Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Book of Fours (2024)

Four Slayers! What else can you ask?!

This prose novel is set during the third season of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer".

IN EVERY GENERATION THERE IS ONE... WAIT!

When I read this novel, back then on 2001, I was lucky to be able to get it on its hardcover format.

Since it was a beautiful cover presenting four slayers on it.

Yes, you may wonder so what happened with b>In every generation there is one Slayer thing, well, the old prophecy never considered that sometime in the future, there'd something called...

...CPR.

Yes, Buffy Summers was medically "dead" for a couple of minutes at the end of the First Season of the TV series, her good friend, Xander Harris, did the unthinkable (well, unthinkable for wizards that never considered certain areas of progress in that competition practice known as medicine) and applied CPR to Buffy, and voilá! A Slayer is back to life, but since she was "dead" for a pair of minutes, the old prophecy was activated once again and it gives the power of The Slayer to Kendra, next in line (that in my humble, very personal, opinion, the Slayer's power should be diluted, since I think that Buffy was less strong in Second Season than in First Season, but of course, the stuff developed at the end of Seventh Season, totally overruled my believing of the power should be diluted, oh, well...) having in that way, TWO Slayers at the same time, in the same generation, and when Kendra eventually died during Second Season, the Slayer calling was activated again, this time for Faith, and in that way, still having two active Slayers at the same time.

This story is set on the third season of the TV series at some moment BEFORE the defecting of Faith to the Mayor's army. So, in here, Faith and Buffy are

This is indeed a very good story for Buffy, the Vampire Slayer fans, since you will not only have two slayers but...

FOUR!!!

However, how Kendra and India Cohen (previous slayer to Buffy) are able to interact in the story is something that I won't spoil, since fans would know that at this moment in the TV Series, Kendra was already dead (Faith was activated due this) and India Cohen's death was what activated Buffy Summer's activation as Slayer.

But, don't worry! While there'd flashbacks, especially telling India Cohen's story, you will have the four Slayers battling side by side, in the best possible way due the circ*mstances.

Even, while at this moment, the TV series had already three season developed, you'll meet for the first time several family members of the Buffy's team that never were seen before in the TV series.

SLAYERS ON THEIR... ELEMENTS

The prose novel presents a new villain called Cecile Lafitte, which has backstory related to India Cohen, and now she is looking to kill the current Slayers, Buffy and Faith...

...and she has in her power four very special axes with the power to kill specific slayers,...

...since each Slayer's power relies in connection with one of the four elements: fire, water, air and earth, and using the right axe against the right Slayer, they can be killed...

...and if the killing is done in that way...

...the prophecy of transfering the power of The Slayer to the next chosen one...

...CAN BE STOPPED!!!

And won't be any new Slayer anymore!

Buffy is the Slayer of Air; Faith is the Slayer of Fire; Kendra was the Slayer of Earth; and India Cohen was the Slayer of Water.

But, that it's only the first step in the plans of Cecile Lafitte!

Something even more powerful and dangerous will be menacing the whole world if Lafitte is able to stop the linage of Slayers.

An adventure so big that just one Slayer wasn't enough! It'll need it four!!!!

This is fun season three Buffy adventure. The four elements are manifested, and four slayers share the action. Buffy, Faith, Kendra, and Buffy's forerunner, India, who gets perhaps a bit too much exposition and back story. There are some good lines and twists, a bit of a slog in the middle followed by an abrupt conclusion, a bit too much nightmare and magickal hijinks, but a fine, fast read for fans who couldn't get enough from the television.

Buffy and Faith must unite with their predecessors, Kendra and India to defeat a being called the Gatherer.
I was excited for more back story on Kendra and to learn anything at all about India, but the least confusing and most irritating thing about this book turned out to be that India is pronounced In-DEE-ah, and that was pretty darn both. Between the massive amounts of dreams, diary entries, and flashbacks to people and places that barely even begin to explain the Gatherer, there is also intrigue at the Watcher’s Council, involving two lady watchers who used to be involved romantically with Giles and Roger Zabuto (Kendra’s Watcher). Their relevance to the story was negligible, and certainly not worthy of the amount of exposition they both got. Also, the Gatherer has had three previous Servants, all of whom get a big chunk of the book for explanations of their evil-ness. Not to mention copious references to events in other tie-in novels Holder has written, which I, personally, had not already read, including things that blatantly contradict events in the television show. (One might argue that the contradictions happened in later seasons of the show, and may not have contradicted at the time the novel was written. I didn’t investigate it thoroughly. You can if you want.)
I generally enjoy these “extra episodes” of Buffy, and usually Nancy Holder is good at Buffy-speak, but I don’t buy people like middle-aged watchers in England or even previous Slayers using the convention. My personal theory is that Buffy and her friends talk like that, as well as people who have spent lots of time with them. Others do not. You will notice that Giles didn’t start speaking that way until mid-third season, and Joyce never did. You don’t see Angelus, Darla, Spike or Dru employing quirky turns of phrase in their televised flashbacks, either. It also kind of irks when the authors bring the language into their descriptive and otherwise non-dialogue paragraphs, but it’s a little more understandable when actively describing action between Buffy and her friends. It’s just not welcome in flashbacks or coming from people who have no business speaking that way, except that they are featured in a novel set in the universe of this show. I apologize for ranting about this, but I apparently feel strongly about it.
For a final verdict, I would recommend either reading copious amounts of Nancy Holder-penned Buffy novels prior to tackling this one, or skipping it altogether. Particularly if you are a hard-core fan-type.

