It is such an honour to be a part of the Canadian blog tour for Kiersten White’s Slayer! Thank you so much Simon and Schuster Canada for asking me to participate and for sending me a physical ARC to read and photograph! As some of you may know, I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer when I was younger and I was a big fan then and am still a big fan now. So, when I found out that one of my favourite authors (I read every one of her releases since 2016, when I started book blogging, and I plan on diving into her older books this year), Kiersten White, I knew I had to read it and get as involved as possible! So, without further ado, here is my Buffy and Slayer blog tour (and appreciation) post! Oh, and don’t forget to visit the other blog tour participants:

January 8 – What Wren Reads – Review and Author Q&A
January 10 – BookCatPin – Review & Giveaway
January 11 – Jennie’s Nails and Tales – Review & Book Cover Manicure

Title: Slayer
Author: Kiersten White
Type: Fiction
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal
Publisher: Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster)
Date published: January 8, 2019

A physical copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Into every generation a Slayer is born…

Nina and her twin sister, Artemis, are far from normal. It’s hard to be when you grow up at the Watcher’s Academy, which is a bit different from your average boarding school. Here teens are trained as guides for Slayers—girls gifted with supernatural strength to fight the forces of darkness. But while Nina’s mother is a prominent member of the Watcher’s Council, Nina has never embraced the violent Watcher lifestyle. Instead she follows her instincts to heal, carving out a place for herself as the school medic.

Until the day Nina’s life changes forever.

Thanks to Buffy, the famous (and infamous) Slayer that Nina’s father died protecting, Nina is not only the newest Chosen One—she’s the last Slayer, ever. Period.

As Nina hones her skills with her Watcher-in-training, Leo, there’s plenty to keep her occupied: a monster fighting ring, a demon who eats happiness, a shadowy figure that keeps popping up in Nina’s dreams…

But it’s not until bodies start turning up that Nina’s new powers will truly be tested—because someone she loves might be next.

One thing is clear: Being Chosen is easy. Making choices is hard.

As I mentioned in the intro for this post, I have read every single one of Kiersten White’s publications since the start of 2016 (when I started book blogging), and when I found out that she would be writing a Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off book series, I was over the moon! The first thing that struck me when I started reading Slayer was that the atmosphere was so different from what I had gotten used to in White’s Conqueror Saga and The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein. The other books were historical, whereas this one is set in modern time, which I think definitely made a major difference. The tone was also different from what I was used to from White, in the sense that she really effectively picked up on the tones from the Buffy TV show and infused the entire book with them! Often, while reading Slayer, I mentally pictured the happenings in the book taking place as if I were just watching another episode of Buffy!

Just as with the show (that I watched while growing up and now desperately need to re-watch), Slayer was a real treat compiled of quirky humour and dark themes. The main character of this book was also quite different from the other Kiersten White protagonists that I’d gotten used to. Rather than being ambitious like Elizabeth Frankenstein and badass-ness of Lada Dracul, at the start of the book, Nina was a little ambitious but had also settled for staying on the sidelines and being sheltered. Things change for her when she discovers that she’s the last ever Slayer to be Chosen, though, and some great fun ensues! I highly recommend this book to fans of Buffy, as well as those who have never seen the show, since I think White did a great job of explaining things without one having absolutely had to have watched the TV show first!

Author Written Piece

Why I Chose to Write a Novel in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer World

“Much like Slayers, who never get to choose whether or not to be the Chosen One, I never had a choice in writing a Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff series.

Back up a few years. It’s Comic-Con. I’m wearing a Sunnydale High tee shirt, because of course I am. I meet my friend’s editor, Liesa Abrams, and we have a quick, casual chat about how much we love Buffy.

Back up a few more years. I’m a stay at home mom to two beautiful pukey sleepless screaming tiny creatures. We don’t have money for a car. I can only get to one place by walking: the library, which has DVDs of all the seasons of Buffy. The rewatch honestly helps save my sanity, giving me something to do every evening when I’m too tired to function but going to bed isn’t an option. Buffy makes me laugh, cry, remember, and feel strong.

Back up a few more years. High school is, quite frankly, hell. The battles I wage are all internal but no less real for it. One evening, a tiny blond teenager shows up on my television, fighting literal hellbeasts with stakes and sarcasm, but also struggling with driving, friends, tests, her mom. It’s revolutionary for network television but also for me. A teenage girl who is powerful and awesome and fragile all at the same time? Who’s allowed to struggle and triumph? My storyteller brain is rewired around a glowing core of Buffy.

Fast forward past all those years. Liesa Abrams wants a Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff series. She emails to see if I’m interested.

There was never any choice. I wouldn’t be the writer I am without Buffy, and carving out my own corner of the Buffyverse was much like being a Chosen One: a tremendous responsibility that was harder than I thought it would be, and infinitely more joyful and rewarding, too.”

Well, that certainly gave me goosebumps! Like Kiersten, Buffy helped me get through my younger years, so what Kiersten wrote above definitely resonated with me! I never became a badass bestselling author like Kiersten, but Buffy did help me realize that girls can be strong too, and like Kiersten said, that we as females can be “awesome and fragile all at the same time” and can also “struggle and triumph.” Thank you Buffy for that lesson, and thank you Kiersten for reminding us of it!

 

Kiersten White is the New York Times bestselling author of many books for teens and young readers, including And I Darken, Now I Rise, Bright We Burn, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, and Slayer. She lives with her family near the ocean in San Diego, where she perpetually lurks in the shadows. Visit Kiersten online at KierstenWhite.com and follow @KierstenWhite on Twitter.

  
  

THANK YOU FOR READING MY BOOK REVIEW! HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK? WHAT DID YOU THINK? AND IF YOU HAVEN’T READ IT YET, DO YOU WANT TO, OR NOT? HOW COME? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!