg via buffyorder.com genser tv-serien og læser tilknyttet bøger og tegneserier for første gang. Disse ekstra udgivelser er udmærket og fanger sådan set den rette tone... men det er ikke noget særligt litterært, og vil nok blive glemt kort tid ind i 2019.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this book had an interesting story idea, but it was pretty badly executed and written. It starts with a few very detailed dream sequences that felt unnecessarily long, followed by Buffy giving an incredibly clunky and unnatural exposition dump to Willow about the Salem Witch Trials. There's then another clunky exposition dump by another character about halfway through the book.

But between the exposition dumps and the unnecessarily long dream sequences, I do actually think the idea of Salem inhabitants possessing people in the present day is a fun concept, so it gets 3 stars for that.

Unfortunately, the ending also feels pretty anticlimactic, and ultimately just comes down to throwing one knife at someone and suddenly everything disappears. Also maybe I skimmed over it but I feel like the zombies are just... not mentioned again, no idea where they went or what happened to them? lol

Other irksome things that might just be me being petty: several times the term 'pocketbook' was used, and I can't tell if that's just a very obscure word or if it's a curse of reading a book from 1998. And the phrase 'living rerun' was used about 53 times, especially in the latter half of the book, and while it's a fun analogy for what was happening, I can't help but feel the author thought the title pun was so funny he must remind the reader of it at every available opportunity.

(also, seeing the word 'portable' used to mean a laptop computer was quite funny.)

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don’t be fooled by the title. This has nothing to do with television. Buffy and friends are dealing with resurrected spirits, witchcraft, the schemings of the Master and a horde of ravenous zombies. Just life as usual on the Hellmouth.

The book deftly combines the familiar elements of the television show. Buffy must juggle her private life (wait, she doesn’t have one), keeping her nocturnal activities a secret from her clueless mother and negotiating schoolwork. Her Watcher is ill, Angel is absent, Willow isn’t much and Xander is possessed.

Heh. So there’s plenty of humor to spare as well as lots of action. The Slayer lives in the action and Buffy brings it. Running, fighting or quipping with the bad guys, Buffy’s Slayer is always one to watch. However, here she’s contending with the dreams and personality of another Slayer.

When it’s all over and the dust has settled (but not the mud, unfortunately), Buffy and her friends have an interesting rumination about the nature of prophecy, predestination and fate. If they are all acting out a script laid out years in advance and can be possessed by the souls of other people, how much of their souls and decisions are truly their own? It’s a sobering conversation and a surprising one, given all the conflict that preceded it.

Mr. Cover has given us all the familiar characters with a few new ones, attention grabbing in their own way, along with them. He makes this a fetching addition to the Buffy universe.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

the fact this book was $4.99? tracks.

i'm somewhat - no, very, i'm VERY - convinced that no one working on the actual btvs show greenlit this "novel". the show's caterers could have written the characters better than arthur byron cover. i honestly don't even know where to start with this review, my head is almost as disjointed as that plot line after finishing the last page.

buffy the vampire slayer meets 1600s salem, aka my dream plot and /this/? this is what we get? the master dreaming that he's giving a speech on stage, then basically pissing himself over the thought of the devil (no sorry, "old scratch") interrupting him? joyce dropping lines like "mister, are you alright? you look a fright!" as if she's 1600s dr seuss? the big bad, who actually is from the 1600s, throwing down slang and shouting "bye!" before he dips to cause 'turmoil'? zombies that apparently can rob an armory AND shoot guns? the antagonist beating the master's chest with a literal piece of meat to make a bad stake pun that just wouldn't end? how! every! sentence! ends! like! this!?

THIS?? this is what we get when we mix btvs + salem, massachusetts. okay.

and to think, even with all the above and more (so. much. more.), the part that bothered me the most, out of EVERYTHING this man wrote, was the fact that he had buffy make a pun about dying when the master was STILL ALIVE. i can't. i just can't. at least watch the goddamn show if you're going to write a "book" about it.

[TheMadHatter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 1.5 stars.

A lovely friend gave me a box full of books based on the Tv Show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (a fave show of mine). They are not actually fan-fiction as they are mass produced and published - but they are very like fan-fiction if that makes any sense.

The first two books in this series (reading in chronological order) have been quite painful and make me reluctant to pick up another one. This book made no sense and the writing was bland and didn't even resemble the characters from the show (but it is very early in Season 1 and they were all a bit wooden then anyway). Oh and I just realised this book was released 20 years ago....that may also have something to do with how painful this read was...badly dated fan fic!

The story line was something about Salem Witch Trials and resurrecting the master and zombies...I don't know - it really made little sense. I think I just need to get on to the later books where at least Angel is more than a name mentioned in passing ONCE in the entire book :-P

[Kai (CuriousCompass) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best part of this was the flashbacks to past lives. The side characters were weird, all the reactions felt rubbery and forced, like uncanny valley levels. The mythology and premise were interesting and then just as it got good it kind of devolved into a big boring prolonged chase scene between Buffy and the zombies. Buffy's endurance was admirable but still it didn't save the scene...

Ultimately even Buffy defeating the Master was just so bland and anticlimactic. She just kind of does it out of nowhere and it felt very by the numbers.

Also Willow being obsessed with Xander was too cringe. And don't get me started on calling that one guy a fruitcake lmao.

Ultimately this felt like very amateur fanfic that needed like 3 more rounds of editing.