Perhaps I should have started with a different Buffy book, but the promise of four Slayers was too alluring. Unfortunately, there was far too much exposition of every detail of the motivations of the numerous uninteresting villains. That, along with the many pointless plot lines made this kind of a slog.

Time changes everything - I remember really liking this book when I first read it, back when new Buffy episodes were on the TV and I was a lot younger! Sadly, this latest (and last) re-read was a bit disappointing.

The story is a typical Slater-fest - an ancient demon-cum-sludge pool wants to devour the two current slayers, absorb their energy and so become corporeal. Elemental mummies descend on Sunnydale and wreak havoc as they attempt to capture Buffy and Faith using some axes and boxes made of dead slayers. There's a voodoo priestess helping the demon, an ex-watcher helping Buffy, plus a few ghostly faces and the normal Scooby crowd. A good premise, but in actual fact the story quickly becomes muddled and, although not hard to follow exactly, ends up puzzling the reader for no good reason.

Some things that occurred to me as I was reading it this time?
- If the Gatherer needs to devour the Slayers, why use axes that can kill them?
- And why all four elements have to go to Sunnydale when it was only after the two? It shouldn't have known that the other two slayers would turn up on full possession mode!
- Why bother with the Watcher's prisoner and bring her all the way to Sunnydale - what did she do?
- Why the pointless plotline about Xander's cousin?
- And what happened to India's dog?

But my most major niggle was the constant use and repetition of the world Magickal - pretentious or what?

So, a rather disappointing read in some ways. I did enjoy it, despite what the above sounds like, and it was nice to revisit the world of the slayer, but for me the story just didn't hang together, there were too many distractions from the main action and the ending was just a bit muddled together.

drawn out, too much historical crap, with very fast wrap it up in 20 pages ending. Buffy/Angel interaction was good though.

The last time I read this I was in high school, so it feels nostalgic reading it again years later.

Alrighty, let's begin the review, shall we?

The Book of Fours by Nancy Holder takes place in Buffy's Season 3, sometime after "The Zeppo"

Positives

As a Buffy fan, I thoroughly enjoyed the references to past episodes on the TV series in this book, it was a nice touch for hardcore Buffy fans to enjoy. Some of the other highlights were some mentions of characters such as Micaela Tomasi, who made an appearances in Out of the Madhouse, Ghost Roads and Sons of Entropy novels, so it was fun to see a familiar character return :)

It was nice to have Sam Zabuto, show in person, ok maybe not on the TV screens but in this book, after the loss of his slayer, Kendra Young who briefly met Buffy and the Scoobies a few times in Season 2 before her death at the hands of Drusilla in "Becoming Part 1"

It was awesome having four slayers in this story!

Some may be a tad confused in every generation a slayer is born .... but how Nancy Holder writes this novel, is so cleverly done, intertwining past events through via flashbacks of India and Kendra, as well as the villains in this story and how it all affects the current slayers Buffy Summers and Faith Lehane with the new Big Bad in The Book of Fours.

Since I don't wanna spoil too much for you, it all leads to the four slayers battling side by side in a final confrontation to protect Sunnydale and preserve the Slayer line.

I also liked seeing Faith and Buffy as allies because, at this point, Faith hasn't betrayed Buffy and the Scoobies to team up with the Mayor, even with Faith's personality to rush headlong into situations without thinking, there were moments in this book, where Faith was taking charge in some parts of the book, some she was successful, others time not so much, it showed the potential of leadership there (which we will all see in Btvs Season 7)

I've always been curious to know about the slayer before Buffy - India Cohen - hmm, not surprised really, perhaps I was expecting more - I guess? Perhaps if the book was a bit longer or if there will be another Btvs novel with India Cohen as the protagonist would be cool to see in the future.

