Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds

Buffyverse Novels #69

by James A. Moore

Buffy Summers makes enemies. Powerful ones. She can't avoid it -- it goes with the job of being the Slayer, the one girl in all the world with the strength to destroy vampires and demons. Those who fall foul of her and live to tell the tale tend to harbour resentment and thoughts of revenge. One such is Ethan Rayne; devious, treacherous and suave. Ethan has a history with Giles, too. Their dabbling in the occult in their wilder student days led Giles to accept his destiny as a Watcher and set Ethan firmly on the path to darkness. Now Ethan returns to Sunnydale -- surprisingly, asking for Buffy's help. He seems to have roused The First, the ancient evil that predates humankind. But then The First offers Ethan a deal which will gain him ultimate power. All Ethan has to do in exchange is to lure Buffy into battle...

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

324 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2003

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

James A. Moore was the award winning author of over forty novels, thrillers, dark fantasy and horror alike, including the critically acclaimed Fireworks, Under The Overtree, Blood Red, the Serenity Falls trilogy (featuring his recurring anti-hero, Jonathan Crowley) and his most recent novels, seven Forges, The Blasted Lands, City of Wonders , The Silent Army and the forthcoming The Gates of The Dead (Book Three in the Tides of War Series) and A Hell Within, co-authored with Charles R. Rutledge.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, this is a novel based on a video game that was based on a television series that was spun off from a movie, so the structure was pretty well defined from the start. There's not much in the way of nuanced character development, but it's an entertaining romp. It's like a comic in which a superhero team faces off against a super villain team and it's pretty much non-stop action and mayhem. It was fun to see the return of Ethan Rayne and The First and Sid, and Moore did interesting things with changing viewpoints to characters who were usually sideliners. I was never inclined to play the game, but I enjoyed the fast read.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

The game was pretty fun, but I've learned that game novelizations can sometimes be better than the game itself... So far that's not the case here. It's boring to read page after page of action. So far there's not enough fun or character moments.

[Terese]

”Oh, my God, no…”

Buffy shook her head, denying what she saw, what was happening to the grave where she’d laid the most important woman in her life to rest. Her feet kicked the lawn, pushing her back away from the grave.

”Mom… no…”



A book based on the game?
Yeah, I had to check it out, and actually, it holds up really well. The set up takes about half the book, but that set up is mainly action, so it isn’t slow.

We have Ethan Rayne, Faith, Sid, and Kakistos all returning to the plot. Ethan is the most fun, because Ethan is the scheemer that sets the whole plot up and gets the characters into the game setting, if you will.

It set in season 5. Joyce is dead, Tara and Willow together, Spike unhappily in love, Buffy alive, Glory not really a thing for the plot to concern itself with

Starts the Scoobies section with Xander wondering what if things had been different and he and Buffy had gotten together…

Ends with Buffy taking a human life and noting that it is the first time she has had to do that.

And then also A CAN O’ WORMS of The First lore is opened. Because for the Kakistos of it all, the First is really the villain… it has to be defeated with ”hope’s dagger” (is that in the game?) which is the ONLY thing that can kill/neutralize the First *cough cough* s7 calling…

They say about the First that

”It is a power that transcends reality, time, and space. Which means it can tap into all possible realities as well as all times accessing the past and future.”

Which makes it seem way more powerful than it is in s7?

Oh well, it is a fun read though and made me wish I could play the game again, I prefered the first game but Chaos Bleeds was fun, especially as you got to play different characters. If you liked the game back in the day, you’ll probably think this is a fun read

[Alanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong parallels to Silent Hill. A bit too strong for my tastes, actually.

