Oz: Into the Wild [Buffy]

Oz: Into the Wild

By Christopher Golden (2002)

RATING: 4/5 Stakes

SETTING: Season Four

T.V. CHARACTER APPEARANCES: Oz, Gib Cain, Giles, Buffy, Xander, Willow, Cousin Jordy, Aunt Maureen, Uncle Ken

SIGNIFICANT ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Caesar Torres, Desiree Adams (friends); The Pierrault Brothers (vampires); Jinan (Kaohsiung demon); Wuxi (sorcerer); Master Shantou (monk); Muztag (demon lord)

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: “Bitten by his werewolf cousin Jordy, Oz has struggled with the forces of evil that transform him into a beast three nights of each month. Those who care about him have learned to deal with his alter ego and accept him for who he is. But Oz himself isn’t sure who he really is. Part human, part dangerous animal, he must constantly question his basic nature, and worries that he might, as the wolf, bring harm to his loved ones. Therefore, with great difficulty, he leaves Sunnydale and sets off on a course toward enlightenment. Giles has told him of a Watcher in the Fiji islands who might help him transcend the lunar pull. Oz’s journeys take him from Australia to Hong Kong, and even to Tibet. Far-flung regions and exotic cultures provide new understandings of consciousness and human nature. Before long, though, he realizes that he must gain control of his inner wolf sooner rather than later—or risk finding himself not predator, but rather, prey. . . .”

REVIEW

Oz: Into the Wild is rather unusual in the Buffy line of original novels, being one of only two to focus on a single character (the other one being Faith’s Go Ask Malice). Oz is a surprisingly choice for this honor—although a popular character, he’s not the first Scooby one might think of to demand a solo book. Still, the great thing about a Buffy book sans-Buffy is that it forces the writer to come up with a storyline that is different than the norm. Very little of Oz: Into the Wild even takes place in Sunnydale.

Set between Oz deciding to leave after killing fellow werewolf Veruca in the Season Four episode Wild at Heart and his brief return in New Moon Rising, the novel tells of Oz’s journey to the mountains of Tibet in search of a cure for his lycanthropy. Along the way, he befriends a shape-changing Kaohsiung demon named Jinan who develops a strong crush on Oz—however, he’s determined to stay loyal to Willow and return to Sunnydale once he finds a cure. In Tibet, Oz ends up helping a small group of villagers and monks fight a powerful (and pretty unoriginal) demon lord named Muztag. Gib Cain, the werewolf hunter from the show, trails Oz throughout most of the book and is given a little bit more of a personality than he used to have.

The author, Christopher Golden, provides reliable dialogue and solid action scenes, and demonstrates that he actually researched many of the far-off places to which the characters venture. I can’t say Oz: Into the Wild is a great book, but it does provide a nice bit of character development for Buffy’s quietest character, and the fact that it fills in a missing period for the character between T.V. appearances is a nice bonus.