I did enjoy the backstories of the villains of this book. Including hinting of the corruption within the Watcher's Council (which has been shown a few times via the TV series, Gwen Post anyone?)

Negatives

I don't know but The Gatherer and the Wanderers felt too much like The First Evil and Harbingers of Death, or well there were too many similarities between the TV villains and these villains from the book. Even though I do like the symbolism of the primordial nature elements to the four core Slayers i.e. Buffy/Air, Kendra/Earth, India/Water, and Faith, of course, is Fire.

I wish there was more action and the final battle was over before you knew it which was disappointing, considering it took more than the whole book to get to the final confrontation.

Also some things I couldn't help but wonder:
- If the Gatherer needs to devour the Slayers, what was the purpose of the axes that are capable of killing them? Was it to weaken them so then the Gatherer can consume their souls??
- Ok I'm guessing Kit hinted that India's ghost would somehow be in contact with the current slayers but how did Cecile LaFitte guess that Kendra's, India's and Lucy Hanover's ghost, therefore all four elements would even KNOW to go to Sunnydale when there were only two (Buffy/Faith)? But even then, Cecile shouldn't have known that the other two ghostly slayers and later Lucy Hanover when India Cohen's spirit was consumed by the Gatherer and possess two of Buffy's closest allies?
- What was the point of bringing Micaela Tomasi and her Watcher ally Neema all the way to Sunnydale? She didn't do anything! LOL it was Sam Zabuto's dead lover Mirielle who contacted Giles with a magical protection spell or something to block Cecile to give the four slayers time for India's ghost to contact Buffy with the clue to defeating The Gatherer
- The whole second or third plotline about Xander's cousin? That didn't affect the story at all!
- I hope India's dog made it out alive!?!

I give this book a five-star rating! Definitely recommend to any Buffy fan!

I used to like this stuff when I was younger but now I find I have real trouble reading books like this, largely because they never quite capture the characters 'correctly' (in line with my mental models of them), and it's hard to believe that all this could have been going on and never mentioned within the main plotline of the show. So typically the presence of the familiar characters detracts from, rather than enhances, the story. In this case, even without that, I didn't find the story particularly compelling. There was WAY too much going on, so many plotlines that felt like they could have almost been books on their own (and perhaps some were, I often had the sense that events referred to were from other books I'd not read, which was even more alienating), and it was hard to feel engaged. Perhaps this sort of semi-official fan fiction is better left behind to my youth.

3.5 stars. A little slow moving but good ol’ Scoobies are back at it again….saving the world…..again. Buffy and Faith, along with the deceasedIndia and Kendra take on Cecelia LaFitte and the Gatherer. Buffy still loves Angel; Faith is still a bitch; and Willow, Oz, Xander and Giles are in for a beating. Unfortunately, this might be the only Buffy book I read this year….don’t judge!

This has always been one of my favorite Buffy novelizations. It takes place during the third season and really adds a lot to Buffy and Faith's dynamic, while also delving into the past and the life of The Slayer before Buffy, India Cohen.

A foul being wants to destroy the Slayer bloodline and has narrowed their search to Sunnydale, which is being beset by earthquakes and tidal waves.

Writing is awesome and hits the mark perfectly. All characters come to life as you would expect. And the humour, even in action-filled pages, that’s just so unique to Buffyverse. But the plot… nah, not my cup of tea. Too weird, even for a book about Buffy.

Está tan mal traducido que no solo ha hecho que me cueste engancharme a la historia, sino que también creo que me enterado de la mitad. No entendido la mayoría de sucesos, el porqué o cómo estaban ocurriendo.

I really enjoyed this story. There was just so many point of views that i did get lost at points. but i loved the focus on the female characters. Hope to read more novels soon!

3.5/5 stars

Decent enough that I read the whole thing, but not much better than that. Not horrible either. Just meh.

I love this book almost as much as I loved the TV series. 💕 Buffy is an amazing role model for girls and women everywhere!

Absolutely one of my favorite Buffy books. Such an exciting story!

One of my absolute favorite Buffy books!

Back story on slayer India. India, Kendra, Faith and Buffy save the slayer legacy.

I usually like this author but I had so much trouble getting into this one. Maybe it’s just where I am now but I feel like there was a lot of new features and new rules that were not explained well.

