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Buffyverse Novels #39
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Unnatural Selection
Willow's trying to earn a little pocket change by taking the usual teenage part-time job -- baby-sitting the neighbor's kid. But her child-care chores turn into a scene from a horror movie when the baby gives her the evil eye and attacks.
Barely saved from the tiny terror by Cordelia, Willow can't forget the missing human child -- or the monstrous thing left in its place. The childish changeling keeps coming back to haunt and taunt her. Buffy and her posse soon discover a possible connection between Willow's infant interloper and some strange artifacts Giles found at a local archaeological dig.
The evil plaguing Willow was once trapped underground. Now that it has been unearthed by new construction on the property, it's ready to cause some major mischief...and worse.
Barely saved from the tiny terror by Cordelia, Willow can't forget the missing human child -- or the monstrous thing left in its place. The childish changeling keeps coming back to haunt and taunt her. Buffy and her posse soon discover a possible connection between Willow's infant interloper and some strange artifacts Giles found at a local archaeological dig.
The evil plaguing Willow was once trapped underground. Now that it has been unearthed by new construction on the property, it's ready to cause some major mischief...and worse.
224 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1999
5 people are currently reading
612 people want to read
About the author
Mel Odom
281 books273 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
aka Jordan Gray
Mel Odom is a bestselling writer for hire for Wizards of the Coast's Forgotten Realms, Gold Eagle's Mack Bolan, and Pocket's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel book lines. His debut SF novel Lethal Interface made the Locus recommended list . The Rover was an Alyx Award winner. He has also written a scientific adventure of the high seas set in the 19th century entitled Hunters of the Dark Sea. He lives in Oklahoma.
aka Jordan Gray
Mel Odom is a bestselling writer for hire for Wizards of the Coast's Forgotten Realms, Gold Eagle's Mack Bolan, and Pocket's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel book lines. His debut SF novel Lethal Interface made the Locus recommended list . The Rover was an Alyx Award winner. He has also written a scientific adventure of the high seas set in the 19th century entitled Hunters of the Dark Sea. He lives in Oklahoma.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
March 14, 2023
This is one of the earlier young-reader-oriented Buffy novels, set somewhere in the third year of the television continuity. It features Willow, though Cordelia has some good moments, too. Fairies are the baddies-of-the-week, particularly the changeling myth. The plot hinges on an artifact that Giles has pilfered from a local archaeological dig, but other than that weak link it's a pretty good story.
June 1, 2023
Buffy fights faeries that have been snatching the babies of employees of a development company with plans to build an amusement park. Willow and her green-loving friends object to the project and become embroiled in the conflict. Angel, Xander Oz, Giles and Cordelia assist in fending off the faeries.
September 7, 2019
A pretty fun and entertaining, from start to finish, Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel.
It has all the players, including faeries and changelings. Mystery objects and big bads, and our gang saving the day. :)
It has all the players, including faeries and changelings. Mystery objects and big bads, and our gang saving the day. :)
February 24, 2025
Didn't quite capture the voice of the show, but still enjoyable. A High school kid (football commando) wouldn't say "roughshod."
May 29, 2025
I’m a mood reader and this was a choice from utter lethargy 😂
Read
August 26, 2017Fairly typical Buffy fare. Not a bad tale. =)
August 4, 2013
I recently watched all 7 season’s of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and was finally able to get to one of my novelizations/tv-tie-in editions. I was not disappointed in the story at all, I just feel that Buffy as a character, with all the butt kicking that she does, doesn’t translate well into words. However, all the other characters were still awesome!
I have one complaint, and it has nothing to do with the writing or the story, but with a personal gripe: there is an archaeological excavation involved in the story, and even though Giles has apparently been on archaeological dig before, they treat it like a sandbox where they can just dig wildly for this ancient lantern. The artifacts they find just get discarded and at some point Giles takes some odd looking artifacts so he can study them. Buffy does give him some grief over this, but “for the greater good” eventually wins. I know it is silly, but I was very disappointed in Giles here.
I liked that Willow was the main character in this novel and that it was a bit creepy! The novel wasn’t all that great, but it wasn’t bad either. I think if it wasn’t a Buffy novel I might have not liked it as much as I did.
