A to Z Challenge – Q is for Queen of Shadows

Trigger warning: Rape as a plot point.

It’s difficult for me to talk about how I feel about this book. On the one hand, I enjoyed the hell out of the worldbuilding and the plot itself, the setting, all of that. On the other hand, the romance aspect left something to be desired.

Miranda Grey is a musician who’s been making a name for herself in the Austin music scene because of her ability to manipulate the emotions of her audience. However, her power is a two-way street: by looking in people’s eyes, she learns their secrets and feels their emotions. It’s slowly driven her away from human contact, and it’s just as inexorably driving her insane.

Miranda’s in a bad place when we meet her. She’s become adept at not looking at people, at making herself invisible on the city streets. She uses alcohol to dull her senses and abilities so she can rest.

It’s by sheer chance she meets David in the line at the grocery store. He’s the first person in a long time to notice her, which is unsettling, to say the least.

What she doesn’t know is that David is a vampire, and not just any vampire, but the Prime of the Southern United States. And unbeknownst to her, she’s about to fall headfirst into his world and all its darkness and dangers.

Easily, the best thing about this book is the world that Sylvan’s created. I like the society of the vampires, how ancient it is, how their leaders have been chosen in much the same way for thousands of years. The concept of the Primes, Queens, and Signets was really cool, and the parts where we learned more about vampire lore were some of my favorite in the book.

It was neat to read about an ancient culture that holds to its past while still trying (well, OCCASIONALLY trying) to move into the modern day. However, like David says several times, vampires tend to be slow about it.

I also really liked Deven, the Prime for the Western U.S. and David’s best friend. Because this is what he says when we first meet him:

“I have two lectures prepared for you, one on the perils of ignoring your destiny and the other on gluttony, specifically related to drinking your weight in Jim Beam every night.”

“I’m not drinking.”

He could practically hear Deven roll his eyes. “I’m intimately acquainted with your vices, David.”

“It’s Jack, not Jim.”

…

David leaned his head in his free hand. “How about the second lecture?”

He could hear Deven rolling his eyes over the phone. “If you’re going to become a drunk, at least spring for the good whiskey. Jack Daniels? Honestly. Have I taught you nothing?”

(Other things you apparently notice when you’re typing up an excerpt for a review? An author using identical dialogue tags on the same page. Yeesh. Ignore those. The dialogue is the good part.)

Really, Deven and his Consort, Jonathan, were two of my favorite characters in the story. I wished we’d gotten to see more from them.

And overall, the mystery aspect of the plot worked well, the search to uncover just who is responsible for the attacks on humans and why. Those were the most tense and interesting parts of the book for me.

Unfortunately, this isn’t just straight urban fantasy; it’s urban fantasy/paranormal romance, which means we have a romantic subplot to contend with. And that, sadly, is where the book falls flat.

When David is being Prime vampire, he’s awesome. Scary, badass, generally excellent. When he is being David the love interest, he is…less so. I have absolutely no idea how you manage to make a romance with an otherwise cool character bland, but it manages to happen. Every time he got to thinking about Miranda he went from cool to mopey, and at one point, I lost just about any interest I had in him as a character because of it.

(Highlight for spoilers, because this happens near the end of the novel and I damn near threw the book down when it did.)

About 3/4 of the way through the novel when Miranda is presumed dead, David shuts himself in his room, curls up in his bed, and doesn’t come out for THREE. DAYS.

I will buy that reaction from a teenage girl. I will not for one SECOND buy it from a centuries-old vampire who is responsible for the entire southern United States, and particularly not when he’s in the middle of a freaking CIVIL WAR.

Fight your battles, handle your responsibilities, and then you can break down as much as you want. I lost so much respect for him there, not because he went comatose, but because of when he did it.

No matter how many times the novel tells me David and Miranda are meant to be, I just didn’t see it. Every time they’re together at the beginning, she is (rather understandably) freaked out. And even though David often thought about the reasons he found her attractive, we weren’t shown them. All I saw was Miranda being a tiny, fearful child who wanted to die.

