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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Novelizations #9
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Willow Files, Vol. 2
"Now we're supposed to be deciding what we wanna do with our lives and I realized that's what I want to do. Fight evil....It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."Since the self-proclaimed "science nerd" had the odd luck to fall in with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow Rosenberg has come into her own. As a member of the Scooby Gang, Willow used her skills as savvy 'Net girl to help save the world on more than one occasion. But as time passed, Willow's powers evolved from Web surfing to the limitless realm of magic. And with that change came some difficult life lessons.Willow has always longed for more parental guidance, but when Sunnydale's adults are swept up in a witch hunt, Willow finds that her mother's judgment really bums. And who knew that her forays into the black arts would bring her literally face-to-face with an alter ego "Old Reliable" never imagined existed? Ultimately, though, when it comes time to take charge of her future, Willow realizes that whether it be as a computer hacker or Wicca extraordinaire, she can go further than she had ever dreamed...by staying right where she has been all along.
210 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
3 people are currently reading
371 people want to read
About the author
Yvonne Navarro
127 books174 followersYvonne Navarro is the author of Concrete Savior, Highborn, AfterAge, deadrush, Final Impact, Mirror Me and a bunch of other books, plus Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels and tie-in novels for Hellboy, Elektra, and others."
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 1, 2022
This is the second of two books that adapt Willow-centric early episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer into prose stories. Navarro, who also wrote the Wicked Willow original trilogy, had a great grasp of the character. The three episodes in this book are all from the third season: Gingerbread from a teleplay by Espenson and Thania St. John, Doppelgangland by Joss Whedon hisownself, and Choices by David Fury. We get some insight into the Willow's development and her relationship with her mother and friends. Most of these could have been told from a different characters' point of view just as well, but Navarro did add some background and framing devices that worked well.
February 18, 2019
5 🌠
Liked seeing Willow and the gang again. Sad that her mom doesn't really notice her. Hope she didn't get PTSD from being almost burned at the stake. Vamp Willow seemed interesting. Not really sure what to feel about Anya. The episode with the spider thingy was creepy. Don't really like spiders. Sad that Willow didn't get away from Sunnydale.
Liked seeing Willow and the gang again. Sad that her mom doesn't really notice her. Hope she didn't get PTSD from being almost burned at the stake. Vamp Willow seemed interesting. Not really sure what to feel about Anya. The episode with the spider thingy was creepy. Don't really like spiders. Sad that Willow didn't get away from Sunnydale.
July 29, 2025
Always going to give anything Buffy related five stars out of nostalgia and the fact that Willow was so relatable to me then and even now.
Not as tech savvy to encrypt files on a computer are all powerful with the Wicca but a shy if sometimes snarky personality with unrequited crushes and loyalty to her friends.
The files are the novelizations of three Willow centered Buffy episodes all from the third season presented in between diary entries where Willow keeps them on her computer. The episodes are Gingerbread as written by Jane Espenson and Thania St. John, Doppelgangland by Joss Whedon and Choices by David Fury but translated to the page by author Yvonne Navarro.
The first two were always my favorites and the third is better if viewed through the entirety of watching all of season three. Memorable lines and swerves brought to you by commercial breaks are now provided with a deeper understanding as we get to hear inner monologue of all of our favorite characters and not just Willow.
Buffy's mom Joyce stumbles upon a horrible sight on the night she decides to try and understand her daughter's role as Vampire Slayer better. It brings about the town going all paranoid with fear and prejudice that literally couldn't happen in a worst town at the worst time.
Willow is tricked into helping Anya try and get back her demon powers but the intense magic causes Vampire Willow from the alternate world of "The Wish" to be brought to this Sunnydale where regular Willow is being shoehorned into "Old Reliable" punching bag of Principal Snyder and jock Percy.
Buffy realizes that she might be stuck in Sunnydale forever as the Slayer while all of her friends are planning on going to college or, in Xander's case, at least be free to leave and view a world outside of a Hellmouth. Rogue slayer Faith now siding with Mayor Wilkins and his demonic plans don't help the situation when plans to stop his latest intentions lead to some very difficult choices and hard to swallow truths.
Again, better if you are familiar with the show to understand how it jumps from one story to another even if Willow fills in some gaps. The front says it all as these are tales of magic, mayhem and maturity from our redhead witch to both Slayers in what could have been a decent final season of the show had it not been picked up for renewal and given the Angel spin-off.
Not as tech savvy to encrypt files on a computer are all powerful with the Wicca but a shy if sometimes snarky personality with unrequited crushes and loyalty to her friends.