Overall: 3.5 stars
I have one complaint, and it has nothing to do with the writing or the story, but with a personal gripe: there is an archaeological excavation involved in the story, and even though Giles has apparently been on archaeological dig before, they treat it like a sandbox where they can just dig wildly for this ancient lantern. The artifacts they find just get discarded and at some point Giles takes some odd looking artifacts so he can study them. Buffy does give him some grief over this, but “for the greater good” eventually wins. I know it is silly, but I was very disappointed in Giles here.
I liked that Willow was the main character in this novel and that it was a bit creepy! The novel wasn’t all that great, but it wasn’t bad either. I think if it wasn’t a Buffy novel I might have not liked it as much as I did.
Overall: 3.5 stars
December 5, 2012
If you are a fan of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, then I think you will like this book. This book is like a filler episode in the series. Willow babysits for a family who's child is anything but a sweet and innocent child. This story has all the characters you love from the series and they continue the storyline from the series. A nice read for fans of the show.
February 14, 2019
3*
This book is Willow centric and I loved it for that. It starts kinda odd and dark almost right away but then lightens even though we're still talking about children/babies being replaces by entities as they are kidnapped.
To be honest, even after I finished reading and it got explained a little bit, I am still unsure why the faeries had to do that. And I thought the plot points had holes or were not all that clear. I mean, save the park, save the forest for us... which made me think of the Willow and Tara comic where they actually confront a deity of sort for a forest... and it became more a point of the faeries wanna take over and use the Hellmouth and a sacrifice to do so. Also, changelings getting in the mix, though a nice touch, felt confusing as they came basically out of nowhere. Also, why did the vampires truly want the lantern? I feel I missed out on that explanation.
This is supposed to happen in season 3 and everyone knows Angel's back and accepted that fact. Xander and Cordy are still together. No mention of Faith though. I saw a review naming Wesley not being there either but this is fine, in my opinion. I am just a bit confused as to where exactly it fits canonically with the show. It's a definite filler though.
Overall an okay read. The characters read true to who they are for the most part. There are holes in the story however and unrealistic things happening when it comes to the dig site and items found and actions took then but otherwise, I am glad I read this nonetheless.
This book is Willow centric and I loved it for that. It starts kinda odd and dark almost right away but then lightens even though we're still talking about children/babies being replaces by entities as they are kidnapped.
To be honest, even after I finished reading and it got explained a little bit, I am still unsure why the faeries had to do that. And I thought the plot points had holes or were not all that clear. I mean, save the park, save the forest for us... which made me think of the Willow and Tara comic where they actually confront a deity of sort for a forest... and it became more a point of the faeries wanna take over and use the Hellmouth and a sacrifice to do so. Also, changelings getting in the mix, though a nice touch, felt confusing as they came basically out of nowhere. Also, why did the vampires truly want the lantern? I feel I missed out on that explanation.
This is supposed to happen in season 3 and everyone knows Angel's back and accepted that fact. Xander and Cordy are still together. No mention of Faith though. I saw a review naming Wesley not being there either but this is fine, in my opinion. I am just a bit confused as to where exactly it fits canonically with the show. It's a definite filler though.
Overall an okay read. The characters read true to who they are for the most part. There are holes in the story however and unrealistic things happening when it comes to the dig site and items found and actions took then but otherwise, I am glad I read this nonetheless.
December 26, 2022
It was a great read to distract from family holiday drama! (light spoilers ahead)
Picked this up on Christmas Day and got started. I won’t lie, as soon as I read about babies being stolen, my friend and I were making Glee show related jokes about Terri Schuester being the thief! But I’ll take eco-terrorist faeries instead. The Willow parts and Xander + Hutch sections were definitely the highlights of the book, and also loved the Cordy moments, but I’m always biased towards her.
It was nice, short, and would’ve been great as an actual episode!
Picked this up on Christmas Day and got started. I won’t lie, as soon as I read about babies being stolen, my friend and I were making Glee show related jokes about Terri Schuester being the thief! But I’ll take eco-terrorist faeries instead. The Willow parts and Xander + Hutch sections were definitely the highlights of the book, and also loved the Cordy moments, but I’m always biased towards her.
