Buffy the Vampire Slayer go Ask Malice a Slayer's Diary

by Robert Joseph Levy

Book Overview

January 22 Had the dream again last night. Only, this time it was different. . . . Faith has always been a loner. Growing up in a broken home in South Boston, shuffled from relative to relative, her... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• ISBN: 0739471384
• ISBN13: 9780739471388
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Feed Your Head

The book's title is a reference to the 1971 classic, "Go Ask Alice," a cautionary tale about drug use which took its name from the 1967 Jefferson Airplane hit, "White Rabbit" about a girl who ends up overdosing. Somehow the author perfectly captures the structure of the original book while maintaining Faith's voice magnificently. And this is no cautionary tale. While a simple analysis of Faith might reduce her to a self-destructive youth, this book gets underneath the dualism (one pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small) within her...We are drawn to danger, even when it hurts us. It is why we love Faith. She is a reflection of the conflicting forces within each of us. This and other themes are woven into a brilliantly conceived plot. If you are a Buffy fan, READ THIS BOOK!

Flawed but still the best Buffyverse book in ages

Of the BTVS novels I've read, only Christopher Golden's 'Lost Slayer' series can lay claim to any superiority over 'Malice'. Yes, it's that good. The premise is very shaky. Faith keeping a diary? About as likely as Spike taking up sunbathing. But the opportunity to "hear" Faith tell her story in the first person is just too good to pass up. The only other avenue would be an interview, and the subtitle for that - Interview with a Vampire...Slayer! - would have been a tad cheesy, no? I think I dealt with it best by remembering that this is not the Faith from BTVS. It is Faith before the last glimmer of innocence and trust was snuffed out. Levy does a good job of finding Faith's (and Eliza Dushku's) voice even though he sometimes has trouble maintaining it. Her vocabulary is occasionally uncharacteristic and her knowledge of psychological theory even moreso. But this happened to all the characters on the TV show. I mean, how many times would Buffy mispronounce a word then turn around and give a speech filled with equally big words? I always theorized that they - especially Faith - were smarter than they wanted to admit but didn't want to look like dweebs. What makes this book are the character revelations and backstory, the often scary events (especially the non-supernatural ones), and the peek into Faith's heart and why she closed it off. Levy's background in forensic psychology is put to great use here and the perfect storm of events that created our favorite bad girl are laid out in a believable way.

Holy-Crap!

Now I have read 45 Buffy books, call me a geek, I don't care. Today I picked up my 46th Buffy book, Go Ask Malice. And this is my new favorite book. Not just Buffy, but my favorite book EVER! I am telling you that you can NOT miss this book! This book is just amazing. If your a Faith fan you really can't not love this book. It's sad, funny, depressing, scary and action packed. Of course I'm Faith fan, she is one of my favorite characters, but this book made me appreicate her more then I did. And I think that it's amazing a book can do that It's cool seeing what she went through before becoming the slayer and what it was like for her at school and at home. You also find out why Faith got her tattoo, how she came up with Five by Five, "I'm bad, I'm evil, I'm bad", how Kakistos had a big impact on her life and how Kakistos got his mark that Faith gave him, how she came up with the Watcher Retreat excuse. There is also a cool little story with "Steve the klepto" that she mentioned in Buffy. "Kenny the drumer" is a big part in this book. When Faith becomes the Slayer you can really see how she is different then Buffy and how much she enjoys slaying. The story is top notch! Not being a HUGE fan of the Suicide King I didn't expect much from Robert Joseph Levy but he blew me away! I really enjoyed the diary format more then the story format. I liked hearing things from Faith's POV. This book is also fun for people who live in Boston or people who visit Boston a lot. DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK!

And now for something different...

I've probably read five or six books set in the Angel/Buffy world, most of which I've enjoyed for what they were, but this one is so unexpected that I felt compelled to write something about it. "Go Ask Malice," in a nod to the controversial anonymous book "Go Ask Alice" written in the 1960's (and still a bestseller), is a diary of a lost and lonely teenage girl. Only this book is about Faith, the other Slayer in Buffy and Angel, and is a prequel that tells of how she became the nihilistic bad-girl we know and love. Besides being the first Buffy book to be written in first-person narrative (that I know of), "Malice" is a new and noteworthy entry into the field for its, how shall we say, adult undercurrents. The sexuality in this book is somewhat overt, and the subtext and some of the imagery even more so; in other words, just like Faith herself. And then there's the violence. I don't want to give away too much, but even if you read the back cover you know that a central question/issue in the book is who or what Malice is. The answer, in the end, is as dark and heartbreaking as this powerful book demands: there aren't any punches pulled. I started it and finished it basically in one sitting and could not put it down. It is a haunting, and surprisingly disturbing book for its kind. What's also interesting about it is that, since it's a prequel to the events that take place on the television show, you don't even have to have seen Buffy or Angel to read "Malice," though if you have, of course, it will greatly enrich your experience.

Through Faith's Past........Darkly

This is an incredible book. Not so much revisionist, as serving the purpose of filling in the specifics of Faith's past, before we first meet her in "Faith, Hope, and Trick". We see the journey that she takes and why she became the person she became; the reason for her distrust, cynicism, and detachment. Her backstory is heartbreaking and we see the experiences that led to the self destructive path she ultimately ended up on. It very much leads to understanding her a great deal more; it clears up some of her mysteries. The added element of her "imaginary" friend, and who that "friend" ultimately turns out to be is gripping, and we see how the Slayer collective connection (past Slayers lives, experiences, and deaths) molded and effected and shaped Faith. Robert Joseph Levy deftly captures Eliza Dushku's voice and mannerisms, and the reader can really see her portrayal of Faith all through in one's imagination. This book is simply A MUST HAVE for all Faith and Eliza fans.