The Evil That Men Do

FROM THE ARCHIVES (Buffy book reviews)

THE EVIL THAT MEN DO

Nancy Holder (2000)

RATING: 2/5 Stakes

SETTING: Season Three

CAST APPEARANCES: Buffy, Joyce, Willow, Oz, Xander, Giles, Angel, Cordelia, Willy the Snitch, Devon, Sheila Rosenberg, Ira Rosenberg

MAJOR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Helen, Julian (ancient Roman vampires); Jordan Smythe (flunky); Mark Dellasandra (high schooler); Nick Daniels (Bronze manager); Claire Bellamy (Bronze); Diana (ancient Roman Slayer)

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: “After a vicious shooting spree, the town of Sunnydale is shell-shocked. What could have sparked the random rampage? Buffy Summers can guess. Considering the prophetic dreams she’s been having, the Slayer suspects possession by an especially malevolent force. As the police follow their typical false leads, the Slayerettes start up their own research into possible paranormal causes. But when Oz’s van is discovered on the side of the road, minus one teen wolf, a distraught Willow turns on Buffy, disrupting the investigation. With the pressure in Sunnydale mounting, the residents’ reactions to stress grow increasingly unpredictable. The Slayer continues her search for answers, narrowly surviving an attack by a well-trained and powerful vampire who brought a gruesome death to every Slayer who crossed her path. Is this the ancient creature behind the recent influx of evil? Or is there another influence . . . close to home?”

REVIEW

Set-Up: What do you get when you mix Nancy Holder, two ancient Roman vampires, and a plot to raise an ancient deity to destroy the world? Punchline: An incredibly boring Buffy novel titled The Evil That Men Do. I perhaps shouldn’t be quite so harsh, as there is one or two good ideas in the novel, it’s just that on the whole the book lacks energy, humor, surprises, creativity, and all of those other things one looks for in a good novel.

Helen and Julian, two vampires from the age of Caligula, have waited several centuries for a chance to call forth the goddess Meter and rule the world. When they hatch their vile scheme in Sunnydale, the water supply gets laced with an “everyone turn evil” drug, turning citizen against citizen as “all hell breaks loose.” Seriously . . . it’s just plain bad.

Our Terrible Twosome of bad guys have standard villain personas: Julian is the suave, cultured, smarmy James Bond movie villain, while Helen is the vicious, want-to-kill-everything-that-moves type of villain. Their backstory is fairly interesting, even if it takes a while to get moving. As for the Scoobies, they’re all fulfilling their standard roles: Cordelia gets kidnapped, Oz shapechanges, Buffy stakes. The book just doesn’t have much life to it, and should be avoided in favor of the many better ones out there.