The Book of Fours

FROM THE ARCHIVES (Buffy book reviews)

THE BOOK OF FOURS

By Nancy Holder (2001)

RATING: 5/5 Stakes

SETTING: Season Three

CAST APPEARANCES: Buffy, Angel, Giles, Willow, Xander, Faith, Cordelia, Oz, Joyce, Kendra, Roger (Sam) Zabuto, Principal Snyder, Willy the Snitch, Sheila Rosenberg

MAJOR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: India Cohen (Slayer); Kit Bothwell (India’s Watcher); Lucy Hanover (ghostly Slayer); Simon LaFitte (voodoo king); Cecile LaFitte (voodoo practitioner); Mirielle (insane girlfriend of Zabuto); Anthony Yorke (traitorous Watcher); Micaela Tomassi (sorceror); Cameron Duvalier (evil servant); Tervokian (demon); Cordelia’s Mother; Willow’s Father; Xander’s Aunt & Uncle; Kevin Harris (Xander’s cousin); Carlos New Mexico (crazy homeless man); Mark Corvalis (firefighter); Monica Hamilton (nurse); Holly Johnson (rescued girl); Amanda & Ben Johnson (Holly’s parents); Neema Mfune-Hayes (Watcher); Ibn Rashad; Taran; The Gatherer (ancient demon); The Wanderers (Gatherer’s four servants)

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: “From a place of nightmares--which Buffy and Faith share--a terrible evil invades Sunnydale, setting off disaster. Clearly, the big evil is linked to the Slayer’s nightmares, which revolve around four figures: one burning, one dripping wet, one covered in mud, one shrouded in windswept linen. Each carries a box of grafted skin and bone. Giles learns that the last Slayer to encounter a similar container was India Cohen--Buffy’s immediate predecessor. Strangely, Buffy has never given much thought to the young girl whose death activated her own Slayerdom, but now she must draw on the strength of those who came before her. For Buffy is being stalked by a monstrous force that journeys through time, fortifying itself by draining the primal power of a Slayer. Buffy must orien herself on a continuum against evil that predates even humanity itself. . . .”

REVIEW

The Book of Fours is an impressive accomplishment, and it’s obvious why Pocket Books gave it the prestige of a hardcover launch. Spanning several countries, centuries, and even dimensions, The Book of Fours is the most complex Buffy novel I’ve read to date--indeed, it’s one of the few that begs for a second read to take everything in. To put it another way: the novel opens with the apocalypse, and then things really get rolling . . .The plot of The Book of Fours involves an ancient demon/god called The Gatherer, and his hunger for power that comes from the blood of Slayers. Served by humans, demons, and special beings called The Wanderers, The Gatherer remains a largely unseen character in the novel--most of the dirty work is done by his followers. Without going into excessive detail, suffice it to say that the threat he presents to Sunnydale can only be overcome if four Slayers are present to stop him--unfortunately, only two are alive (Buffy and Faith), and that’s one more than normal. The solution? A trip to the Ghostlands, one of the resting places of the dead, to find the spirits of Kendra and India Cohen (Buffy’s predecessor as Slayer) and ask them to temporarily take over the bodies of human hosts in order to the fight the Gatherer and his minions.

The novel does an amazing job of fleshing out India, Kendra, and their Watchers (Kit Bothwell and Sam Zabuto, respectively). Characterization of the main Scooby Gang members is right on target, and Holder does an especially good job of showing the characters interacting with each other in ways different than the standard Bronze scenes of many Buffy novels. Two things require special praise: the depiction of Faith, who can easily become either a caricature or a character without an edge; and a scene where Willow is in a car accident--even though I knew she couldn’t really “die”, it still had me turning the pages compulsively with my heart racing to see what would happen next.

Interestingly enough, The Book of Fours is the first Buffy novel I’ve seen to incorporate original settings and characters from other Buffy novels--for example, there are references to the events of Spike & Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row and to the Gatekeeper Trilogy. If there are any downsides to the novel it’s probably that simply too much stuff is thrown in--it’s hard to keep track of all of the different characters, and some of the minor subplots (like Xander’s cousin becoming ill) should probably have been trimmed. Quibbles aside, however, The Book of Fours is one of the best Buffy novels I’ve ever read and is highly recommended.