Buffy Cazavampiros: Inmortal

Buffyverse Novels #29

by Christopher Golden, Nancy Holder

Durante una cacería Buffy se enfrenta a una vampira llamada Veronique que es capaz de anticipar sus movimientos. Una vampira que no puede morir. Si es destruida, se reencarna en otro cuerpo. En estos momentos, la madre de Buffy está a punto de sufrir una importante operación que pone de manifiesto los miedos de su hija respecto a su propia mortalidad. Ángel trata de consolar a Buffy, pero sus intentos no hacen más que evidenciar las diferencias entre ellos: él vivirá eternamente, mientras que ella irá envejeciendo... o morirá joven. Atrapada entre sus deberes como hija y como la Elegida, Buffy necesitará el apoyo de sus amigos para superar la prueba, enfrentarse a los nuevos vampiros y derrotar definitivamente a Veronique. Porque para Veronique sólo existe una misión: lograr la unificación de sus maestros, el Triunvirato, para engendrar un poderoso demonio que beberá la sangre del último hombre de la Tierra...

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

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of such novels as Road of Bones, Ararat, Snowblind, Of Saints and Shadows, and Red Hands. With Mike Mignola, he is the co-creator of the Outerverse comic book universe, including such series as Baltimore, Joe Golem: Occult Detective, and Lady Baltimore. As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies Seize the Night, Dark Cities, and The New Dead, among others, and he has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, and a network television pilot. Golden co-hosts the podcast Defenders Dialogue with horror author Brian Keene. In 2015 he founded the popular Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His work has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and multiple Shirley Jackson Awards. For the Bram Stoker Awards, Golden has been nominated ten times in eight different categories. His original novels have been published in more than fifteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to Charima Carpenter read this in audio format today during work. Christopher Golden's one of the better Buffy writers, but this book is still pretty crappy. I'm gonna recommend the audio format for everyone because a) it's abridged, and b) the villain is French, and Charisma Carpenter is absolutely horrible at accents. Way amusing.

[Charlotte Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christopher Golden writes his Buffy stories in a manner that is just like watching an episode of the television series in your head. It really is nice to get inside Buffy's head and know what she is thinking and feeling as she goes about the adventure of slaying and saving the day. This book is worth taking time to sit down with some coffee and read.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 2 out of 5]

Money-making hack jobs like this usually aren't worth your time, but I found this cheap and gave it a go. Blood spurted, evil plans were explained, Buffy agonized over Angel, and it was all pretty bad, if readable.

Credit to being spot on with the characters and their dialogue-felt like it was actually an episode of Buffy. I also appreciated the descriptions of Sunnydale--it gave me the feeling that the town was real unlike the TV show.

[Sean Carlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfectly serviceable, standalone "monster-of-the-week" Buffy adventure that's undeniably showing its age twenty years after initial publication (Jennifer Love Hewitt references, anyone?). The authors certainly have the voices of the characters down (even though Joss Whedon's super-stylized dialogue sounds better from his actors' mouths than it reads on the page), and, like all good Buffy stories, there's an emotional arc and thematic underpinning to the plot -- it isn't all mere spook-sleuthin' and monster-slayin'; everyone -- even Joyce -- is given a meaningful story function.

Furthermore, the authors use their novelistic medium to expand the scope of the story from present-day Sunnydale, California, to Constantinople in 543 A.D, Paris in 1307, and Manhattan in 1944, which would've been budgetarily prohibitive on the TV show, so kudos on that. And in Veronique, they've created a new permutation of vampire -- no easy feat -- one that is truly immortal, so their creative expansion of the established mythology is appreciated.

But appreciation -- "A" for effort -- isn't really the principal reaction I want a novel to elicit from me. In evaluating Immortal, I acknowledge that it's all very good, I just don't know that it coalesces into something great -- I can't say it stands shoulder-to-shoulder with any of the best episodes from the television series like a handful of the Star Trek novels actually do -- hence the three-star review. Maybe it just serves to illustrate that Buffy, brilliant though it was and influential though it's been, is, like most cultural phenomena, a product of its era, same as Star Trek and The X-Files, rather than an everlasting -- an immortal? -- work of art in its own right. It was fun at the time, sure, but you just can't go home again...

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Immortal was a fun read, but I would not count it as among the best of the Buffy novels. The authors obviously put a lot of effort into fitting it into the mythos that existed at the time, but I felt that too much of the action happened away from Sunnydale with different viewpoint characters. It would have been a good episode of the show, but, again, not among the best.

[marianne amelie · Rating 2 out of 5]

my girlfriend found a beautiful copy of this book in an old bookshop.
its yellow pages, lack of the dust jacket, wrinkled corners, black and red hardcover with silver letters on the spine - this book is a beauty. and i love it dearly because the person dearest to my heart actually browsed through books, found something buffy related that looked so emo and thought of me.
even though the story is non-canonical and the weird vampires from Greece and the immortal super-vamp are laughable, this was a read that stuffed my head and dumbed me down when i needed it.

i miss u, big daisy. come back soon so we can both look for silly gothic books that should have never been printed.