While I get what Sylvan was trying to do with Miranda’s character arc, it just didn’t work for me. It was so…jarring. She intrigued me at the beginning and I liked her after she started growing into a stronger character, but the transition between the two just wasn’t realized well.

And the tropes. My God, the tropes. Soul mates? Check. A psychic/telepathic bond that allows David to tell where she is and answer questions she doesn’t ask? Check. A teacher/student relationship as he trains her in her powers? Check. “Good” vampires who don’t kill humans vs. “bad” vampires who see them as cattle? Checkity check check.

Alone, any one of these tropes would probably be fine, but man, throwing them all into the mix like this just had me sitting around waiting for the sex pollen to show up.

And then there’s an element to Miranda’s story (and actually Faith’s background as well) that made me go “Really? Did you have to do it this way?” It’s not really a spoiler (since it happens within the first few chapters), but it is potentially triggering, hence the warning at the top of this post.

I really, really was not a fan of the rape. It was handled well—at least, as well as it can be handled and MUCH more believably than the rape in Impossible. But it bothered me that it had to be a part of her story—and not just hers, but also Faith’s, which puts us 2/3 for named badass women in this book. And at least one minor female character was nearly raped as well.

I know this is a dark story and therefore dark things will happen, but it felt like it was used as a crutch here. Oh, I need to traumatize someone? Let’s go with rape! Need to show that a guy is a douchebag? Let’s have him try to rape someone!

Overall, the book just wasn’t my thing. The parts I liked weren’t enough to overcome the parts I didn’t, and from everything I’ve read, the series goes downhill after this one. It’s a good idea, just not executed well enough to merit much more than checking it out of the library.

Book Reviews: The Smoke Thief and Dead Until Dark

It’s a two-for-one book review post! (Synopses from Amazon, per usual)

I read these over Christmas break, so alas, they don’t count toward my 70 books in 2013 goal. But reading them did help to get the giant pile in my room to under 40 books, so kind of a win?

The Smoke Thief by Shana Abé

Dubbed the Smoke Thief, a daring jewel thief is confounding the London police. His wealthy victims claim the master burglar can walk through walls and vanish into thin air. But Christoff, the charismatic Marquess of Langford, knows the truth: the thief is no ordinary human but a “runner” who’s fled Darkfrith without permission. As Alpha leader of the drákon, it’s Kit’s duty to capture the fugitive before the secrets of the tribe are revealed to mortals. But not even Kit suspects that the Smoke Thief could be a woman.

Clarissa Rue Hawthorne knew her dangerous exploits would attract the attention of the drákon. But she didn’t expect Christoff himself to come to London, dangling the tribe’s most valuable jewel–the Langford Diamond–as bait. For as long as she could remember, Rue had lived the life of a halfling–half drákon, half mortal–and an outcast in both worlds. She’d always loved the handsome and willful Kit from the only place it was safe: from afar. But now she was no longer the shy, timid girl she’d once been. She was the first woman capable of making the Turn in four generations. So why did she still feel the same dizzying sense of vulnerability whenever he was near?

From the moment he saw her, Kit knew that the alluring and powerful beauty was every bit his Alpha equal and destined to be his bride. And by the harsh laws of the drákon, Rue knew that she was the property of the marquess. But they will risk banishment and worse for a chance at something greater. For now Rue is his prisoner, the diamond has disappeared, and she’s made the kind of dangerous proposition a man like Kit cannot resist…

This is another one of those “right up my alley” novels. One, it’s a romance. Two, it’s a historical romance (England, mid-1700s). Three, it’s a historical romance with shapeshifting dragons.

And I loved it so very much.

It was difficult to get into at first, in a large part because of the 10-page prologue setting up the world and the history of the drákon. It was well-written, but dense, and encompassed quite a lot of history. I know at least some of it was necessary, but it wasn’t exactly an easy introduction into the story.

