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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Novelizations #10
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Faith Trials
Sometimes, it's gotta be a drag to be the Chosen One. Occasionally a girl would rather be at the mall, talking on the phone, or even doing homework than saving the world from unstoppable evil. Fortunately, Buffy Summers has always had a support system of friends and family to help her cope. But what if she hadn't? She might have been just like Faith. Faith, the "shadow-self" Slayer, is strong, sexy, and willful. When she first arrives in Sunnydale, Watcher-less and fancy-free, Buffy has doubts about the tag-team approach to patrol. As time goes on, though, she learns to find the fun in synchronized slayage, and appreciates Faith's zest for life....Until Faith's impulsive attitude toward her calling takes her one step too far, and her inability to cope with consequences eventually pushes her over the edge...
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 2001
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May 15, 2021Perfect for any Buffy fan. It's basically just novelizing a few key episodes on the slayer, Faith. If you've seen the series then this book may seem very familiar to you. But it was still a very nostalgic read, as I absolutely love that show.
July 4, 2022
This is a prose adaptation of episodes from Buffy the Vampire Slayer that feature Buffy's rival or nemesis or replacement, bad girl slayer Faith. The stories are based on the teleplays by David Greenwalt (Faith, Hope & Trick), Marti Noxon (Consequences), and Douglas Petrie (Bad Girls and Enemies) according to the cover, but includes Revelations (also by Petrie) in the text, not Enemies. It's a good translation of form, with some little bit of background and motivation added to show Faith's descent to the Dark Side. It does what it's supposed to... five by five.
June 13, 2017
5 stars
Nice to have a novelization based on the Faith episodes.
Can't wait to read more Buffyverse novels!!!!!
Nice to have a novelization based on the Faith episodes.
Can't wait to read more Buffyverse novels!!!!!
October 23, 2024
The Prophecy by Taylor Swift.
March 8, 2022
I really loved this, the episode novelisation Buffy books are so easy and fun to read. This one was a little better than some of the others because they delved into Faith's thoughts during key scenes, as well as writing original segments between each 'episode' to further show her descent from reckless hero to villain. A must-read for all Faith fans! Also the little photo section in the middle is so adorable.
January 10, 2025
I loved this collection - it's a cracking set of episodes anyway, but I actually thought the author did a good job of letting us see beneath Faiths exterior mask and connecting the threads of her feelings along her trajectory. I just wish there had been a second collection to get some resolution for the character.
August 22, 2019
This was the second best of the character focused novelizations so far, just railing behind The Angel Chronicles: Vol 3. For people who have watched the show these particular novelizations don't add a ton of value in reading them. However, much like the aforementioned Angel Vol. 3, The Faith Trials is a good read because the episodes picked are some of the best in the series and fit well together as a collection. I give the Angel book the slight edge due to my personal preference for that season of the show as well as that the ending felt a bit more final than the final episode in this book.
Unlike most of the character novelizations, The Faith Trials revisits four episodes from the series instead of three. The first episode here is season three, episode three "Faith, Hope and Trick" which introduces Faith to Sunnydale. Faith was one of my favorite characters on the show, showing what would happen if the slayer abilities went to somebody without the moral character of Buffy. This episode is also great for the memorable villain Kakistos, who is set up to be a potential big bad guy for the season, and also for Mr. Trick, one of the more memorable henchmen vampires on the show.
Up next is season three, episode seven's "Revelations," which features a new watcher for Faith and the groups discovery that Angel is alive and Buffy's been hiding him. Despite the four episode gap between the first two installments, Laurence does a nice job of making the transition seemless to fill in any details that were missed in between episodes. The new watcher was a great villain and there's some Xander centered drama that really ramped up the stakes in the episode.
The book wraps up with the excellent two parter from season 3, episodes 14 and 15 "Bad Girls" and "Consequences." Laurence would seem to need a lot more exposition to bridge the gap for seven episodes but aside from some brief summaries of Xander and Willow's relationships and Angel's near suicide, manages to not bog down the story with a ton of recap. Here Buffy is taken by Faith's impulsive ways and begins to act similarly. This quickly spirals to a burglary and then a death of a human, and the second part of the episode deals with all the consequences.