[BookLoversLife · Rating 5 out of 5]

Immortal is my favourite so far! It's darker, bloodier and scarier than all the rest I've read. Plus it made me cry!!! Joyce!

[Ashlyn Szilva · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything about the BTVS universe and adored the addition of immortal vampire Veronique. She was such a unique character with a complex backstory. Fans of historic Greece will love this one!

[Margaret]

Did not finish.

I think I've grown past Buffy books. Pity.

[Gwen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, I much prefer watching the show to reading about it. Some of the dialogue felt off. Interesting story, however, it got pretty dark for Buffy, and just wasn't my style.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

I dug the villain's ability to return after being slain, but it seemed like b/c she had that ability, she got slain more easily than a major villain should.

If not for the subplot about Buffy's mom in the hospital (presaging stuff that happened later in the tv show), i would have given this one three stars.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first foray in to Buffy fiction and I'll be going back. Buffy and gang take on Veronique, a very old vampire who can take new form after being staked. She's up to nefarious schemes to make Hell on Earth (pretty much like every Buffy villain). Buffy also has to deal with her Mom's serious illness at the same time. Good stuff, I miss these characters.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cordelia reads a Buffy novel! Charisma Carpenter wasn't the greatest reader one could imagine but she tried really hard and she wasn't reading the best Buffy book to begin with. Actually, I thought that the novelty was a lot of fun.

[Valerie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Given a choice between Buffy comics and Buffy novels, you should choose comics.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una de las pocas novelas del Buffyverso editadas en castellano.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

To any Buffy fan, this novel is a very fast and enjoyable read. Christopher Golden is one of my fave Buffy authors, definitely would recommend this book to anyone :)

Below may contain spoilers!!

The Plot

When a story begins with a cautionary tale of a vampire being trapped on an island for a century and the island inhabitants had fled, here’s a bright idea, stay away from the island!! But then again there would be no story lol

I found the Boat name at the beginning of the story “Charybdis” interesting, so I googled it, learned of its Greek mythology and there is a few interesting facts that popped up and foreshadowed what was to come in the story:
1) To be “between Scylla and Charybdis” means to be caught between two equally unpleasant alternatives.
2): a whirlpool off the coast of Sicily personified in Greek mythology as a female monster

So very interesting indeed!! :D

The Characters

I would've liked to see the main villain Veronique be more fleshed out and her motivations other than destroying the world and stopping the Slayer at large. I found the rivalry between past slayer Angela and Veronique back in the 1800s interesting and wish it was explored further.

it was also really great to see the strength of the father-daughter-like bond between Giles and Buffy

Tradition is kept strong when it comes to Xander and female demons fawning over him lol

Still don’t know what the demon female population sees in Xander, but hey, the list goes on, but now in this, page 271 Xander flirts with a vampire Catherine and when Xander’s life is threatened by her he hisses back at her causing Veronique to become intrigued by him and even more fascinated by his actions at the end book rescuing the human prisoners.

One of my fave recurring characters makes an appearance to aid the Scoobies - Lucy Hanover, a slayer from the American Civil War.

My thoughts:
- What I noticed similarities to other characters -
Veronique and Dracula have similar powers, dabbling in the occult giving them unique abilities separate from a typical vampire.

As they both regenerate once staked giving them some form of invulnerability compared to other vampires, though there are some differences in their abilities:

Dracula goes all misty once staked and retains his original form whereas Veronique gains this ability from her demonic master Triumvirate who can easily take this gift away. Her near-invincibility allows her to return and possess another newly turned vampire if her previous host is killed.

kinda gives me Voldemort vibes, yknow? before Voldemort regained his corporeal form, he possesses snakes, animals and at one time, Professor Quirrell, well we all know how that turned out lol

[DieguchoSmiley · Rating 2 out of 5]

"—¿Cómo se llama? —gruñó Buffy.
—Al Scott.
—Al —dijo intentando parecer paciente mientras hablaba entre dientes—. Se lo repetiré. Ésta es mi madre. Volveré aquí al alba para verla. Si le sucede alguna cosa, entonces yo. Volveré. Para. Verle. A. Usted." 🧄🙎🏼‍♀️🧄

El año pasado leí "Spike y Dru" y me encantó, fue de mis lecturas favoritas de 2021. 🥰
Quería seguir leyendo las novelas de Buffy que hay publicadas en castellano e "Inmortal" era la siguiente en la lista. Le tenía bastantes ganas, pero ha resultado ser decepcionante. 😅

Por un lado, me gusta que el libro tenga como eje central la mortalidad y que los conflictos principales de los protagonistas y de la villana giren entorno a este tema, pero algunas de estas tramas, como la dinámica vampiro/cazavampiros de la relación entre Ángel y Buffy o la enfermedad de Joyce, se reciclan de la serie y se vuelven algo repetitivas en la novela. Ya lo he visto en la serie, dame algo nuevo. 🤦🏼

También creo que, al contrario de lo que ocurría en el libro de "Spike y Dru" en el que ellos son los villanos y los protagonistas son personajes nuevos que en la serie no aparecen, que los protas sean Buffy y compañía no ayuda. No ayuda porque sé que ni Buffy, ni Willow, ni Giles, ni ningún personaje principal en la serie corre ningún peligro. Sé que no van a morir, que no les va a pasar nada grave y eso le resta cierta emoción. 😴

En fin, no está mal, tiene ideas guays y me gusta ver más de estos personajes que quiero tanto, pero ha sido una lectura poco relevante. Ni fu ni fa. 🤷🏼

2,5⭐✨

[Iain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tough to love this book which I read decades after the series aired. At its best it captures the dynamics and dialog of our favorite characters. Xander being the best of the bunch.