It also didn’t help that Abé occasionally switched viewpoints in the middle of a scene, without the benefit of a break between the paragraphs. Inevitably it would trip me up halfway down the page and I would stop and go back, trying to figure out where I’d jumped from one person’s head into the other’s.

(This is something a lot of romance authors tend to do, and it’s one of my least favorite aspects of the genre. Give me a double-space between paragraphs before you haul off and jump into someone else’s head, I beg you.)

But really, those two things were the only quibbles I had about this book. The writing itself was lovely and drew me in easily. And once I got into the story, I couldn’t put it down.

Kit and Rue were great, two very willful people each determined to get their own way. When they were together, the story crackled with animosity and attraction. Kit toed the line of turning into an Alpha asshole a couple of times, but as Rue was more than a match for him, it made it far more palatable to me. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute I got to spend with them.

I also enjoyed the mystery of the missing diamond, which didn’t go the way I expected. It was pretty clear, though, that the romance was the more important part, and I think it overbalanced the mystery aspect just a hair.

That being said, I definitely want to read the next book in the series (The Dream Thief). Just the first few pages in the back of The Smoke Thief had me wishing for more.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life-and one of her coworkers checks out…. Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn’t such a bright idea.

This one was hit and miss for me. On the one hand, I never felt like it was a chore to read it, and I stayed up late to find out who the killer really was. I liked the small-town setting, and I liked how completely normal Sookie was (outside of her “disability”): normal job, normal car, and she generally enjoyed her small-town life. It was a nice change of pace from other heroines of paranormal novels.

Plus, Sookie could and did take care of herself; she didn’t always depend on Bill to save her. That being said, she didn’t try to take care of something herself when CLEARLY the super-strong immortal vampire who could see in the dark would be better equipped to do it.

On the other hand, the writing quality itself was inconsistent. Sometimes it would be really good and smooth, and other times it would be rough, which jarred me out of the story. Sometimes Harris would show us how angry Sookie was getting, other times it would be: “I was really angry!” Sometimes the narration would fit for Sookie; other times it sounded like she’d found a word-of-the-day calendar and was determined to use it.

And I didn’t really like how fast Sookie and Bill jumped from “Hi, I’ve just met you” to “I love you.” I wasn’t sure their relationship had been built up quite enough for that.

The murder mystery in the story was built up and fleshed out much better than the romance, and I loved the glimpses into how the existence of vampires was changing the world. (Example: The black market for vampire blood.)

Even though it was an enjoyable read, there really wasn’t enough about the story and the characters to compel me to continue with the series. There has to be LOVE there, and while I liked this book well enough, I didn’t love it.

Dracula by Bram Stoker, Or How To Get Me to Throw a Book Down

Cursing ahead. Fairly be ye warned.

I really liked Dracula at first. Yes, the style was older and the letter/journal format took some getting used to. However, the first section of the book—where Jonathan Harker is in Romania visiting Castle Dracula for the first time—is perfectly gothic and creepy and I loved it.

The slow reveal as he begins to realize not all is what it seems, his encounter with the three vampire women, his escape attempts when he finds out Dracula has no intention of letting him leave…it was great. I wanted more.

Things slowed down when we switched from Jonathan to Mina Murray and Dr. Seward, but picked back up the moment the unmanned ship drifted into port in England during a horrific storm.

In some ways, the journal style of the novel increased the sensation of discovery as bits and pieces of Dracula’s plan and actions were revealed, whether through an interview with a zookeeper or an article in the paper about the unmanned ship.

I was enjoying the book, you guys. It was good. I was having fun. I didn’t even want to go back in time to stab Bram Stoker for his egregious use of dialect. (I HATE phonetic dialect in books. Makes me so stabby. One or two words, to get the flavor? Fine with me. Every single word for eight paragraphs? Not so much.)

And THEN.

(I’m going to spoil the hell out of this, for those of you who have somehow managed to neither read the book nor see ANY of the eight billion Dracula movies that have been made since 1922.)