The files are the novelizations of three Willow centered Buffy episodes all from the third season presented in between diary entries where Willow keeps them on her computer. The episodes are Gingerbread as written by Jane Espenson and Thania St. John, Doppelgangland by Joss Whedon and Choices by David Fury but translated to the page by author Yvonne Navarro.
The first two were always my favorites and the third is better if viewed through the entirety of watching all of season three. Memorable lines and swerves brought to you by commercial breaks are now provided with a deeper understanding as we get to hear inner monologue of all of our favorite characters and not just Willow.
Buffy's mom Joyce stumbles upon a horrible sight on the night she decides to try and understand her daughter's role as Vampire Slayer better. It brings about the town going all paranoid with fear and prejudice that literally couldn't happen in a worst town at the worst time.
Willow is tricked into helping Anya try and get back her demon powers but the intense magic causes Vampire Willow from the alternate world of "The Wish" to be brought to this Sunnydale where regular Willow is being shoehorned into "Old Reliable" punching bag of Principal Snyder and jock Percy.
Buffy realizes that she might be stuck in Sunnydale forever as the Slayer while all of her friends are planning on going to college or, in Xander's case, at least be free to leave and view a world outside of a Hellmouth. Rogue slayer Faith now siding with Mayor Wilkins and his demonic plans don't help the situation when plans to stop his latest intentions lead to some very difficult choices and hard to swallow truths.
Again, better if you are familiar with the show to understand how it jumps from one story to another even if Willow fills in some gaps. The front says it all as these are tales of magic, mayhem and maturity from our redhead witch to both Slayers in what could have been a decent final season of the show had it not been picked up for renewal and given the Angel spin-off.
November 11, 2020
Another fun collection of episode novelizations. This one contains three season 3 episodes, all Willow focused in some way. On the plus side, two of these three are some of my fave eps of s03, and there are some funny pop culture references made in the characters' thoughts that are never said out loud in the show. In terms of negatives, there's nothing added to the stories, aside from these occasional thought references. So while fun, you may as well just watch the episodes.
July 26, 2013
Almost word for word of the episodes it novelizes but since Ive seen them, it was easy to picture what was happening when. No surprises obviously, but still a quick, fun read.
May 8, 2019
The third season of Buffy is one of the best of the show. A big part of that was the introduction of Faith as another slayer and the charismatic Mayor as the big bad of the season. Despite being one of the best seasons of the show, it’s probably not the best for novelization formats as the episodes were very great in a serialized format, but less so as stand-alone adventures. Trying to shoehorn the three episode recap with mini-passages linking them would be a struggle on its own for that season, but making it one supporting character focused also doesn’t work particularly well, unless that character is possibly Faith (we’ll see, I’ve got a book focused on her coming up).
The Willow Files: Book 2 begins with the episode “Gingerbread” (season 3, episode 11), before moving on to “Dopplegangland” (season 3, episode 16) and ending with “Choices” (season 3, episode 19). One advantage to this set is that the episodes are fairly close together, so the passages in between the episodes don’t need to cover a whole lot to catch up readers to the next story. However, the three stories together don’t fit any sort of character arc together or have any real resolution at the end.
“Gingerbread” is one of the only Joyce centered episodes in the series. As she tries to keep Buffy company while Buffy is patrolling, they come across a playground where two young children have appeared to been murdered. Joyce ends up becoming a vocal leader in the community seeking change, holding both the establishment and the purveyors of the occult accountable. It’s a pretty good episode that even has lasting repercussions for the whole series (certainly for Amy), but as a showcase for Willow it’s pretty limited. We get a little involvement with her mom, and her being imperiled at the end she’s not a central character.
“Dopplegangland” is a throwback to wrap up/call back to what worked from episode 9 of the same season, “The Wish.” With that episode not included in this book, it’s a bit odd to include it here. The plot is that while Anya is trying to use a spell to regain her source of demonic power, the and Willow accidentally bring vampire Willow out of the alternate universe of that other episode. (Just typing that last sentence illustrates why these two episodes should be together.) This is probably the most Willow-centric episode in the book, and also features some Easter eggs about Willow’s later character arc/relationships.
“Choices” is very much one of a string of episodes where Faith and the Mayor are getting ready for the big showdown in the season finale, and as a stand alone episode it’s odd to read and even more so as a Willow focused story. Here Faith and the mayor are expecting a package that will aid him in ascending to his ultimate demonic form, and the Scooby gang take the fight to him by stealing his box. In the process Willow is captured by Faith, and the gang must decide whether or not to trade the box back for Willow. Willow’s role is pretty brief, basically staking one vamp and reading a book, with most of the real drama coming in a scene where Wesley is arguing with the rest of the gang to not give back the box and risk the rest of the city.