[Karen Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a fan of the tv series, then you will enjoy this installment of the Buffy series of novels. Based on a video game, it's a non stop action ride through alternate dimensions and brings back a host of villains who have plagued Buffy and the Scooby gang in the past. Set in the series ' sixth season, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Tara, Anya, Spike and the recently released from prison Faith do battle with Ethan Rayne, who has struck a deal with the First Evil that will reward him with unlimited power at the cost of the lives of Buffy and her companions. One of the most intriguing aspects of the plot is the characters having to do battle with the evil counterparts of theIr friends in alternate timelines. Did I mention that there is a lot of action, because there is with fight scenes galore with Buffy doing her usual sport of kicking undead rear, taken to extreme levels. There is also the requisite one liners and quips from Buffy and her crew as they take on whatever comes their way. The plot is a little thin, having come from a video game, but the action scenes take your mind off of that very well. Recommended for Buffy fans.

[Jessie Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This definitely wasn't one of my favourites. It's very action packed, which actually doesn't do it any favours; so many chunks of this were hard to get through because reading action scenes isn't the easiest for me. The storyline was really good though, The First puts Buffy, Willow, Xander, Spike, and Faith through psychological and physical torment, so they have to form an uneasy alliance with Ethan Rayne to try and defeat The First. Reading this, you can see how it's a video game - the plot is a little thin, but sets up lots of fight scenarios. I've never played the game, so it was nice to read this for the story, but I imagine it's much better in it's game form! The characters are written accurately to how they are in the show, and it was nice to have sections from the perspective of Faith and Spike, as we don't get that a lot in these books. I wouldn't recommend this to newbies of the Buffy novels as its not as fun, quick, and easy as some of the others.

[SpookyxSpice · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stuck with it and slogged through it. I wasn't a fan of how the characters were written and I agree with others that there is just too much action and not enough character work. It feels cold. Which is a shame because the premise for the story is actually a decent one.
I feel like the execution of it was just off.

[Rhiannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very low three. There was a very interesting plot here that was done a disservice by some wonky characterisation and the unnecessarily long fight scenes. Yes, this is based on a video game but that’s no excuse for reading like one! It took too long for the actual meat of the plot to come into play and by that point there’s only 100 pages left. The ending is far too abrupt too

[SHR · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weakest Buffy book I have read to date. I have no doubt other people will love it.
It is based on a video game and it shows: very little plot, no character development, light on descriptions, the action moves from one fight scene to the next, with pages and pages (a mind numbing number of pages) of (excruciatingly) detailed descriptions of the battles, culminating in a weak ending.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I quite enjoyed playing the game of Chaos Bleeds, I found the book to be quite lacking. Obviously books and movies based off of video games are often cheesy, lack true plot development, and have two (if not one) dimensional characters. What bothered me with this book was the fact that the author was working with such a well established set of characters and had the potential to go so much further with it. First off, the beginning dragged. Too much time was set up in Sunnydale, making the "mystery" of Kakistos's return seem to take forever. Once the ball got rolling, things picked up a bit, but still not to the level that one would hope. In fact, once the Scooby Gang made it to the First's warped verision of Sunnydale, the rest of the book was crammed in to the final few chapters, despite being about half of the video game. All in all, I wish that Christopher Golden (who both co-wrote the script for the game and has written other Buffy and sci-fi and fantasy novels) would have stepped up and really fleshed out what was a good concept. Obviously not true Buffy canon, especially with season seven's events, but this could have been a fun little adventure instead of the a plot that just drug along. I debated over the overall rating bt went two because some parts weren't too bad and a bad BtVS book is better than BtVS book.










Super!

While I quite enjoyed playing the game of Chaos Bleeds, I found the book to be quite lacking. Obviously books and movies based off of video games are often cheesy, lack true plot development, and have two (if not one) dimensional characters. What bothered me with this book was the fact that the author was working with such a well established set of characters and had the potential to go so much further with it. First off, the beginning dragged. Too much time was set up in Sunnydale, making the "mystery" of Kakistos's return seem to take forever. Once the ball got rolling, things picked up a bit, but still not to the level that one would hope. In fact, once the Scooby Gang made it to the First's warped verision of Sunnydale, the rest of the book was crammed in to the final few chapters, despite being about half of the video game. All in all, I wish that Christopher Golden (who both co-wrote the script for the game and has written other Buffy and sci-fi and fantasy novels) would have stepped up and really fleshed out what was a good concept. Obviously not true Buffy canon, especially with season seven's events, but this could have been a fun little adventure instead of the a plot that just drug along. I debated over the overall rating bt went two because some parts weren't too bad and a bad BtVS book is better than BtVS book. (Probably more of a 2.5, than 2)