So... I am a grown woman, and I have been reading Buffy books since I was 14. They are still a go-to (very, very) guilty pleasure. Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder are some of the most knowledgeable and prolific Buffy writers— but this is a hot mess of tangents and tangled mythos. It seems to me that the author had a vision of an epic and all consuming (literally) monster. She focused so much on building a backstory, fractured and incomplete though it may be, that she completely forgot about the storyline in the present. If people come to a Buffy book, they want Buffy— and Angel and the Scoobies, not depraved doctors in the desert or scary spoiled demon worshippers of the civil war. The predominant theme here seems to be that any beautiful woman can conquer the world with her *feminine wiles.* When it came down to it, readers only got a glimpse of the stories I wanted more of while the tangential supplicants of this demon got extensive exposition. There are lots of fun, escapist Buffy books for fans of the series, but I will NOT be revisiting this one. Pass it!

This is an actual published book, which means it was approved by someone along the lines who owns the rights to Buffy, and the Buffy-verse. But what is too bad is that this book is about four levels below some of the unauthorized fan fiction out there. Because as everyone from every genre knows; the first rule of fanfiction is to NEVER have more than two brand new characters. Two is okay if you balance with the cannon characters, but more than that and it turns into a story about someone else, and really, you should have just written an original story and left out Buffy and the Scoobies all together. For this book to have been really good, within the genre of the Buffyverse the writers should have written a story that could only take place in the 'verse, and run with it.
It's not a terrible book; because the slayers are there, but it is a little lacking and I felt like I was being talked down to as I read it. And the 'new characters' were too involved and not fleshed out enough.

I'm a massive Buffy geek and this book is a little bit "out there" (two dead Slayer spirits taking over the bodies of Willow and Cordelia, getting them thrown off a cliff and hacked to pieces respectively only for the ACTUAL Will and Cordy to wake up in bed as if the last 24hrs hadn't happened? Bit too "weird" for my Buffy liking.) for my taste.

Yes, it's got a decent story that dives more into the past of the Slayers, coughing up the girl who's death called Buffy herself and how she is the reason this huge, almighty evil has gone on the rampage one again.
Yes, it has the good old characters, my favourite character (who is Faith, by the way) and some very interesting new characters.
Yes, I have read it more than twice...

But no, I've never thought "Wow, I need to read that again!" when I've put it down, nor have I ever contemplated taking it on any holidays or day trips with me to read.

I like it. It's good. But that's all it will ever be for me.

The Book of Fours is an interesting concept for a story, but the way it is written is a bit complex and confusing. I found myself having to flip back quite a bit to remind myself of who certain characters were and what the new chapters were referring to.

I liked the introduction of India as the Slayer who preceded Buffy. She reminded me a bit of the season five version of Buffy in her willingness to sacrifice herself for someone she loved. I also liked the exploration of the four elements and how they related to each Slayer.

One thing that I had a problem with was that Buffy and Faith seemed to be lacking their healing time. The book referred to Faith as needing stitches for an injury that she received, which seemed odd since even when the Slayers have serious injuries (except when Faith was in a coma on the show), it rarely takes them more than a day to recover. Being unable to recover within a day from a cut seemed unusual to me.

Bought this book at a garage sale on a whim, because the TV show is just plain good fun. The book captures the characters pretty well, but it turns out that it's a lot harder to READ the old dialogue and all the Slayer action than it is to watch it. And I don't mean hard as in difficult to comprehend; I just mean it's a lot more awkward in text than in visuals.
But, I certainly didn't pick up this book expecting it to be a great piece of high literature; I picked it up expecting it to be a super-fast, no-thinking-necessary, fun, possibly funny, possibly awful-but-funny, possibly awful-and-therefore-funny read. I got all of that.

If you are a huge fan of Buffy, you will love this book. Nancy Holder got all the characters down - it was like watching a really long episode. Loved that other Slayers were introduced & that you were given enough on them to really get a feel for them. This book made me want to go out and find other Buffy books written by Nancy Holder. Will probably give her other stuff a try, as well.

It was okay. The idea for the main plot was mostly good. It was more the way it was written that turned me off. The characters didn't feel like the canon character and there were just too many threads to it. The Kevin subplot could have been removed and the story would have exactly the same, tbh was also didn't need so much background for Cecile.
But it was okay overall.

The idea of a book that tackles the Slayer called just before Buffy - India Cohen - seemed a fantastic idea. Sadly, the story itself suffers from the lack of Whedonesque characterization and notable antagonists. Here's hoping that India gets her story properly told in Season 9.

This is one of the better Buffy paperbacks. Which isn't saying much. I remember really liking this when I was younger and wanted to give it a re-read. The concept is really interesting, but the writing is lackluster.

Buffy Cazavampiros: El Libro de los Cuatros. Historia de la primera aventura de las cuatro cazadoras. Contada por el Vigilante de la quinta Cazadora a Nancy Holder.
Esta historia tiene lugar durante la tercera temporada.