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Buffyverse Novels #40
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Obsidian Fate
On the outskirts of Sunnydale, recent rains have uncovered the remains of a five hundred-year-old Spanish expedition. But one of the artifacts, a smoky mirror with an ornately carved obsidian frame, goes missing, along with the history teacher who found it. And when Buffy narrowly escapes the attack of a black jaguar while on patrol, Giles puts the gang into research mode.
An ancient volume identifies the missing mirror as a magical object formed by the Aztec god of darkness. A mortal who looks into the mirror will see his or her fate -- and can be manipulated by the evil god, who is scheming to regain his power.
Taking their destinies into their own hands, the Slayer and her friends rush into a ferocious battle between light and darkness in the shadows of a massive Aztec temple, a battle against perpetual night -- and the evil that thrives in the dark hours
An ancient volume identifies the missing mirror as a magical object formed by the Aztec god of darkness. A mortal who looks into the mirror will see his or her fate -- and can be manipulated by the evil god, who is scheming to regain his power.
Taking their destinies into their own hands, the Slayer and her friends rush into a ferocious battle between light and darkness in the shadows of a massive Aztec temple, a battle against perpetual night -- and the evil that thrives in the dark hours
304 pages, Paperback
First published October 27, 2001
3 people are currently reading
664 people want to read
About the author
Diana G. Gallagher
156 books54 followersDiana G. Gallagher was an American author who wrote books for children and young adults. She also wrote the space opera The Alien Dark (1990), but was best known for her tie-in work for television properties including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Charmed, Star Trek and The Secret World of Alex Mack, among others.
She was also a prolific filk creator, winning Pegasus Awards in 1986 and ’94. Gallagher won a Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist in 1988 under the name Diana Gallagher Wu. She sometimes also wrote under the name Diana Burke.
Born in 1946, in Paterson, New Jersey, she lived in Florida with her husband, the writer Martin R. Burke, who predeceased her in 2011. Gallagher was married four times; her third marriage was to author William F. Wu (divorced 1990).
Gallagher died December 2, 2021 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at 75 years of age.
She was also a prolific filk creator, winning Pegasus Awards in 1986 and ’94. Gallagher won a Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist in 1988 under the name Diana Gallagher Wu. She sometimes also wrote under the name Diana Burke.
Born in 1946, in Paterson, New Jersey, she lived in Florida with her husband, the writer Martin R. Burke, who predeceased her in 2011. Gallagher was married four times; her third marriage was to author William F. Wu (divorced 1990).
Gallagher died December 2, 2021 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at 75 years of age.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
March 26, 2023
Wow, there sure were a lot of ancient ruins around Sunnydale. Maybe the Hellmouth acted as a mystic magnet or something? Seems like they couldn't plant a garden without digging up an evil artifact or three. Anyway, this is one of the earlier Buffy the Vampire Slayer tie-in novels, set around the third season. The mayor and Mr. Trick get up to their old...you know..., and there's ancient Aztec deviltry with a black jaguar. The characters are quite well portrayed and it's an interesting outing for the crew with a good story and it's well-written.... but then the ending kind of flops.
May 27, 2025
i purchased this book from an almost 80 year old woman, originally from the arctic circle, who owns the only bookstore in san pedro and has lived here for 27 years. her name is Sina. it was pretty good.
February 13, 2013
I realize that this book is not intended to win a literary prize, it is there just to entertain teenagers, I presume, but still I could not shake off the feeling of being robbed of time, haha. There is a big difference between fantasy and unreality and here I see more of the latter than the first. Buffy is a vampire slayer, but we learn nothing of vampires. Angel's history is only hinted at, there is a vampire leader, but the rest obviously does not concern us. Buffy anyway kills them like fodder, five at a time. Cool, very cool. I can see it happening in front of my inner eye!! Seriously, this bored me to death. The story had its good and its bad moments. But the grande finale as well as Buffy's character.. ridiculous jumps into my mind. I would have given 1 star, but actually there were enough funny moments that I liked, granting this book a second star. Not worth anything more..