It was nice, short, and would’ve been great as an actual episode!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2018
Another review compares this to a filler episode of Buffy and I think that's pretty accurate. I'd also agree that perhaps the fight scenes don't necessarily translate all that well to the page but you can't really have Buffy without a fight or thirteen so it is what it is.
I really liked Cordelia and wish we'd gotten more of her and I also liked the baddies, but overall it just didn't quite scratch the Buffy itch for me. Not bad but not terrific either, I suppose.
I really liked Cordelia and wish we'd gotten more of her and I also liked the baddies, but overall it just didn't quite scratch the Buffy itch for me. Not bad but not terrific either, I suppose.
September 19, 2017
It had an interesting plot, I'm just not sure where in season 3 this is supposed to be plausible as there is no mention of Faith/the Mayor or Wesley; this book details the Spring Blow-Out Bash and how Xander gets dragged by hia girlfriend Cordelia. Xander and Cordy were broken up fairly early in season 3 and never got back together....
July 21, 2018
My first Buffy book! Bookshop had it on their special cheap shelf so I figured why not :D
The beginning was actually quite scary and I was worried I wouldn't like it, but it was pretty good - good enough that I'll probably pick up another at some point and make more of an effort to finally get around to watching the show.
The beginning was actually quite scary and I was worried I wouldn't like it, but it was pretty good - good enough that I'll probably pick up another at some point and make more of an effort to finally get around to watching the show.
June 21, 2021
Monster of the week: Fairies.
Having read a bunch of episode novelisations, it was refreshing to read an original story. Okay, this did read like a standard episode, but then it's supposed it. It fitted right in with the novelisations so well that I had to check and conform this really wasn't an episode I'd seen.
Nothing particularly special, but nothing going against it either.
Having read a bunch of episode novelisations, it was refreshing to read an original story. Okay, this did read like a standard episode, but then it's supposed it. It fitted right in with the novelisations so well that I had to check and conform this really wasn't an episode I'd seen.
Nothing particularly special, but nothing going against it either.
March 26, 2019
Je ne suis pas super fan de tout ce qui touche aux fées et j'avais un peu peur en lisant la quatrième de couverture mais au final l'histoire n'est pas mauvaise du tout et ça se lit plus que rapidement.
October 8, 2019
Good one. Willow is baby sitting for the uber rich; baby is kidnapped by faeries and leaves a changeling in its place. Buffy, Angel, Xander, Cordy and Giles team up with Oz to help Willow get the baby back.
October 24, 2020
As a huge Buffy fan i just loved this book..
The story is pretty fun and interesting with the faries and changellings but it's definitely the Buffy vibe that made it a high star rating.. If you haven't seen Buffy before this book would still be enjoyable tho
The story is pretty fun and interesting with the faries and changellings but it's definitely the Buffy vibe that made it a high star rating.. If you haven't seen Buffy before this book would still be enjoyable tho
February 1, 2023
I enjoyed the middle part of this book - the opening felt a little too slow, and then the ending felt like a massive exposition dump from Giles's friend, and I feel like maybe there were a few too many elements all thrown in together.
May 1, 2024
This story kept me interested from beginning to end, and it all made sense. There wasn’t any filler or anything that made you wonder why it was there. I really like the folklore aspect with the faeries and changelings. All of the characters were spot on. Felt like an actual Buffy episode.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 18, 2024
Was this a well-written book? No, not really...
Did I enjoy this a lot? Yeeeeees
Did I enjoy this a lot? Yeeeeees
August 11, 2016
Was given this book as a present as I am a big fan of Buffy, but unfortunately it's just not good. If it wasn't for the picture on the front you wouldn't even recognise it as an offical Buffy book.
Willow is babysitting for the Campbells. Mr Campbell works for Gallivan Industries - a company who are intending to turn a nearby park into a theme park, which Willow doesn't want to happen.
While babysitting Willow hears a noise, and when she investigates finds that the baby has been possessed by something. The baby tells her that she must 'protect the forest' (the park site), and flies out the window.
Meanwhile, Buffy and Giles find an old Russian artifact at an ancient dig site in the park, and when they hear about what happened to Willow, Giles postulates that maybe the baby was a changling.
Some dithering around later, Giles finds out from a source that another artifact thought to be on the site was supposedly home to a hoard of old Russian faeries, which confirms his theory of changlings.
Willow is then taken hostage by said faeries, and the gang must get her back.
As a stand alone novel this is bad, as a Buffy novel it's even worse. The storyline is just unbelievable a lot of the time, and the way information is obtained is just a joke. The characterisation is also awful. You just can't imagine Buffy or Willow saying the things they say or doing the things they do, and although there are a few lines representative of Giles and Xander, overall they're not recognisable either.
Unfortunately this book is just poor as a Buffy novel, and I'd recommend you steer clear.
Willow is babysitting for the Campbells. Mr Campbell works for Gallivan Industries - a company who are intending to turn a nearby park into a theme park, which Willow doesn't want to happen.
While babysitting Willow hears a noise, and when she investigates finds that the baby has been possessed by something. The baby tells her that she must 'protect the forest' (the park site), and flies out the window.
Meanwhile, Buffy and Giles find an old Russian artifact at an ancient dig site in the park, and when they hear about what happened to Willow, Giles postulates that maybe the baby was a changling.
Some dithering around later, Giles finds out from a source that another artifact thought to be on the site was supposedly home to a hoard of old Russian faeries, which confirms his theory of changlings.
Willow is then taken hostage by said faeries, and the gang must get her back.
As a stand alone novel this is bad, as a Buffy novel it's even worse. The storyline is just unbelievable a lot of the time, and the way information is obtained is just a joke. The characterisation is also awful. You just can't imagine Buffy or Willow saying the things they say or doing the things they do, and although there are a few lines representative of Giles and Xander, overall they're not recognisable either.
Unfortunately this book is just poor as a Buffy novel, and I'd recommend you steer clear.
October 13, 2021
It was a quick and easy read, although I did find that there wasn’t much character development. This isn’t a huge issue since it’s based on a TV show where characters are already established, but it did make reading a bit less enjoyable. Despite this, I did like some of Cordelia’s characterisation and the set up of her rivalry with Willow (especially since, despite a bit of competition, they were still friends and Cordelia was willing to help her out). I wasn’t a massive fan of the fighting scenes, although I don’t read much action packed stuff so thats more personal preference than a critique of the writing. Overall, it was a fun story and fast-paced, which is what I’d been looking for when I picked it up.
May 25, 2012
This was just a book I wanted to read one more time for old-times sake since I am giving it away. I remember not liking this one too well, but I was actually a little surprised re-reading it. I loved the first part of the book. It really kept my attention. Mel Odom did a great job at keeping the characters in-character. However, the second part of the book just didn't keep my attention as much. Still, it was enjoyable none-the-less.
August 6, 2013
Star Trek (any generation), Aliens, Predators, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer...I always enjoy reading a book from any of these series. I had a lot of fun with this particular Buffy book. This time Buffy and the gang had to deal with fairies! According to this novel, the tiny critters are as nasty as can be, and have no use for humans or vampires.The whole High School crew is present for this quick and enjoyable read.
October 24, 2024
So apparently I already read this book in 2017 hahah. But my review below pretty much still stands 7 years:
Not the best, not the worst. This buffy book is just average. I prefer Mel Odom's angel books much more than his buffy ones. However I give him an A for originality because it deals with fairies, something the show never did.
Not the best, not the worst. This buffy book is just average. I prefer Mel Odom's angel books much more than his buffy ones. However I give him an A for originality because it deals with fairies, something the show never did.
October 15, 2013
The thing I really enjoyed about this book was the way in which the action started right away. Usually it eases in to the drama slowly, this was a great read because it dealt with a subject matter I've never seen before, faeries and changelings. Once again it was well written with the much loved Buffy idiosyncrasies that we've come to know and love! A must read for all Scooby Gang fans.
September 7, 2008
And Another Buffy Book...
February 25, 2019
Another good story, from my favorite Buffy season
May 7, 2016
It has some nostalgic value, but definitely looks better on screen.
June 18, 2023
It read just like a typical standalone, early day buffy episode.
The characters were written perfectly, even their speech patterns.
However the storyline didn't blow my mind
The characters were written perfectly, even their speech patterns.
However the storyline didn't blow my mind
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews