Coyote Moon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Book 3)
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Coyote Moon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Book 3)
by Authors:
John Vornholt
Released: 01 January, 1998
ISBN: 0671017144
Mass Market Paperback
Sales Rank: 360422
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List price:
$4.99
Our price:
$4.99
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| Book > Coyote Moon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Book 3) > Customer Reviews: |
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Average Customer Rating: 
Coyote Moon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Book 3) >
Customer Review #1:
 One of the better buffy books
Ive read alot of buffy books, and I hate to say it, but most of them are not very good. This is one of the better ones. Its very fluffy, written in the typical "monster of the week" style of the first season. What makes it good though, is the characterization. Generally, the problem with the Buffy books is that, even when the plots are interesting, the characters do not act in a way that meshes with their character on the show. In this book, I found the characterizations very believeable. Willow is very cute, with her shy, ocnservative mannerisms, and Xander is goofy as ever. I like the dynamic between her and Xander. Its a decent book, and I would reccomend it to a Buffy fan.
Coyote Moon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Book 3) >
Customer Review #2:
 "Yeah, Im a Freak Like You!"
Set in season one of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," author John Vornholt brings two new elements to Sunnydale - a travelling carnival and a pack of strange coyotes. Buffy, Xander and Willow are excited about the presence of a carnival to finish off the summer and soon Xander and Willow are hooked up with two exotic carnies, Rose and Lonnie. Buffy however, is distracted by the presence of a pack of coyotes roaming through the streets of Sunnydale. Although Willow insists that this is a normal occurrence, Buffy isnt so sure, especially when she sees the coyotes hanging around the grave of an old Western cowboy entertainer named Spurs Hardaway.
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lt;br /gt;After some research, Buffy and Giles learn that Spurs claimed to be able to change into any animal after learning the Native American skills of "skinwalking", and after she finds some conclusive evidence, Buffy realises that the carnies are the pack of coyotes that plan to resurrect their old leader under the Coyote Moon. Finding some surprising aid from an elderly carnie named Hopscotch, Buffy rushes to find Xander and Willow and convince them of their dates true identities. But now the werecoyotes are on to Buffy...
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lt;br /gt;"Coyote Moon" is a reasonably entertaining Buffy-book, nothing spectacular, but retaining a sense of coherency and interest - plus a few unforseen twists and a good use of the werecoyotes powers (that is, they dont just have them for the sake of having them - they *use* them to add to the completion of the story). One thing of interest in particular stuck out for me which may or may not have been intentional - right before Buffy sees the coyotes for the first time, she feels a cramp in her stomach. This harks back to the "Buffy" movie, starring Kirsty Swanson, told that cramps in her lower abdomen foresaw the arrival of danger - to which she replied, "Great, my secret weapon is PMS." This Slayer power was disregarded in the television series, but Vornholts little comment suggest it was not completely forgotten.
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lt;br /gt;If you are a fan of the show, youll know how terrible Buffy is at lying and undercover work, whether it was the hopelessly obvious trench-coat and sunglasses she wore in "I Robot, You Jane", or the babbling she did at the door of demon-Kens Family Home in "Anne" before she just gave up and slugged her way in. Here, John Vornholt instigates this lack of talent wonderfully, as throughout the course of the story Buffy has to scrabble for excuses and alibis, leading her to pretend shes about to throw up, claim that Xander is her boyfriend, and insist that shes a witch at different points throughout the story.
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lt;br /gt;There is however some rather sloppy writing and characterisation in the story, which prevents it from being a must-read Buffy book. For example, Vornholt describes Buffy awakening at four in the morning to the sound of coyotes killed a small domesticated dog. She rushes out to comfort the weeping owner, and then is said to be "amazed that nobody else had come out to witness this dramatic scene." Er, its four in the morning, Buffy - theyre all asleep! Later, at the climatic finish in the graveyard Willow watches the bear-skinned corpse of Spurs Hardaway break through his grave. On him the pelt ripples as he begins to morph into the body of a bear, but Willow thinks: "it must be static electricity." For heavens sake, shes just seen the carnies change into coyotes and the corpse rise from the ground - why is she *still* trying to find a rational explanation? Oy.
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lt;br /gt;This leads to my second complaint, and thats the characters of Willow and Xander. This is set in season one, and therefore its assumed that the events that took place in "The Harvest", "Teachers Pet" and "The Pack" have already occurred. Since these episodes also included dates luring them to the cemetery, a femme-fatale shapeshifter, and people getting possessed by the spirits of animals, Willow and Xanders behaviour throughout the book come across as thoroughly stupid. Are we really meant to believe that after all their experience theyre going to go with two suspicious carnies to a graveyard in the middle of the night? No way.
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lt;br /gt;Last of all, the ending is rather anti-climactic and abrupt. Buffy kills the head-villain within one paragraph and with no trouble at all, and the final resolution of the situation makes no sense. Standing in the remains of the carnival, Buffy claims that with Spurs death the power of the skinwalkers is gone. How she knows this, or how this actually occurs is not explained, and is further complicated by the fact that she then turns to see a coyote (implied to be Hopscotch) on the crest of a hill. So...how come the curse wasnt broken for him? In both cases, we are severely short-changed when it comes to the ending.
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lt;br /gt;So despite great descriptions of a carnival, a reasonably interesting premise, and a funny sequence involving a heckling clown and a dunking pool, Id give "Coyote Moon" two and a half stars. Read it if youre in a hurry or just want some extremely light holiday reading.
Coyote Moon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Book 3) >
Customer Review #3:
The Skinwalkers Come to Sunnydale
COYOTE MOON by John Vornholt is the third Buffy The Vampire Slayer book and the second all-new adventure. Like the previous volumes this was a very well-done book. I dont know if the series has a better bible than others but so far all of the characters act just as they would be expected to on the show.lt;pgt;At the end of Summer a carnival comes to Sunnydale. Shortly after that, coyotes are seen closer to town than usual. Buffy starts to get the wiggins about the carnival and finds some minor evidence that they are involved in something not normal. Eventually a plot involving werecoyotes and skinwalkers is revealed. Unfortunately for the townsfolk the plot involves the carnies seducing and slaughtering a number of Sunnydales young folk. In the end Buffy triumphs and curses are lifted.lt;pgt;While this volume is quite good it is not canonical. The events take place at a time that we now know Buffy was not in Sunnydale. This puts it in a class with many of the Star Trek books. So if you consider this an old episode you missed then it works out quite well. Unfortunately these books are a little hard to find because they are being marketed towards young adults (hah, my 78 year-old father is one of the shows biggest fans).
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Coyote Moon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Book 3) >
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