March 6, 2023
This was maybe one of the strongest Buffy novels I've read so far - the characters really felt spot on for the most part, and the mystery villain was intriguing. Unfortunately I felt like the ending let it down a little bit, the villains are essentially defeated by just... not doing anything, and then there's an external force that gives us a very convoluted final battle.
Also, I know this is nitpicking, but Angelus was spelt Angeles and Wilkins was spelt Wilkens throughout the book, and these things matter to picky people like me!!
Also, I know this is nitpicking, but Angelus was spelt Angeles and Wilkins was spelt Wilkens throughout the book, and these things matter to picky people like me!!
January 20, 2018
i dont care about the Aztec history, theres too much non-buffy characters and im not interested in them. the premise of the camping trip is lame.
June 8, 2023
Another really good installment in this series.
Introducing and focusing on new characters can be a bit of a hit or miss in an established universe, even if you understand the need for it. I mean there's only so much you can do with pre-established characters + not being able to disrupt the events of the series.
That said, it happened, it happened!
One of these books finally acknowledged the existence of Faith! She's not in it, and is just mentioned briefly as being a Slayer too, but still, it was nice to have her as an acknowledged inverse existence.
This was another of these books that was surprisingly good, I can't help but compare it to Holder's "Blood and Fog" and what made this one better... see, in this one Gallagher uses Scooby research + possessed or already established characters to introduce the threat and its lore. It works because there isn't a lot of info dumps and it isn't convoluted. Most importantly, everything and everyone is directly connected in some way to the Scoobies, so you never feel like the plot completely leaves Sunnydale in order to engage is some tedious inter-fae people political backplot.
Introducing and focusing on new characters can be a bit of a hit or miss in an established universe, even if you understand the need for it. I mean there's only so much you can do with pre-established characters + not being able to disrupt the events of the series. But for this story I thought it worked, as the characters felt introduced in an organic way. With Dem (is that a real name?) and Lucy, and - brownie points - Mr. Trick (yay!), as the main vessels of the villanous plot, I was consistently engaged with it.
The only thing that felt a little bit off was that Cordelia engaged quite a bit with the gang, even though this is post-break-up with Xander. It's not really bothersome, but it felt like Gallagher just really wanted Cordelia in it and therefore made her hang around with Willow quite a bit.
Also, isn't it Mayor Wilkins not Wilkens? Can't remember.
College angst was a theme in this one, with graduation looming.
All in all, I enjoyed it. Nice add on to the high school years, another evil twharted, when do any of these kids have time for school? :P
I'm starting to dread Angel's departure though, as it is clearly about to happen, and hope that I'll enjoy these books even without him in it.
Introducing and focusing on new characters can be a bit of a hit or miss in an established universe, even if you understand the need for it. I mean there's only so much you can do with pre-established characters + not being able to disrupt the events of the series.
That said, it happened, it happened!
One of these books finally acknowledged the existence of Faith! She's not in it, and is just mentioned briefly as being a Slayer too, but still, it was nice to have her as an acknowledged inverse existence.
This was another of these books that was surprisingly good, I can't help but compare it to Holder's "Blood and Fog" and what made this one better... see, in this one Gallagher uses Scooby research + possessed or already established characters to introduce the threat and its lore. It works because there isn't a lot of info dumps and it isn't convoluted. Most importantly, everything and everyone is directly connected in some way to the Scoobies, so you never feel like the plot completely leaves Sunnydale in order to engage is some tedious inter-fae people political backplot.
Introducing and focusing on new characters can be a bit of a hit or miss in an established universe, even if you understand the need for it. I mean there's only so much you can do with pre-established characters + not being able to disrupt the events of the series. But for this story I thought it worked, as the characters felt introduced in an organic way. With Dem (is that a real name?) and Lucy, and - brownie points - Mr. Trick (yay!), as the main vessels of the villanous plot, I was consistently engaged with it.