But the story drags after a while, with an immortal monster of the week who quickly becomes tedious. Then several superfluous characters are added (Terry & Queenie) and it all culminates with a disappointing Boss Battle with a ridiculous deus ex machina twist. I'm sorry, why are there spirits in the woods?

The fact that the Scoobies failed to trace Veronique's phone call to her hideout ... that just drove me nuts.

I'm not sure who I'd recommend this book to. It's not terrible, but fans of the show have (a few) better options.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

La estrella extra es completamente subjetiva; como buena seguidora y admiradora de la serie de televisión. si bien, debo decir que la obra está bastante conseguida, las acciones de los personajes son coherentes, la trama muy en la línea de éste clásico televisivo moderno, y además, el autor le intenta dotar un trasfondo histórico a la villana de Buffy en el presente libro. Me ha gustado, la verdad, y he vuelto a añorar a Buffy y cia.

[Aleksandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than I expected with Holder's name on the front, guess writing with Golden tempered her. Buffy-speak might be iconic but the key words there are Buffy and speak- it's weird if used by someone not in their little gang and definitely weird if found outside the dialogue. I won't be reading another book just by Holder again. Golden though 😘👌

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It felt like watching the show! Which was nice. I appreciated that we got to more Joyce and Buffy exposition. There are bits that I'm squirreling away for my own personal canon to tuck into Buffy's everything.

The pacing felt like it was a bit start and stop here and there but overall I enjoyed it.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story really captures the characters (as I expected from Golden and Holder), and the story feels like it could have been a story arc in the series. There were a few moments of sadness, as we know things now that we didn't when this story takes place. Heartbreaking in a few places.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping that starting off 2024 with a Buffy book would be an easy way for me to jump start the year but it took me longer to read than I expected because I just wasn’t feeling it I guess.
I was hoping with this writing team that I would like it but it was merely “okay”.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this! I love how the Buffy universe is enriched and utilized by the book. Can't wait to read another.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

Buffy and the Scoobies go up against Veronique and the Triumvirate.

[Ravay · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 of 5 stars. Okay, in that it’s a return to the Buffyverse, with established and well-loved characters, but overall, a super-light read.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun adventure, I like that it carried some emotional depth and reflection with Buffy ruminating on mortality due to the villain she was facing

[Kate ROGERS · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Immortal vampire, Veronique, can take on other bodies once staked. Original and interesting. Really enjoyed it.

[Matthew Ledrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here we have an original Buffy novel, one that's not an adaption of an episode or season of the popular television show. Buffy: Immortal is supposed to take place just after season 4, and it's in this that the book series holds it's real charm. The tv series, like many, was broadcast between September and June for much of it's run, skipping over the summer months. While some series' choose to ignore this gap and continue to tell stories as though the beginning of one season takes place directly after the last (ie: Friends), Buffy chose to embrace this pattern and skip over the summer months, making the series follow a standard school year. This allowed for character changes to occur during the gaps, like Dawn's training and maturation between seasons 6 and 7. It also allows for holes that expanded universe material, like the Buffy novels, can fill.

The book itself jumps between the present time and several hundred years ago, when a vampire named Veronique and a slayer named Lucy were engaged in heated battle, culminating in the immortal vampire being trapped in an abandoned church. While all vampires are immortal by our standards, Veronique brings it to a new level: she can't be killed even by conventional means as outlined in the show.

When the book succeeds is in it's characters. Xander is quippy the way he is in the show. Anya is wonderfully strange, and Williow is sweet as ever. Giles, Riley and Spike also get good treatments, although Spike's is a little off when one realizes where the series goes.

It fails in two places, which are sadly major errors. The first and deadliest is Buffy. She's not badly written, the whole thing just seems flat and uninteresting. It's the same with the Buffy of the movie and the Season 8 comics. I think that while some characters are developed mainly by writers and some characters are made via a combination of input from both writers and actors… And some characters are made by the actors. Given all the Buffy material available, I suspect that she is the latter. All respect to Joss Whedon, but I think Sarah Michelle Geller is the driving force behind the character.

The other issue is the end. The whole novel leads up to a climactic battle between the Scoobies and Veronique that ends up not happening. It's summarized much like this: “The battle went long into the night, and in the end they won. ” WHAT A FUCKING COCK TEASE. Excuse my vulgarity. That's just wrecked storytelling. Disappointment on a Stephen King level, without the awesomeness of a King second act.

Just a Pissoff. 2/5.