[Review]—Buffy the Vampire Slayer is back in the "Big Bad" by Lily Anderson

I, for one, welcome the release of a fresh crop of novels related to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The television series first appeared when I was a teenager. I sought sanctuary in Buffy's supernatural world because of school bullying and issues at home. As soon as the original Pocket Books tie-ins were out, I devoured them, never being able to get enough of Buffy and the Scoobies.  

Big Bad by Lily Anderson (published by Hyperion Avenue) is a dark adventure in which all of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's villains band together to fight the blonde slayer. What? Doesn't Buffy always manage to beat the "big bad" at the conclusion of each season? Yes, but Sunnydale isn't the setting for Big Bad. Instead, it takes place in Demondale, California, in 1999, a parallel world where there are no slayers and evildoers are free to roam.  

In my opinion, this book is a "niche" read for "die-hard" Buffy fans. Newcomers will be perplexed by who the villains are and why Buffy doesn't realize "The First" resembles her sister Dawn. The narrative takes place when Buffy Summers is sixteen and still in her early junior year of high school. She isn't the primary character. At some point, Buffy went through a portal that sent her to the evil realm of Demondale. To return home, she needed to get a few magical materials, some of which she had to find in Demondale and others in other evil dimensions.

Jonathan Levinson, believe it or not, is the protagonist of this narrative. He isn't the Sunnydale nerd, but in Demondale, he is almost the same. Jonathan and his buddies Warren and Andrew are free to do anything they want since the Mayor brought chaos to Demondale, including continuing their hobby of building female robots. The trio decides to give themselves supernatural abilities by employing mystical jargon since they are concerned that they will become prey to vampires and other demons. But they didn't anticipate coming across a slayer, which led to Warren's demise. Without any other options, Jonathan and Andrew go in search of Anya, a vengeance demon. Unfortunately, all vengeance demons have unexpectedly lost their capacity to grant wishes. Angelus, Spike, Drusilla, Darla, Ripper (the evil Giles), evil Willow, and Ethan Rayne join forces with Jonathan and Anya to aid them in capturing and killing the slayer.

By literary standards, Big Bad is by no means an excellent book, but I had a great time reading it for my nostalgic side. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series premiered roughly simultaneously with a very trying period in my adolescence when I had no friends and started skipping class to avoid bullies. It became so awful that I made a suicide attempt. One of the few things that got me through that dreadful period was watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and Angel). Being a bookworm, I naturally read every new Buffy novel in the late 1990s. When I attended school, I always carried a paperback by Stephen King, John Saul, and Anne Rice or a Buffy tie-in in my back pocket so I could escape into fiction when things became too difficult.

Overall, if you like Buffy, you'll enjoy Big Bad. The nastiest (and greatest) "big bads" from the series are all present in this entertaining nostalgia trip.╌★★★★✰