The resolution is very open-ended as to the possibility of rehabilitating Faith while also setting up her next arc as a bad guy. It's compelling stuff but I can't help but wonder who it's aimed for. For readers looking for more of Faith's story, they can't get it in novelization form. Still, I could do a lot worse than revisiting four of my favorite episodes from my favorite tv show from my youth.
Unlike most of the character novelizations, The Faith Trials revisits four episodes from the series instead of three. The first episode here is season three, episode three "Faith, Hope and Trick" which introduces Faith to Sunnydale. Faith was one of my favorite characters on the show, showing what would happen if the slayer abilities went to somebody without the moral character of Buffy. This episode is also great for the memorable villain Kakistos, who is set up to be a potential big bad guy for the season, and also for Mr. Trick, one of the more memorable henchmen vampires on the show.
Up next is season three, episode seven's "Revelations," which features a new watcher for Faith and the groups discovery that Angel is alive and Buffy's been hiding him. Despite the four episode gap between the first two installments, Laurence does a nice job of making the transition seemless to fill in any details that were missed in between episodes. The new watcher was a great villain and there's some Xander centered drama that really ramped up the stakes in the episode.
The book wraps up with the excellent two parter from season 3, episodes 14 and 15 "Bad Girls" and "Consequences." Laurence would seem to need a lot more exposition to bridge the gap for seven episodes but aside from some brief summaries of Xander and Willow's relationships and Angel's near suicide, manages to not bog down the story with a ton of recap. Here Buffy is taken by Faith's impulsive ways and begins to act similarly. This quickly spirals to a burglary and then a death of a human, and the second part of the episode deals with all the consequences.
The resolution is very open-ended as to the possibility of rehabilitating Faith while also setting up her next arc as a bad guy. It's compelling stuff but I can't help but wonder who it's aimed for. For readers looking for more of Faith's story, they can't get it in novelization form. Still, I could do a lot worse than revisiting four of my favorite episodes from my favorite tv show from my youth.
August 1, 2025
Still keeping the rating at 4 stars.
It was interesting how the Slayer lore says that one dies, and another is chosen so we got to see the world involving two slayers. Kendra was a no-nonsense Slayer, but her death caused another to be called yet...Buffy Summers is still the Chosen One.
The only difference is that Buffy has friends and family who know what she has to face but still...never able to fully understand the toll it takes on her. She can't have a normal romantic relationship and as long as there is a Hellmouth drawing evil to Sunnydale, Buffy can't go away to college.
That is where Faith comes in.
Faith shows up in Sunnydale with a wild streak and a zest for killing vampires, a different sort of no-nonsense Slayer. She has no family and a very dark past...different from Buffy and even her once insipid Valley Girl life.
We get an insight to Faith's psyche in four tales, technically three, that explore who is essentially the darker shadow to Buffy. James Laurence novelizes season three episodes "Faith, Hope & Trick" written by David Greenwalt, "Revelations" by Douglas Petrie, "Bad Girls" also written by Douglas Petrie and the follow-up "Consequences" by Marti Noxon.
I wish that there had been more novelizations in these "The Faith Trials" instead of stalling at Volume 1. Most of Faith's personal journey continued through the seasons of the show and on the Angel spin-off that could have been interesting to see. Most of the Buffy books became tie-in novels with no official canon until the season eight comics so it was mostly reading Buffy fanfiction yet by legitimate writers.
Even though we are focusing on Faith, it is still Buffy's show, and you can tell that wrapping everything around Faith doesn't take the focus away. It's mostly why I didn't give the book five stars because until we get to Bad Girls and Consequences, Faith isn't in the spotlight as such.
By then, Buffy has had more than enough time to get a handle on being a double team with Faith and accepting her into her life. This is when we finally get to see Faith behind her mask of bravado and see it escalate to the darker half of being a Slayer.
It is also when all of the quips and snark and quotable lines are thrown out the window...we aren't having fun and laughing anymore.
It was interesting how the Slayer lore says that one dies, and another is chosen so we got to see the world involving two slayers. Kendra was a no-nonsense Slayer, but her death caused another to be called yet...Buffy Summers is still the Chosen One.
The only difference is that Buffy has friends and family who know what she has to face but still...never able to fully understand the toll it takes on her. She can't have a normal romantic relationship and as long as there is a Hellmouth drawing evil to Sunnydale, Buffy can't go away to college.
That is where Faith comes in.