[whatsonmybookshelf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d give this book a 3.3⭐️

It’s a fun read for a cozy afternoon by the fire, without much expectation other than going along for the ride. For fans of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series, this is certainly a great way to reconnect with the characters once you’ve finished the show.
Overall it was a fun experience, however, the reason for my rating mainly resides in the resolution of the events. The entire book leading to the cliff hanger was great! Neat storytelling, with very believable supernatural occurances and awesome historic connections, but once it’s time to fight the Master and solve the prophecy, there’s all but two sentences dedicated to it. It was plain, unrealistic, and very disappointing! I was hoping for a fight scene, something intriguing and breath stopping, and all I receiver was a steak knife through the heart of my expectations… literally.

In conclusion, this is a fun read for someone looking for a simple way to pass the time with a cool supernatural story, but the ending is very wishy-washy.

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set during season 1 of the TV show, this stand-alone story sees Buffy and the gang dream a lot. For such a small story, there are a lot of characters and a convoluted plot. There are some interesting moments, particularly, Xander's possession by the ghost of a witch (and walking as used to a different set of hips), but there's an awful lot of not much really happening. Giles is ill, Willow sits at a computer, Buffy can't kill (the baddies are possessed, not evil), Angel's off brooding somewhere and...oh wait, it's season one, that's that whole gang. Conversely, adding the Master as the main evil behind the shenanigans actually made what plot there was, nonsensical. As with Coyote Moon, the whole big evil bad thing that could threaten life as we know it is...suddenly defeated and that's it, the end.
This could almost be truncated to the sequence before the opening credits which would then lead into the real meat of the story

[Halcyon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Herhaling van het Verleden is een kort, vlot lezend boek dat te maken heeft met evenementen die 300 jaar in het verleden ook al plaatsvonden in Salem, Massachusetts. Buffy, Giles en Xander beginnen te dromen over de Doder, Waker en een heks die in het verleden leefden, tesamen met nog andere figuren. Deze figuren hadden als doel de Meester proberen te bevrijden, en dat hebben ze nu ook weer.

Ik denk dat je het al ziet aankomen... Dat is zowat het hele verhaal.

Er zijn wel enkele leuke momenten in het boek ingewerkt, zoals bijvoorbeeld Buffy die achtervolgd wordt door zombies, maar in het algemeen is de rating van het boek dat het 'oké' is, maar niet veel speciaals. Halloween (Rain) was beter.

Toch veel leesgenot!

PS: Dit boek had ik al op 11 of 11 juni 2010 gelezen, maar GoodReads heeft besloten om de datum te deleten na het toevoegen van de nieuwe leesdatum. Dankjewel, GoodReads!

[MacKenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️ 2.5 stars ⭐️

Ok honestly? This is my least favourite out of the three-in-one Buffy book that also contains Coyote Moon and Portal Through Time

Listen, I find the Salem Witch trials fascinating, and I liked the flashback moments, but I honestly don't care much for the main parts of the book? Also every time I reread this book I leave feeling mildly confused about something.

I do not like Rick Church "he stared at Willow like she was the only girl in the world" sir that is a high schooler. And you're married. I don't understand why this was necessary

I did like Laura Church though. I will say that Eric Frank and Daniel MacGovern kind of melded together for me tbh, I forgot who did what a lot of the time.

The zombies felt out of place in my opinion. I did like the passages from The Master's perspective, even if I don't think that's how he actually would think and act. I just think they're funny

Anyway, it's just alright. Had a good setup, but didn't hit for me

[Francisco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coming out towards the end of the second season of Buffy on the TVs of the day, but set somewhere around the middle of the first season, Night of the Living Rerun is an OK novel which sometimes feels like it was not written for Buffy at all, but adapted into the Buffy universe.~

This feeling comes from the central idea of having the characters all possessed by characters from the Salem witch trials, and reenacting events from history in a way that is pretty detached from the actual Sunnydale setting of the Buffyverse. 

However, it's still a fun little novel, although not really an essential one, for Buffy fans, fortunately at well under 200 pages, it's not like it will take up much of your time.

[Patrick Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent first season adventure for the Scoobies that I was able to read in less time than listening to the soundtrack of the show which accompanied my reading.

The Salem Witch Trials and a Witch hunter from that time begin to appear in the gang's dreams, foreshadowing that past events are about to replay with horrific results.

I really enjoyed the story in the past involving the witches and the hunter. The action in the present was okay, with the threat being reanimated corpses--traditionally zombies, not the Romero kind. The ending was a bit quick, but felt like a television episode.

[Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I rate a tie-in novel as 5 stars, that means my main thought while reading it is: "Why wasn't this an episode?!" First of all, everything is connected to the Salem witch trials (which has always fascinated me), and also the story raises a lot of interesting questions regarding destiny and the ideas of reincarnation.

The only downside is that I do not understand the point of having Giles channel the spirit of Kane's Watcher because they don't learn anything from that spirit and all it does is make him sick for the last part of the adventure. Seriously, he could have been possessed by anyone's spirit in the case.

[Sohxpie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This TV tie-in novel has a fairly interesting plot that can at times be a little confusing to follow. I found myself a little confused at who everyone was and what purpose certain characters served the story. I think this could easily be solved with just a little more time spent introducing some of the characters. I did enjoy the story though, the parallels with the story of the Salem Witch Trials was interesting. I found the characterisation a little flat. There wasn't as much sarcasm or dry humour as you'd expect but overall, a fairly decent read.