Approximately 60% of the way through the book, all of our various viewpoint characters have finally gotten together: Jonathan and Mina (now Mina Harker), Dr. Van Helsing, Dr. John Seward, Quincey Morris, and Arthur Holmwood (now Lord Godalming). They SPECIFICALLY SAY that they have read EVERYTHING at this point: all Mina’s notes, Lucy’s letters, Dr. Seward’s recorded journals, EVERYTHING.

So all the main characters should, theoretically, know everything the reader does at this point. Which means they should all be well aware of what happened to Lucy (Dracula fed on her, which caused her to turn pale and sleep all the time, and then she died and became a vampire). Not only that, but Mina was WITH Lucy for the beginning of that, and all three of Lucy’s suitors plus Van Helsing were there for the end of it. It is a HUGE PART of the first half of the book.

With me so far?

What happens after this involves six people grabbing the Idiot Ball and running with it so hard you’d think they were returning it for a Moron Touchdown.

Item the First: Quincey Morris, the American, goes outside during their big powwow to shoot at a GIANT BAT sitting near the window, specifically because all the crap that was happening with Dracula was making him not like bats. (Note: I said “shoot at” because he didn’t hit it. Think there’s a chance this giant bat was Dracula and he’s privy to their plans?)

Item the Second: After the gentlemen have made their plans and agreed not to tell Mina anything else about it (because she’s a lovely, delicate creature who should just leave them to men’s work), Jonathan makes comments that Mina seems pale and she’s sleeping much more soundly than usual. He must call her several times to wake her.

Item the Third: MINA HERSELF starts talking about her trouble sleeping—either being tired all the time or sleeping very soundly. And then she starts describing a “dream” (I use quotes because she’s not even sure it’s a dream) about a white mist coming up to the house and coming in through the window and seeing eyes and a face in the mist JUST LIKE LUCY DESCRIBED.

And nobody—not a one of them—says, “You know, Mrs. Harker’s acting a lot like Miss Westerna did before she died. Perhaps the Count has started feeding on her?”

THIS PROSPECT DOES NOT EVEN OCCUR TO THEM. None of them, not even FUCKING MINA.

SERIOUSLY?

You…what…I don’t…no. Just no.

I was halfway through that dream description when I had to turn the Kindle off and step away before I broke it.

I will roll with a lot of things. My suspension of disbelief is expansive, perhaps to the point of gullibility. But the precise moment the characters lose all critical thinking skills for no GODDAMN REASON is the moment you lose me as a reader.

It took me another few months to finish Dracula, partly because I started editing heavily and partly because I had to wait until my blood pressure subsided and I could get past everybody in the book getting hit with Sudden Onset Temporary Dumbass Syndrome.

Because frankly, at that point, you deserve to get eaten by the vampire.

Book Review – Changeless by Gail Carriger

I adored Soulless, but have just now gotten around to picking up book 2 in the Parasol Protectorate series, Changeless. Why now?

Partly because of the whole finishing-a-draft thing, and partly because I wanted to get at least ONE of the books in non-Kindle form. Why, you ask?

Well, Ms. Carriger will be in Tulsa in October for the Nimrod Literary Conference, which means I get a chance to quietly fangirl in person.

Or, you know, just ask her nicely to sign my book. And then talk about tea. And parasols.

ANYWAY.

In Changeless, Alexia Tarabotti is now Lady Alexia Maccon, wife to Lord Conall Maccon and the Alpha female of the Woolsey werewolf pack. However, life is not all moonshine and roses for our intrepid heroine.

Something is triggering a plague of mass humanization, making vampires and werewolves temporarily mortal, which causes the supernatural population of London no end of consternation. Then, as if that weren’t enough, Conall vanishes northward to Scotland on noticeably vague “family business.”

Saddled with her best friend, Ivy, and her annoying sister, Felicity, and armed with tea and her trusty parasol, Alexia takes off to investigate the plague of humanization and track down her wayward husband.