Faith shows up in Sunnydale with a wild streak and a zest for killing vampires, a different sort of no-nonsense Slayer. She has no family and a very dark past...different from Buffy and even her once insipid Valley Girl life.
We get an insight to Faith's psyche in four tales, technically three, that explore who is essentially the darker shadow to Buffy. James Laurence novelizes season three episodes "Faith, Hope & Trick" written by David Greenwalt, "Revelations" by Douglas Petrie, "Bad Girls" also written by Douglas Petrie and the follow-up "Consequences" by Marti Noxon.
I wish that there had been more novelizations in these "The Faith Trials" instead of stalling at Volume 1. Most of Faith's personal journey continued through the seasons of the show and on the Angel spin-off that could have been interesting to see. Most of the Buffy books became tie-in novels with no official canon until the season eight comics so it was mostly reading Buffy fanfiction yet by legitimate writers.
Even though we are focusing on Faith, it is still Buffy's show, and you can tell that wrapping everything around Faith doesn't take the focus away. It's mostly why I didn't give the book five stars because until we get to Bad Girls and Consequences, Faith isn't in the spotlight as such.
By then, Buffy has had more than enough time to get a handle on being a double team with Faith and accepting her into her life. This is when we finally get to see Faith behind her mask of bravado and see it escalate to the darker half of being a Slayer.
It is also when all of the quips and snark and quotable lines are thrown out the window...we aren't having fun and laughing anymore.
November 9, 2020
This collection of episodes is longer than most, covering 4 episodes instead of the usual three. Not only that, but it's the only collection that focuses on a non-main cast character, that being Faith -- my favorite of the recurring cast and my favorite Slayer.
Not only is there more story to penetrate your heart (pun intended), but the quality of writing holds up, and makes Faith even more interesting than she always has been. If you didn't love Faith before, you'll at least *understand* her better after reading this, and if you're a Faith stanner (as I am), then you'll come away rooting for her to best everyone even more than you did before.
Not only is there more story to penetrate your heart (pun intended), but the quality of writing holds up, and makes Faith even more interesting than she always has been. If you didn't love Faith before, you'll at least *understand* her better after reading this, and if you're a Faith stanner (as I am), then you'll come away rooting for her to best everyone even more than you did before.
April 27, 2018
4.75*
So, let's face it. This book is the episodes centered on Faith. She's an amazing character portrayed by an awesome actress; Eliza Dushku. I loved that this was Faith centric BUT the reason why I am not giving it a full 5 stars is because I was hoping they'd give us more in terms of Faith's feelings and emotions.. It didn't quite do that. It's more almost the scripts to the episodes. I guess, maybe, I was spoiled with Go Ask Malice?! I don't know. I just think it would have been cool.
I do love that books like these make me catch on certain things I might not have quite heard or understood in the episode itself however; no matter how many times I watch so that's amazing that they did this, truly. I am French speaking first so... I love how I could just picture each and every scenes while reading, too.
The show will always beat the books however but since I'm a huge Buffy fan (it's only my favorite TV show of all time!!), I needed to have this!
So, let's face it. This book is the episodes centered on Faith. She's an amazing character portrayed by an awesome actress; Eliza Dushku. I loved that this was Faith centric BUT the reason why I am not giving it a full 5 stars is because I was hoping they'd give us more in terms of Faith's feelings and emotions.. It didn't quite do that. It's more almost the scripts to the episodes. I guess, maybe, I was spoiled with Go Ask Malice?! I don't know. I just think it would have been cool.
I do love that books like these make me catch on certain things I might not have quite heard or understood in the episode itself however; no matter how many times I watch so that's amazing that they did this, truly. I am French speaking first so... I love how I could just picture each and every scenes while reading, too.
The show will always beat the books however but since I'm a huge Buffy fan (it's only my favorite TV show of all time!!), I needed to have this!
April 7, 2020
Episode novelisation. Not bad, kept the characters as they should be. Perfect for a light read between heavy books.
April 13, 2023
“she danced the way she dressed, like something wild.”
god i love these characters, especially faith and giles. safe to say i’m here for this. this novelization is definitely more detailed and thorough than some of the others i’ve read, it actually feels like a novel, giving a lot more insight to the characters rather than just being word for word dialogue with perfunctory descriptions, and it’s better written.
