Die Dämonin des Todes

Buffyverse Novels #29

by Christopher Golden, Nancy Holder

Während eines Routineeinsatzes trifft Buffy Summers auf eine kleine Gruppe von Vampiren, die scheinbar mehr will als nur Blut saugen. Dabei muss sich die Vampirjägerin der größten Herausforderung ihrer Karriere stellen. Ihre Kontrahentin, eine Dämonin namens Veronnique, hat so gar keinen Respekt vor Holzpflöcken und scheint sie und ihre Angriffstechniken bestens zu kennen.

Doch was Veronique zu einer schier unüberwindbaren Gegnerin macht, ist die Tatsache, dass sie unsterblich ist. Und sie hat einen tödlichen Auftrag: die Vereinigung ihrer drei Meister zu einem einzigen allmächtigen Dämon, dem Triumvirat, das sich die Ausrottung der gesamten Menschheit zum Ziel gesetzt hat.

Doch gerade jetzt kann sich die Jägerin nicht iher Bestimmung widmen, denn ihre Mutter muss isch einer schweren Operation unterziehen. So sieht sich Buffy zwischen ihren Pflichten als Jägerin und der Liebe zu ihrer Mutter hin- und hergerissen.

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

285 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN has been called “the king of the horror-thriller.” The New York Times bestselling, multi-award-winning storyteller has made his mark in many mediums, as a writer of novels, screenplays, animation, audio dramas, and comics, and as an editor of landmark horror anthologies. His work has been published in dozens of languages around the world. Winner of the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Audie Award, he has been nominated for others, including the British Fantasy Award. His best-known novels include Road of Bones, The House of Last Resort, All Hallows, and his latest, Carry Me to My Grave. He lives in Massachusetts, where he watches too many movies and eats too much chocolate.

Reviews

[Scott]

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]

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]

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]

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...

[India Hannah Pixie]

I listened to the audiobook on casette in a single afternoon. Is it any good? Absolutely not. But I had the best ever time. As a life long Buffy fan and a Cordelia Chase fan girl I LOVED that it was narrated by Charisma Carpenter even if she is diabolical at accents

[Craig]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Kathy]

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]

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]

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

[Dony Grayman]

Una de las pocas novelas del Buffyverso editadas en castellano.

[Caroline]

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]

"—¿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]

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.

[H. Seghir]

Je pense bien qu'il s'agit ici du meilleur roman sur Buffy que j'ai pu lire jusqu'ici.

Les romans tirés de la série Buffy Contre Les Vampires ont toujours été plus ou moins bons voire moyen pour certains. Pour la plupart il s'agissait surtout de fan service et d'un bon moment mais sans plus par rapport à la profondeur de la série d'origine.

Cependant, L'immortelle a réussi à construire quelque chose de similaire. Les différentes temporalité sont très intéressantes, on aborde le thème de la mort avec une sensibilité touchante, et le rapport qu'à Buffy avec sa mère fait tristement écho avec la mort de Joyce dans la saison 5...

[Monica]

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.

[Luc ⚡️]

Fun read I love the writing team and the story was engaging.
I want to say this first before I say my negative point of the book i really love the world of Buffy and characters
But I find every time they add a slayer from the past I find so much more interesting than Buffy her self and I have come to realise that with out the scobbys she is a one note character without much growth were the world around her grows. Still love Buffy though 😆

[Aleksandra]

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]

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.

[Cristina Stassis]

It was literally like watching an episode of Buffy in my head. I enjoyed that it had flashbacks and included past slayers and watchers in it. The witty banter was on point, just like how the real characters would be in the show. It would be great to read more of the books when I’m not actively watching the show though.

[Angela]

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]

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]

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

[Ivy]

5 stars

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

[Ravay]

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]

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