As before, the tone of this book is phenomenal. There’s not a wasted word on the page, and Carriger has a way of twisting phrases just so to tickle your funny bone. (Or at least tickle mine.) More than once, my roommates asked, “What’s so funny?” because I started laughing out loud. Often, in public. Much as I enjoy the stories themselves, Carriger’s writing style is a big part of what makes them so delightful.

Lady Maccon sipped a freshly brewed cup in profound relief. All in all, it had been quite the trying evening thus far. With Ivy and hats in her future, it was only likely to get worse. Tea was a medicinal necessity at this juncture.

Tea is a medicinal necessity at any juncture, frankly.

Alexia continues to be a very fun character: strong, witty, capable, and a believer in a good cup of tea and a proper meal. She’s always ready with her trusty parasol and an arsenal of put-downs. She and Lord Maccon are just as fun in this book as they were previously, perhaps even more so now that they’re married.

Ivy is sometimes eyerolling, sometimes hilarious, but the whole “forbidden love” between her and Tunstell is sidesplitting. Also, Ivy gets (quite accidentally) drunk. On a flying dirigible. It goes about as well as you’d expect.

I did miss Lord Akeldama (he’s here, though not as much as he was in book one). He’s still outrageous, still calling Alexia things like “buttercup,” and still speaking primarily in italics. The precious few scenes with him – especially him, Biffy, and Professor Lyall (Lord Maccon’s Beta) – are just great.

But, we have some new characters in this one, most particularly Madame Lefoux, a talented milliner/inventor who also (gasp!) dresses like a man. She’s a particularly fun addition to the cast, and makes a good foil for Alexia when Conall is not around.

Changeless also fleshes out the world a bit more. We learn more about the history of the werewolves, a little more about the vampires, and (most importantly) the history of Lord Maccon himself. I like the deeper dip into world’s mythology and how the society is set up.

Warning: you probably shouldn’t read this book unless you’ve already got book 3, Blameless, somewhere in easy grabbing distance. The cliffhanger at the end was one that had me going, “Wait, what? What? WHAT?” (Yes, I was doing my very best Tenth Doctor impersonation there.) (And yes, I’ve now got Blameless on my Kindle.)

And really, that ending scene was the only time I felt jarred. I laughed aloud at one line, only to realize two sentences later we had entered “serious business” territory. That was where part of the “wait, what?” reaction came from.

Obviously, Changeless was not only good enough for me to finish in 24 hours, but also good enough for me to buy book three the same week. I really hope the next three books are as good as the first two, because I am enjoying this series immensely.

The Critic’s Only Somewhat-Anticipated Summer Movies

As I mentioned last week, there are only three movies coming out this summer that I am gung-ho on the opening weekend bandwagon for. However, I also mentioned that there were several movies that interested me.

These are the ones that I kind of want to see, but I have some reservations. These reservations range from not being crazy about the actors to worries about the tone to just plain not liking the trailer, despite the movie itself sounding pretty freaking great.

Probably won’t see any of these opening day, but I may make an effort to check them out while they’re still in theaters, especially if word of mouth is good.

Dark Shadows – May 11
Trailer

It Looks Cool Because:
Johnny Depp? Tim Burton? A vampire who actually sucks blood? Yes, please!

Having never seen the original Dark Shadows television series (except for a single episode in college that I watched for a class — yes, I took a class called Vampires and Voodoo and it was AWESOME), it’s difficult to say how close this sticks to the show.

It looks pretty funny, the cast is good, and I usually enjoy Tim Burton’s stuff (if only for the visual aspect — he does a great job at setting a creepy mood).

But…:
Admittedly, you can tell something’s a Tim Burton movie after about 15 seconds, no matter which one you’re watching. Batman Returns? Edward Scissorhands? Corpse Bride? He’s got the same tone in pretty much every one, it’s just a matter of how dark it gets.

Now, I tend to like his style…for the most part. However, each time I see one of his movies, I find myself wondering, “Will this be the one where I finally get tired of it?” If the rest of the film is strong enough, then the style is just icing on the cake. But if the style’s all it has going for it, well…

Men in Black 3 – May 25
Trailer

It Looks Cool Because:
Josh Brolin is doing a young Tommy Lee Jones, which is pretty freaking great. He makes me giggle throughout the trailer. And it’s kind of cool to see Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones back as Agents J and K.

Plus, Men in Black was loads of fun, and really great as a summer movie. If they strike the same balance as the first one, it could be really entertaining.

But…:
It’s been a long time since the last MiB movie, and let’s be honest, Men in Black 2 was not quite as good as Men in Black.

Plus, one has to wonder if they’re just trying to cash in on the 3D craze, since part of the marketing for the movie is “MiB3 – in 3D”. It’s great if the 3D works for a movie, but a lot of films seem to use it more as a gimmick than a tool. (And I fear this will be the former.)

Snow White & the Huntsman – June 1
Trailer

It Looks Cool Because:
Watch the trailer. Just watch the trailer.

Charlize Theron will be an awesome evil queen. Really, just take a look at her. She looks like a stone cold bitch. I’m almost willing to see this just based on her queen alone.

But wait, there’s more! I love what they’ve done with the magic mirror (it’s like she’s asking the T-1000 who’s the fairest of them all). Chris Hemsworth is yummy. So very many kinds of yummy. And the battle scenes look excellent.

But…:
Two words: Kristen Stewart. I haven’t seen her in much (especially since I haven’t seen any of the Twilight movies), but what I have seen has not impressed me. As Snow White, a lot of this movie will be riding on her shoulders. If she can’t pull it off, then the movie will fall flat.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter – June 22
Trailer

It Looks Cool Because:
Abraham Lincoln. Vampires. And an axe. Tell me that doesn’t sound awesome.

This is one of those movies that you tell your friends about, and the second they hear the title, they say, “I want to see that!”

But…:
The trailer didn’t get me as excited as I’d hoped it would. It’s got some cool parts, but it didn’t really leave me hankering for more.

Then again, the first trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man left something to be desired as well (at least for me).

 

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World – June 22
Trailer

It Looks Cool Because:
Steve Carell was my favorite part of Anchorman, hands-down, and I’ve enjoyed him in everything else I’ve seen him in. He’s equally great at comedy and drama, and has made more than one otherwise-terrible movie watchable.

I also like the concept behind this — what if the last-ditch effort to save the world from utter destruction, which we’ve seen in so many films, failed completely? What would happen over the course of those last few weeks?

It’s not an action-packed summer blockbuster, but it looks like a lot of fun and it’ll be a nice change of pace from everything else in theaters during the summer.

But…:
How will this NOT be depressing?

The Amazing Spider-Man – July 3
Trailer

It Looks Cool Because:
It’s Spider-Man and I’m a Marvel fangirl. The newest trailer is excellent, giving us our first real glimpse of the Lizard, and I like that we’re actually going to see Peter’s parents (who are completely absent from the previous three films).

Plus, I really like the poster they’ve released, and it seems like they’re focusing on a different aspect of Spider-Man’s past (Gwen Stacy instead of Mary Jane, for example). And it’s certainly not impossible for a reboot to be just as good as (or even better than) the original.

But…:
For God’s sake, Spider-Man came out in 2002. 2002!! It’s only just now been ten years. Why in the name of sanity are they remaking it FROM THE BEGINNING? EVERYBODY REMEMBERS THE ORIGIN STORY, GANG.

There’s a chance that they’re not doing a complete reboot, and the origin scenes from the trailer are from a flashback sequence or something like that. However, I really, really hope they’re not going to waste a third of the movie on an origin story that most of the free world already knows.

This pretty much covers the movies that I’m most likely to see. Prometheus looks fairly awesome, but if my reaction to Alien is any indication, I’ll be better off waiting for that one to hit DVD so I can watch it with my protective blanket of fear. (Yes, I am a wimp.)