The only thing that felt a little bit off was that Cordelia engaged quite a bit with the gang, even though this is post-break-up with Xander. It's not really bothersome, but it felt like Gallagher just really wanted Cordelia in it and therefore made her hang around with Willow quite a bit.
Also, isn't it Mayor Wilkins not Wilkens? Can't remember.
College angst was a theme in this one, with graduation looming.
All in all, I enjoyed it. Nice add on to the high school years, another evil twharted, when do any of these kids have time for school? :P
I'm starting to dread Angel's departure though, as it is clearly about to happen, and hope that I'll enjoy these books even without him in it.
March 2, 2024
Obsidian fate follows the scooby gang after an archaeological site uncovers the remains of a Spanish expedition buried 500 years ago. Within this site is found Tezcatlipoca's smoking mirror, he is the Aztec god of darkness and his power causes mayhem.
I enjoyed this plotline a lot more than some of the other Buffy books and was genuinely interested in seeing it play out. Despite this, there were some HUGE issues with the writing.
I couldn't quite tell when this was set as it was definitely after Kendra's death but there was conflicting information regarding Faith (a comment implies she hasn't arrived yet, but she's then mentioned in passing...but she's not in the story and is never mentioned further - including why she isn't involved here).
The author also kept calling Angelus 'Angeles' and said that Willow cast the spell to make Xander a 'chick magnet' after Cordy dumped him (it was Amy).
If you're going to write a book about Buffy, then please get the information right??
Despite these, I loved seeing more of Mayor Wilkins and Mr Trick! I always wanted to see more from Mr Trick, he was so underutilised in the programme but was so intriguing and a great character. So I adored seeing more of him.
So yeah, I definitely enjoyed this more than some of the other Buffy books I read, but it had glaring fact-checking issues.
I enjoyed this plotline a lot more than some of the other Buffy books and was genuinely interested in seeing it play out. Despite this, there were some HUGE issues with the writing.
I couldn't quite tell when this was set as it was definitely after Kendra's death but there was conflicting information regarding Faith (a comment implies she hasn't arrived yet, but she's then mentioned in passing...but she's not in the story and is never mentioned further - including why she isn't involved here).
The author also kept calling Angelus 'Angeles' and said that Willow cast the spell to make Xander a 'chick magnet' after Cordy dumped him (it was Amy).
If you're going to write a book about Buffy, then please get the information right??
Despite these, I loved seeing more of Mayor Wilkins and Mr Trick! I always wanted to see more from Mr Trick, he was so underutilised in the programme but was so intriguing and a great character. So I adored seeing more of him.
So yeah, I definitely enjoyed this more than some of the other Buffy books I read, but it had glaring fact-checking issues.
March 30, 2024
I really enjoyed the story but I felt it was a bit of a slog to read. I feel like a lot of the information was just filler, it could have been a bit shorter which would have kept my interest. However, I do feel like the characters personalities were captured perfectly,
February 3, 2023
The concept of this story was amazing, introducing new characters was done well, but I hope whoever edited this got fired.
October 3, 2023
It’s Buffy! Need I say more?
August 4, 2024
Don’t judge…Buffy still rocks. Silly banter & unrequited love will never get old.
December 16, 2025
Took a while for me to become committed to the story, but when it hooked me, I could barely put it down!
January 24, 2015
My actual rating is 2.5 stars.
This is a book based on the television series. This takes place during season three. In this one an Aztec artifact is discovered and if we know the history of Sunnydale this leads to evil.
This was a middle of the road Buffy book. The author definitely watched the show as she nailed the characters perfectly as well as each character's situation as it relates to the show's timeline. I liked the research the author did with the Aztec history and this aspect added depth to the story. Another highlight was the use of the character Mr. Trick. I always thought he was under used in the show and having him involved was probably the high point of this book.
