Spark & Burn

FROM THE ARCHIVES (Buffy book reviews)

Spark and Burn

Diana G. Gallagher (2005)

RATING: 2/5 Stakes

SETTING: Various Seasons

CAST APPEARANCES: Spike, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Cordelia, Oz, Giles, Angel, Principal Wood, Nikki Wood, Darla, Drusilla, Clem, The First, Cecily, The Annointed One, Joyce, Devon, Ampata, Jonathan, Machida, Dalton, Tom Warner

MAJOR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Peak (shapeshifter); Otto (vampire); Pond (amphibian); Trevor, Klaus (Machida’s henchmen); Jurgen Koch (Nazi demon hunter)

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: “In the nineteenth century a boy named William was born. A sweet, gentle boy—no one could have guessed the suffering he’d cause, the pain he’d inflict. When, as a young man, he meets a woman called Drusilla—a strange woman, a woman unlike anyone William has ever known—he is fundamentally changed. She has turned him. There will be no more William. He is Spike now. As Spike, he travels Europe with a band of vagabond vampires. Dru, Darla, and Angelus instruct him on his new nature, and from them he learns about that greatest of vampire enemies, the girl who is chosen to stand up against them, trained to kill them, endowed with the strength it takes to defeat them: the Slayer. Then and there, Spike decides he’ll hunt down those slayers. He’ll see how many he can find. Who would have thought then that he’d fight on the Slayer’s side? Who would have guessed that Spike, once William, would go out and seek his soul for a slayer? Who would have dared dream he’d fall in love with one?”

REVIEW

Spark and Burn is an odd Buffy book, unlike any that have come before it. In many ways it’s similar to the novelizations of Buffy episodes that used to come out periodically (such as The Angel Chronicles or The Willow Files); the bulk of Spark and Burn is an adaptation of segments of important Buffy episodes in which Spike appeared, except told from Spike’s point-of-view. This often includes “inserting” him on the edges of the main storyline as he watches Buffy and crew kill the badguys. For example, Spark and Burn spends several pages on Spike supposedly watching pretty much everything that happened in the episode Reptile Boy, where a demon snake named Machida lives below a frat house. On the other hand, the novel also has some completely original segments, some providing backstory to the Spike we know and others filling in the gaps between television appearances. We see Spike and Drusilla in New Orleans shortly before they make their first decision to come to Sunnydale and a long (and somewhat boring) World War II flashback that has Spike having an inconclusive meeting with Machida.

The idea isn’t a bad one—there’s several great Spike stories waiting to be told, whether set before, during, or after his appearances on the episodes. But although tying in closely with continuity is a laudable goal, the novel just isn’t much fun. Spark and Burn is a great title for a book on Spike, but the book lacks exactly that: some spark. Spike just isn’t very dangerous, exciting, funny, or any of those other things we love him for. Diana Gallagher just doesn’t have the gift for writing Spike that other authors (such as Golden & Holder) possess. Indeed, she tries too hard to make him a noble hero, and he comes off too melodramatic and introspective—fine for Angel, but not for Spike.

If you already own the episodes adapted, there’s only a couple of new scenes in the book that are worthwhile. The explanation given for why Spike was able to kill Nikki Wood was well done, and I enjoyed seeing where Spike’s cerebral henchmen Dalton came from. On the whole, however, there’s plenty of other better Buffy books to buy.