How about you guys? What movies are you looking forward to seeing this summer? Anything that you’re iffy on?

The Netflix Queue: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

As you may have noticed, I’ve done a whole lot of not-updating over the past year or so. In my defense, I was helping to get a fledgling company off the ground (which is what pays the bills, my friend). I’ve also done a whole lot of “not going to see movies every single weekend like I used to in college.” However, what I have been doing is using Netflix Instant Watch to catch up on all the cultural touchstones I’ve missed out on. And that means TV shows!

I’ve never been a huge TV person. I can count on one hand the shows I watch(ed) with any regularity while they were on the air. But, thanks to Netflix, I get to go back and fix that. And one of the first TV shows I caught up on was Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Though I’ve been a dyed-in-the-wool Browncoat since Serenity came out in 2005, I had never seen the show that really put Joss Whedon on the map. Then, after it was put on Instant Watch in its entirety and a good friend of mine raved about it, I had to check it out.

The Buffy cast

First off: watching a show originally filmed in the mid-’90s is like traveling back in time to middle school.
Second off: while I was originally expecting something similar to the 1992 movie with Kristy Swanson, I was quickly proven wrong. The TV show is phenomenal.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the original movie well enough, but this was better. I fell in love with the characters after the first two episodes. They felt like people we may have gone to school with, if perhaps a little wittier. Speaking of, the dialogue has given us some of the most entertaining quotes ever.

If you hadn’t guessed, the show is about a girl named Buffy. She kills vampires, with a little help from her friends Willow and Xander, and her Watcher, Giles. A simple premise, but it did well enough to span seven seasons of a TV show and an eighth season in comic form. Plus, they’re talking about remaking it in a movie now. (Of course, they’re remaking everything nowadays, but still.)

So, much like I did for Doctor Who, here are a few reasons I love the show, and why I think you should give it a chance. (Of course, this is only if you’re a philistine like me who missed out on this when it was originally airing.)

6. The bad guys are great.

One of the things I noticed through the series: The show was typically only as good, arc-wise, as its villain.

Seasons 2, 3, and 5 are easily the best, with the Big Bads of Angelus, the Mayor, and Glory, respectively. All three were phenomenal antagonists and developed characters in their own rights. In fact, the Mayor remains one of my favorite villains to this day.

Seasons 4 and 6 are the weakest of the bunch, with Adam and the Trio as the season antagonists. Adam is interesting as a concept — he’s part human, part demon, and part cyborg. However, the execution just didn’t work.

The Trio were just silly throughout most of the sixth season — which was kind of understandable, given the emotional gut-punch of the last half of season 5 — but they were never that threatening for Buffy. (And in fact, the final showdown is not between the Trio and Buffy, but another villain who shows up for the last 3 episodes.)

Seasons 1 and 7 fall squarely in the middle. The Master had some great moments in the first season, but since it was shorter than normal (only 13 episodes), they didn’t get as much of a chance to build him up as a threat the way they did with villains in later seasons. Season 7, with the First Evil, worked really well as an incorporeal villain who could take on the bodies of the dead, but the cast of characters had grown rather unwieldy by the time the season reached its conclusion.

Of course, it isn’t just the season-long villains who stand out. Some of those who just show up for a single episode — like the Gentlemen and Sweet — are some of the most memorable. Plus, some of the recurring villains (Spike and Faith) have some of the best character arcs.

And speaking of Spike…

5. SPIKE!

Spike (James Marsters) and Drusilla (Juliet Landau). Such an adorable bloodsucking couple.

Yes, Spike is one of my top reasons that you should watch this show. He’s a bleached-blond punk rock vampire who is different from all the other vampires we’ve seen up to that point in the show. He rolls into town in a classic car with the windows blacked out, and crashes into the “Welcome to Sunnydale” sign. (Actually, that’s always how he rolls into the town.)