The problem with this book was the ending. She used a familiar trope of a person being possessed and its resolution. I didn't mind this trope but the resolution was too easily achieved. The whole ending relied on the resolution and brought down the rating of this novel. Also, the final bang at the end was too much bang for my buck and was too much action for this little adventure set in this universe.
This was a quick read and the reader could do worse if you are looking to revisit this universe.
This is a book based on the television series. This takes place during season three. In this one an Aztec artifact is discovered and if we know the history of Sunnydale this leads to evil.
This was a middle of the road Buffy book. The author definitely watched the show as she nailed the characters perfectly as well as each character's situation as it relates to the show's timeline. I liked the research the author did with the Aztec history and this aspect added depth to the story. Another highlight was the use of the character Mr. Trick. I always thought he was under used in the show and having him involved was probably the high point of this book.
The problem with this book was the ending. She used a familiar trope of a person being possessed and its resolution. I didn't mind this trope but the resolution was too easily achieved. The whole ending relied on the resolution and brought down the rating of this novel. Also, the final bang at the end was too much bang for my buck and was too much action for this little adventure set in this universe.
This was a quick read and the reader could do worse if you are looking to revisit this universe.
July 26, 2016
Since I don't normally write reviews unless I have something specific to say, here's the break down of how I rate my books...
1 star... This book was bad, so bad I may have given up and skipped to the end. I will avoid this author like the plague in the future.
2 stars... This book was not very good, and I won't be reading any more from the author.
3 stars... This book was ok, but I won't go out of my way to read more, But if I find another book by the author for under a dollar I'd pick it up.
4 stars... I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be on the look out to pick up more from the series/author.
5 stars... I loved this book! It has earned a permanent home in my collection and I'll be picking up the rest of the series and other books from the author ASAP.
May 1, 2016
As with many books written to fit into a TV series, this one is not to be taken seriously. Better than some of the others I've read there were still a couple of times when the character dialogue didn't sound quite right to me, but I've read worse. The story-line was fairly standard but had more depth than others and, at the end of the day, it was entertaining for the short time it took me to read it.
June 13, 2011
I read this in late December 2006 and I don't know if it was my ADD kicking in but I had a lot of trouble reading it. It was a very good storyline for Buffy, one I would love to have seen an episode of but kinda hard to keep my attention. I did love it though so I'm not knocking it.
April 15, 2012
i was craving some buffy n this did the trick but i must say it isnt one of my fav buffys but not the worst either.i would just save it to read after the better ones. i do t no y but i felt the end lag a bit. but it still did its job n i felt buffy satisfitw!!
November 26, 2012
Not the best buffy book, not the worst. Decent read, and an original idea for the buffyverse. Takes place during season 3....Mayor and Mr. Trick are around, no faith. To sum it up this book is Buffy meets Aztec Rituals!
October 5, 2013
Read this book many years ago, and in French, so I'm not entirely sure I got the whole book right, but it was interesting enough to make me finish it. In French. Which is not my first, nor second, language, I might add.
July 4, 2016
This Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel is another excellent Buffy adventure. This story centers on the discovery of Aztec relics, and the apparent appearance of a jaguar in Sunnydale. The whole gang appears in this story. It is well wrtitten, exciting, and a great read! Miss Buffy? Read the novels!
May 19, 2009
For some reason, I had a hard time getting into this book. I kept reading a couple pages and then putting it down. When I finished the book I liked it, but the first half of the book didn't grab me.
August 9, 2009
Fluffy, fast read.
July 24, 2011
Another great Buffy book.
April 24, 2012
The author has a great grip on the characters and writes well, but I didnt find the plot all that interesting
February 25, 2019
Solid one
November 24, 2013
This series keeps deceiving me... Worst than any other Buffy books...
May 24, 2016
Phew, I made it. Certainly not my favorite book in the Buffyverse. Bit of a challenge to finish it.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews