3: chapter 13-18 (pages 185-278)

Taake

Taake

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Black Thorn
3: chapter 13-18 (pages 185-278)

  • The great finale: was it good?
  • Did the story keep your interest?
  • Do you feel - now at the end - that Vornholt did a good job with the characters?
  • Is the story well suited to where we are in the show, or would you have placed it elsewhere?
  • Was the story plausible?
  • Would you have liked to see it as a series episode?
  • Overall thoughts?
 
Seriously some of the dialogue.

”Come on, all vengeance and no play makes Angel a dull boy.”
He laughed in spite of himself. ”Buffy you can really be fun.”

Did ChatGPT write this? Prematurely.
Lol. It is so clunky and awkward.
 
So... finished.

I'm going to spoiler all of this.

The timeline. Okay, this has very little in common with the show's timeline, and it is mentioned as being an alternate season seven. There is a brief mention of Buffy in her grave, a handful of mentions of her being a school counsellor and the biggest thing is Sam and Riley being married. Other than that, it is like season six and seven did not happen. Which is a plus.

Sam's behaviour was revealed to be because she's pregnant. Because hormones. Those darned hormones! You cannot trust them! But once she finds this out, they don't affect her. Because this is how hormones work. So... okay?

Characterisations. Riley seems the best, being close to his season four pre-character assassination. Sam... had no real characterisation in the show, so nothing to counter.

Angel is erratic and some of his dialogue, especially with Buffy, is odd. "The second most amazing thing is I've decided to put up with Riley, since he's married to Sam". Okay. Buffy's response is "That's big of you." Agreed.

Buffy herself in the last part starts to actually get some focus. She's also in a much better mental state than she was in seasons six and seven. It's like she never had a relationship with Spike - who is not once mentioned - at all, and so never broke under his abuse. A definite plus.

I liked how the seven crows rhyme was built into the story and used to reveal key elements. Maybe it was a message from the Powers That Be? It's never mentioned one way or the other.

The action in the last part of the book picked up, though the finale I feel could have been better. It wasn't bad; it just wasn't great. Which I think would be my verdict on the book overall. Not bad, not great. Perfectly readable and an easy enough read, even though there are bits I would question. I would love to know if the author does have a bit of a thing for Sam's actor. Who I know has a name but I cannot be bothered looking it up...
 
Yeah, I didn’t like that that was Sam’s secret. Felt like a poor excuse for her smooching around.

I was a bit worried that Sam and Riley were gonna completely leave the narrative, and was pleased when not only did they stick around but it led to hilarity.

Ok. Riley goes to threaten the big bad.
Predictably, it backfires and Sam ends up kidnapped.

I found it hilarious that within the space of a page Riley goes from kicking off about getting her back, to immediately resigning to her probable death. He literally says to himself ”we could have been good, Sam”.

I was howling. Just immediate, oh she’s dead.

Meanwhile, Sam injured and pregnant, is busy rescuing her own damn self. 😂 She neutralizes two men, steals a car and makes it back to town. Not only that, she ends up being the superwoman who rescues them all in the end, more or less (another sign the author loved her… and her and Angel working together).

Honestly, gold. It all made me laugh. But in a good way.

So overall, I really enjoyed this. It made me picture a very different s7, one where Btvs was fun again and where one could enjoy the stories and characters

That said, Angel and Buffy were certainly erratic in their portrayals and dialogues, they didnt really seem like themselves. But except for that I thought the story was good, there was action, it didn’t drag, Buffy was perhaps too reduced to ”just” being a Slayer.

There was no way for this to be two episodes, but I would have loved to see it if it had been made

More thoughts later
 
Taake said:
I was a bit worried that Sam and Riley were gonna completely leave the narrative, and was pleased when not only did they stick around but it led to hilarity.
Click to expand...

Yes; it did look like they were leaving the story.

Taake said:
I found it hilarious that within the space of a page Riley goes from kicking off about getting her back, to immediately resigning to her probable death. He literally says to himself ”we could have been good, Sam”.
Click to expand...

You should not have listened to Buffy Riley! 😀

Taake said:
Meanwhile, Sam injured and pregnant, is busy rescuing her own damn self. 😂 She neutralizes two men, steals a car and makes it back to town. Not only that, she ends up being the superwoman who rescues them all in the end, more or less (another sign the author loved her… and her and Angel working together).
Click to expand...

Bad. Azz. Bish. 😀

I wonder if the story the author really wanted to write just had Angel and Sam in it?

Taake said:
So overall, I really enjoyed this. It made me picture a very different s7, one where Btvs was fun again and where one could enjoy the stories and characters
Click to expand...

Yes; it was enjoyable and I would be willing to read it again. Something I cannot say about the last two seasons, which I wish I had not watched even once.
 
Was it ever mentioned what happened to the sole survivor from the attack at the beginning after he was abducted from the hospital? My assumption is that he was, well, eaten, but I can't remember if he ever came up again after that.
 
Oh you’re right. I was hoping he’d make it, but I guess he wouldn’t make it through the terrain as they said. It didn’t seem like they noticed him getting away.
 
Taake said:
Oh you’re right. I was hoping he’d make it, but I guess he wouldn’t make it through the terrain as they said. It didn’t seem like they noticed him getting away.
Click to expand...

He was questioned in the hospital on p38, and I think later on - though I can't find the page - it was mentioned he was taken from the hospital, and then nothing.
 
Oh, lol, I completely spaced on that.

It did come to my mind though that it annoyed me that Sam, when dressing up for undercover, thinks that she is good at ”slutty” wear when needed. Like, why couldnt it be sexy or something? Slutty is so derogatory
 
Oh yes, that did stand out to me as being a bit of a strange word choice.
 
Vampire drug ring was interesting.

I didn’t love the real reason why Sam was feeling sick? That came out of nowhere. I really thought she was drugged.

It was a good story but I agree that I feel like both Angel and Buffy’s characterizations were off.
 
Cohen said:
Vampire drug ring was interesting.

I didn’t love the real reason why Sam was feeling sick? That came out of nowhere. I really thought she was drugged.

It was a good story but I agree that I feel like both Angel and Buffy’s characterizations were off.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree on Sam. It felt like a strange plotline that wasn't necessary. Would've made more sense if she was drugged.

I enjoyed it too, but it would have been much better if Angel and Buffy helt felt more true to themselves. This is an alternate timeline of course, but they still felt way off.
 
I do wonder if the story was originally intended to have Sam be drugged, given that is what everything pointed at, and then a pregnancy was worked in instead. Because those were some strange hormones affecting her, and once she knew that was what was affecting her, they ceased to have an effect. Because that is how hormones work.

Now, if you removed the later, minor, references to the pregnancy, and instead had her being cured of some kind of affliction instead of discovering she was pregnant, the whole thing makes far more sense.
 
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