(novelizations of 3x03 “faith, hope & trick,” 3x07 “revelations,” 3x14 “bad girls,” and 3x15 “consequences”)
god i love these characters, especially faith and giles. safe to say i’m here for this. this novelization is definitely more detailed and thorough than some of the others i’ve read, it actually feels like a novel, giving a lot more insight to the characters rather than just being word for word dialogue with perfunctory descriptions, and it’s better written.
(novelizations of 3x03 “faith, hope & trick,” 3x07 “revelations,” 3x14 “bad girls,” and 3x15 “consequences”)
September 11, 2018
I've never really seen the necessity for by-the-numbers novelisations of TV episodes. If you haven't already watched Buffy, you probably won't have any interest in reading this book. And if you have, why would you read a novelisation of a show you've already seen, especially when so few extra scenes are added, and especially when you could always just rewatch the episodes? The idea of a perspective shift from Buffy to her friend-turned-rival Faith is promising, but the book does little to take advantage of its premise. Insight into the troubled slayer's psyche is pretty minimal.
On another note, the rise of internet fandom and fanfiction has caused this book to age badly. You can find thousands of Buffy rewrites from different character's perspectives for free nowadays, and I dare say some are better than this.
I'm not against Buffy tie-ins by default. In fact, I really enjoyed "Go Ask Malice", "Pretty Maids All In a Row", and "Blackout". Perhaps the main difference is that these at least crafted original stories, and didn't just regurgitate old episodes onto print.
Perhaps the most damning thing about this book is that it's called "The Faith Trials Vol 1", implying that they planned sequels. As far as I'm aware, this never came to fruition.
On another note, the rise of internet fandom and fanfiction has caused this book to age badly. You can find thousands of Buffy rewrites from different character's perspectives for free nowadays, and I dare say some are better than this.
I'm not against Buffy tie-ins by default. In fact, I really enjoyed "Go Ask Malice", "Pretty Maids All In a Row", and "Blackout". Perhaps the main difference is that these at least crafted original stories, and didn't just regurgitate old episodes onto print.
Perhaps the most damning thing about this book is that it's called "The Faith Trials Vol 1", implying that they planned sequels. As far as I'm aware, this never came to fruition.
May 18, 2017
This book is a novelisation of 4 of the Season 3 episodes. The book itself was great they were perfectly written I could see the episodes in my head and the book itself was a fun quick read.
I have knocked one star off due to a typo on the front and inside covers which state that the books contains novelisations of the episodes "Faith, Hope and Trick", "Bad Girls" "Consequences" and "Enemies", but it doesn't! It contains the episodes "Faith, Hope and Trick", "Revelations", "Bad Girls" and " Consequences".
I have knocked one star off due to a typo on the front and inside covers which state that the books contains novelisations of the episodes "Faith, Hope and Trick", "Bad Girls" "Consequences" and "Enemies", but it doesn't! It contains the episodes "Faith, Hope and Trick", "Revelations", "Bad Girls" and " Consequences".
March 6, 2022
Easy read, novelisation version of the episodes through Faith's POV of "Faith, Hope & Trick", "Revelations", "Bad Girls" and "Consequences" i did enjoy there was an introduction before each episode getting inside Faith's thoughts and emotions at the time, there were times where there was more of it - especially during Consequences between Angel/Faith, but it expected more in depth of Faith's thoughts, emotions like how in depth it was in "Go Ask Malice" though the themes of Faith's issues of trust and abandonment were pretty spot on.
June 28, 2013
This was a good, quick read that kept me entertained over a cold, pre-Christmas weekend!! I like these novelisations of actual episodes - I could see the action playing out in my head and is an ok substitute for not having any more new ones to watch!!
August 8, 2016
I gave this 5 stars only because it's a Buffy novel and it had some Bangel scenes, but it really did nothing for me. Maybe it's because I'm not the biggest Faith fab but it took me 5 months to finish this when usually it would only take me to finish a book like this a few days. But oh well.
July 13, 2011
I've watched the episodes and the book and thought it was amazing, the book was great but the show was phenomenal, just to see how they acted and to see it on tv, it's just amazing
February 25, 2019
Can't really recommend the novelizations if you've seen the episodes
December 5, 2012
This book is based off an episode from the show. Fans of the show will love this book. I love Faith so this book was a fun read. A must read if you are a fan of the show or of Faith.
February 17, 2022
Perfect for those who want to understand the wild slayer a bit more.
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