He likes to fight, and doesn’t much care who he’s fighting. He can come up with plans, but tends to get impatient and move forward on them anyway. He’s the polar opposite of the angsty Angel and the prophecy-bound Order of Aurelius, and he’s a breath of fresh air. (Really, it’s no wonder that the fans liked him so much they saved the character from biting it halfway through the second season.)

Spike and Drusilla are the first vampires we see who have a relationship — a creepy relationship that involves lots of killing, but they have genuine affection for each other. Ninety percent of Spike’s motivation for the second season is taking care of Drusilla.

Spike is one of the characters who ends up sticking around for all seven seasons, and as such, he grows, changes, and loses a little of his bite. But, that being said, he’s still my favorite character from the show and he’s always fun to watch.

4. The dialogue

One of the things Joss Whedon is known for is the dialogue in his shows. They all have great dialogue, endlessly quotable lines, and each character has a distinctive way of speaking.

Buffy was really the first chance we got to see that, and it’s one of the best things about the show. It’s funny, witty, and works wonderfully to lighten the tension in some of the darker moments. In fact, the dialogue style has even gotten its own name among the geek crowd: Buffy-speak.

However, Whedon’s skill with dialogue led to a lot of critics saying that the dialogue was the only thing worth watching about the show. So, he decided to prove them wrong…

3. “Hush” and “Once More With Feeling”

Normally, gimmick episodes are something that may be entertaining, but aren’t that great overall. However, ask any Buffy fan, and they’ll probably rank these two episodes at the top.

The Gentlemen. Don't be fooled by their looks. They're far creepier in the show.

As I mentioned earlier, critics claimed that the dialogue was the only thing good about the show. So, Whedon wrote the fourth-season episode “Hush,” which is almost completely silent. Demons (the previously mentioned Gentlemen) steal the voices of everybody in town, leaving everybody attempting to communicate via notepads and hand gestures.

“Once More With Feeling” is better known as the musical episode. For this one, a demon causes everybody to randomly break out into song and dance, but occasionally they dance so fast and furious they burst into flames.

Both episodes aren’t just one-offs; they’re integral to the plots of their respective seasons. They’re both turning points for the characters, especially “Once More With Feeling,” which establishes several major plot threads for the sixth season.

I do find it amusing that the two worst seasons overall have the two best episodes overall.

2. The Scoobies

Every superhero needs a sidekick. In Buffy’s case, she has several. The self-proclaimed “Scooby Gang” is made up of Buffy’s various friends. Willow, Xander, and Giles (Buffy’s Watcher) are the core group, but throughout the series it grows to include (at different times) Cordelia, Oz, Anya, Tara, Spike, and Dawn.

The Scoobies in season 1 - Willow (Alyson Hannigan), Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Xander (Nicholas Brendon), and Giles (Anthony Stewart Head)

These are the people who aren’t just there for the supernatural shenanigans that go down in every episode, but they’re also there for the normal, mundane life stuff, like boy troubles and family drama. It’s the solid relationships in the core group that make the Scoobies so great. Even though they don’t have the physical prowess that Buffy does, their support is vital to her. And in fact, some of the most “normal” members of the group end up being the most important. (A great example of this is the episode “The Zeppo” in season 3.)

1. Joss Whedon is not afraid to off people.

If you’ve watched any of Joss Whedon’s stuff, you would know that he is not afraid to kill off characters, especially characters that people like. (See: Serenity. I still haven’t forgiven you for Wash, you rat bastard.) It’s the same way in Buffy.

No one is safe from the axe, and that really ups the tension in the story and sends a ripple effect through the characters left alive. This isn’t something that goes away after one episode; entire subplots are attached to some character deaths. The result is that there are episodes of the show that drag you through an emotional wringer. (In fact, I had to quit watching for a few days after the end of the second season.)

When a TV show can do that to you and you keep coming back, you know it’s something special.

There are far, far more reasons that you should pick up and start watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but those provide a pretty good summary for it. Although it has some weak points, overall, it’s a solid show that stays that way for a full seven seasons. And how many TV shows can you say that about?

All images courtesy/copyright 20th Century Fox.