[Jim C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is based on the television series. This takes place before season seven and uses the character The First. Basically everything that happens in season seven is not pertinent in this novel. In this one, The First selects several warriors and challenges Buffy and her friends to a death match in an alternate dimension.

This is actually the novelization of a video game and it reads like it. The reader can basically tell when the next "level" must happen in the game because in this book there is an extravagant fight scene. There was too much fights and not enough build up of character. I know author's hands are tied when dealing with established characters but this book put forth little effort. Also, I thought the dialogue was trying too hard and I have no idea if the quotes are taken from the game. I will admit the action scenes were well done and I did love the inclusion of the character of Sid the dummy.

This wasn't the best book in this universe but it isn't the worst either. I never played the game that this book is based on and maybe readers who played that game would enjoy this novel. Just take it with a grain of salt since this book is irrelevant because of season seven.

[Janet Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I understand that this book was based on a game, so I want to give it some credit for not being amazingly bad, but it wasn't actually very good. It was tolerable.

The storyline could have been better developed. Again, I understand this was based on a game, but that doesn't mean it has to only go by what happens in the game. The author could have gotten a little more creative with it.

There were points where the story was confusing and complicated in the beginning, but it got too rushed towards the end. There was a lot of time spent talking about Kakistos, who was basically a minor character, but not much time spent talking about Ethan, Cassandra, or even the First, all of whom should have had bigger parts in this book.

There were also some points where things just seemed to simple. When Buffy was looking for her friends in the alternate reality, she found them too fast. That may have been how the game unfolded, but in book form, it really made the story seem weak.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Novels written from screenplays are one thing, and often sound a bit 'clunky' in the delivery, but novels written from computer games.... I was not impressed. I appreciate that, in the game, the whole point is to push characters from one fight to the next and that a thorough explanation of why is not always needed, but in the book it didn't work for me. I wanted more explanation, more interaction between the characters, and less of the ending one battle only to be thrown into another with no time to figure out why the first one even happened. Some of the Buffy books that have accompanied the TV series have been very well written, some have not. On the whole I have enjoyed them and would happily continue to read them, however, if they turn any other Buffy games into books I will give them a pass.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as Buffy adaptations go it was okay, but not great. Apparently it is a tie to a video game I never did so maybe that is why it did not work for me like some of the other books. The characters were done right and the storyline was good it was just overall mediocre. The main thing i did not like was the overly long chapters some were nearly 50 pages long and you wondered when you would get to the end of them which isn't a good sign. Also it took me over a 100 pages to get into it. Before 150 pages I would have only given it 2 stars but it picked up enough to finish it and end up with 3 stars.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book, but suffers from a terrible pacing problem, dealing with Kakistos instead of the actual threat for 200 pages, leaving 100 to condense half of the video game into one chapter, and the final battle into three or four pages. Plus the author has some strange fixation with referring to all of the characters by their full names, which gets a bit grating.

I did enjoy the Willow commentary however, with some very good links to her downward spiral in Season 6, and Spike's inner monologue is also quite telling too.

But yes, pacing problems aside, this isn't too bad.

[Bear · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was actually an aawesome enterpretation of the video game, which is not an easy accomplishment. It was gory, far more so than the game, but it was worth it.
Bringing the Buffy-verse alive in print is not easy, and yet the author did just that!

[bluetyson]

isbn,original

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have played the video game, which this book is based on, and I love the game. Like Tempted Champions, it has been a while since I'd read this, so I'll have to re-read it.

[the 216 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Made more sense than the game did.

[♡ Jeri's Book Attic ♡ Jeri the Romance Bibiliophile ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]