Attention, all Vampire Slayers: Buffy Summers’ Watcher, Rupert Giles, has published a handy guide to the Demons of the Hellmouth.
So apparently, I’m a Slayer now. The proof is the book I got in the mail, written by Rupert Giles, with the aim to aid me in my quest to fight the forces of darkness. I always knew it, of course. I’m weirdly strong, I like cemeteries, and sometimes I randomly break into song for no reason.
Titan Books’ Demons of the Hellmouth, written by tie-in novel writer Nancy Holder, was made exactly for someone like me.
Or, at least, it claims to be. As a legitimate obsessive fan who has watched the series far too many times, I think this book is half amazing, and half disappointing. But still absolutely worth your money.
*See: season 6, episode 17, “Normal Again.”
‘Demons of the Hellmouth’: An exercise in summarizing
I’ll be completely honest here: I was actually surprised to find out that Nancy Holder wrote this book. I’ve read several of her Buffy novels, including the absolutely astounding The Book of Fours and Queen of the Slayers, and she usually does a fantastic job capturing the characters’ voices and expanding on their inner worlds, while keeping their musings and development canon-compliant.
But the thing I found most lackluster about Demons of the Hellmouth was the notes in the margin, ostensibly written by the characters in response to Giles’ main entries.
The scrawls would oftentimes be direct quotes taken from the show, making the whole experience feel a little less real. I couldn’t help but compare it to the Sunnydale High Yearbook (which Holder co-wrote with Christopher Golden), which employs a similar technique, but does a much more elegant job of it. In Demons of the Hellmouth the notes add little substance, feeling like ghostly echoes of sentiments — or in the above cases, exact repetitions of lines — expressed in the episodes they’re referencing.
As for the text itself, the book mainly comprises of an alphabetical breakdown of all the major monsters encountered in the show, with those awkward screenshot pictures that could never actually have existed in universe (but that’s always the case with companion books). We’re given synopses of various demons and vampires’ actions, and most of the time it’s nothing more than what we saw in the show itself.
This is not what I was hoping for. Perhaps there are legal reasons Holder stuck so closely to the text of the show, but I was missing those genuine revelations that easily could have been worked in, “research” Giles could have done after the series ended on mysteries the show left unexplained. Unknown connections between demons, perhaps, or hidden motivations that might have changed our view of their actions, and would have added an extra element when we next rewatched the show.
There was a bit of this, but I was still left with big questions this book could potentially have answered: What was Darla’s real name? Had the Key ever transformed in the past? Do some demons have souls? Why are some vampires more human than others? (Giles does touch on this last point when describing Drusilla, and it’s one of the best passages in the book.)
What I looked for, and what I bet most Buffy superfans (the target audience for this book) will be looking for, was background info on demons, surprisingly rich histories of seemingly insignificant vampires, or any other expansions of the world which went beyond the events of the series itself. Holder is, after all, a veteran tie-in novel author: she can get away with a bit of freestyle world building, and the moments when she lets herself indulge is when the book truly comes to life.
Buffy loved Spike, and other ‘Revelations’
Did we know that the First Slayer’s name was Sineya? Did we know that Spike was born William Pratt? Answer: Yes, kind of, but it’s not something your average Buffy fan would necessarily know.
Unlike most of the other information in Demons of the Hellmouth, these obscure details made me feel like I was given “behind-the-scenes” details. Little bonus facts that a walking encyclopaedia like Giles might actually be able to provide, as opposed to straight summaries which any of the characters could have written. I wish there’d been much more of this.
Alas, we mainly stuck to retellings of show-established events — in fact, “Giles” goes so far as to include quotes and incidents he’d have no way of knowing about. He claims that he was there when Tara killed a biker demon, he quotes back the Master’s speech to Luke, and he recounts details of SlayerFest ’98 which none of the Scoobies were present to witness. This irks me, because it makes the book as a whole feel less believable.
But what made the book worth reading, and what makes me genuinely want to recommend it to fellow fans of the series, are the entries where Holder allows her Giles to reflect, going beyond the text of the show itself.
Although we at times skirt the fine line of canon compliance (Giles claims in the book that he legitimately had feelings for Buffy’s mother, which, okay, debatable), I loved reading Giles’ musings about Spike, and about what it means to have a soul.
In the show, I felt like neither Giles nor Xander ever truly understood what it means to have a soul (Giles never forgave Angel for Angelus’ actions, despite knowing that the demon and the human parts of a vampire are separate entities). But Giles’ entry on Spike in this book actually shows legitimate, believable character growth.
Opening with “Rest in peace, Spike,” Holder’s Giles allows for a sense of regret, of acceptance, and of forgiveness, which canon never allowed for. This Giles has had time to think everything over, and he even acknowledges what the human characters never explicitly “allowed” to be true (despite textual evidence): that demons can love purely and truly without souls.
I also loved the Faith chapter, which contains a note from Faith herself in which she drops some honest, in-character reflection about what distinguishes a Slayer from a demon. Giles’ entry on Ethan Rayne is similarly insightful, and true to his character without simply being an echo of something he expressed in the show itself.
And of course, a note by Buffy basically cements her love for Spike, which may be a little bit presumptuous considering the events of the finale, but hey, I’ll take it. #SpuffyForever
In conclusion: As a Slayer-in-training, is ‘Demons of the Hellmouth’ worth my Doublemeat paycheck?
This isn’t necessarily a gushy review, because I don’t think Demons of the Hellmouth was a perfect read. When you buy in-universe tie-in books, you expect them to add something to canon, not simply guide you through pre-established events of the series (that’s what episode guides are for).
But while I didn’t feel like this book necessarily added anything in my quest to be a better Slayer (shut up, it’s real to me), it does do what it says on the tin: Demons of the Hellmouth is a thorough guide to the demons Giles and the gang encountered during their seven years in Sunnydale. I can’t fault the book for not being something other than what it claims to be.
And despite my blunt honesty, I enjoyed reading Demons of the Hellmouth immensely. I plowed through it in an afternoon, and I took a lot more screenshots than I’m probably allowed to share.
I adored the introduction by Anthony Stewart Head, whose musings on Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s legacy felt oddly validating for someone like me, who continues to hold Buffy the Vampire Slayer up as one of the best TV shows of all time. I liked the attention to detail in the design of the book, the binding, and the gorgeous sketches. (I could have done with some more of those in place of the screenshots, actually.)
And most of all I liked the moments like this one:
If you’re a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan who enjoys tie-in products, this will absolutely be a gem in your collection. If you’re looking for canon expansion and worldbuilding, I warmly recommend Nancy Holder’s The Book of Fours, as well as the Tales of the Slayers series (which Holder, of course, contributes to).
Now please give us The Watcher’s Codex, VAMPYR, and/or The Slayer Handbook. I legitimately want to learn how to be a Slayer, and I will not rest until a guide exists that can teach me. (Should I just write it myself?)
Demons of the Hellmouth is available now, priced at £16.99. Buy it from Titan Books and other retailers.
Demons of the Hellmouth is a fully licensed guide to the vampires and other demons that flocked to the Sunnydale Hellmouth in Joss Whedon’s cult TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This in-universe illustrated guide is written by Rupert Giles, and also contains handwritten notes from Buffy and Willow. This unique book promises a diabolical romp through the highlights of the beloved show.