The combination of lack of an amazing episode and the odd grouping of episodes to be included made this one of the less interesting character focused novelizations. Just Giles, Faith and Cordelia left to go and then I’m onto the original story novelizations.
The Willow Files: Book 2 begins with the episode “Gingerbread” (season 3, episode 11), before moving on to “Dopplegangland” (season 3, episode 16) and ending with “Choices” (season 3, episode 19). One advantage to this set is that the episodes are fairly close together, so the passages in between the episodes don’t need to cover a whole lot to catch up readers to the next story. However, the three stories together don’t fit any sort of character arc together or have any real resolution at the end.
“Gingerbread” is one of the only Joyce centered episodes in the series. As she tries to keep Buffy company while Buffy is patrolling, they come across a playground where two young children have appeared to been murdered. Joyce ends up becoming a vocal leader in the community seeking change, holding both the establishment and the purveyors of the occult accountable. It’s a pretty good episode that even has lasting repercussions for the whole series (certainly for Amy), but as a showcase for Willow it’s pretty limited. We get a little involvement with her mom, and her being imperiled at the end she’s not a central character.
“Dopplegangland” is a throwback to wrap up/call back to what worked from episode 9 of the same season, “The Wish.” With that episode not included in this book, it’s a bit odd to include it here. The plot is that while Anya is trying to use a spell to regain her source of demonic power, the and Willow accidentally bring vampire Willow out of the alternate universe of that other episode. (Just typing that last sentence illustrates why these two episodes should be together.) This is probably the most Willow-centric episode in the book, and also features some Easter eggs about Willow’s later character arc/relationships.
“Choices” is very much one of a string of episodes where Faith and the Mayor are getting ready for the big showdown in the season finale, and as a stand alone episode it’s odd to read and even more so as a Willow focused story. Here Faith and the mayor are expecting a package that will aid him in ascending to his ultimate demonic form, and the Scooby gang take the fight to him by stealing his box. In the process Willow is captured by Faith, and the gang must decide whether or not to trade the box back for Willow. Willow’s role is pretty brief, basically staking one vamp and reading a book, with most of the real drama coming in a scene where Wesley is arguing with the rest of the gang to not give back the box and risk the rest of the city.
The combination of lack of an amazing episode and the odd grouping of episodes to be included made this one of the less interesting character focused novelizations. Just Giles, Faith and Cordelia left to go and then I’m onto the original story novelizations.
October 12, 2024
Another 4 star novelisation - is it 4 stars for the actual writing, or just 4 stars because I love the episodes they're adapting? Who knows! But I had a fun time reading it!
September 13, 2013
The second lot of Willow based episodes that have been turned into a novel. Like the first book, I loved this and read it the very next day. The three episodes in this one are:
"Gingerbread" - where the Scooby Gang find out that fairytales are based on fact and Willow nearly ends up burned at the stake for being a witch - off course, she is, but that's beside the point!!
"Doppelgangland" - one of the funniest episodes of the series when Willow accidently transfers her evil vampire self from an alternative reality.
"Choices" where the gang battle the evil mayor and Faith, the rogue slayer.
"Gingerbread" - where the Scooby Gang find out that fairytales are based on fact and Willow nearly ends up burned at the stake for being a witch - off course, she is, but that's beside the point!!
"Doppelgangland" - one of the funniest episodes of the series when Willow accidently transfers her evil vampire self from an alternative reality.
"Choices" where the gang battle the evil mayor and Faith, the rogue slayer.
March 6, 2022
Easy read and nice blast from the past reading the novelisation version of Willow-centric episodes from Season 3 - Gingerbread, Doppelganger & Choices. Again the beginning of each episode there's alittle snippet that gives the audience some insight into Willow's mind, I just wish it carried through the rest of the book. Still a good read :)
May 18, 2017
Loved it. This was the novelisations of Season Three episodes, Gingerbread, Dopplegangland and Choices. Brilliantly written could see the episodes in my head as I was reading. Spot on. Spectacular enjoyed every minute.
December 4, 2014
I sure wish you could give half stars. Three pretty decent novelizations of episodes from the classic television series from Season 3, I think. "Gingerbread," "Doppelgangland" and "Choices".
Doesn't really add anything new, but definitely makes you want to visit the Scooby Gang in Sunnydale.
Doesn't really add anything new, but definitely makes you want to visit the Scooby Gang in Sunnydale.
June 16, 2016
Willow is one of my favourite characters - smart, funny, sincere and just nice!
The writing in this book is good - dialogue, descriptions, humour. This book has everything.
I highly recommend it.
The writing in this book is good - dialogue, descriptions, humour. This book has everything.
I highly recommend it.
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May 5, 2009The Willow Files: Volume 2 by Yvonne Navarro
February 25, 2019
More of the same
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews