Kiersten White’s Slayer book series proves that expanding the Buffyverse can bring in both new and old fans. (minor spoilers!)

Kiersten White’s brand of re-imaginings and all things dark and sinister is the perfect match for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe. Slayer is the first book in a new series based in the Buffy verse that takes place directly after the final episode of the TV series, but that doesn’t mean you had to have watched the show to enjoy the book.

Kiersten White’s Slayer gives Buffy 101 to new fans without impeding the enjoyment of long time fans to the TV series. I would know, since I personally didn’t watch past the Riley episodes. I was able to pick up Slayer and know exactly what was happening thanks to Kiersten’s impressive ability to give background information without paragraphs and paragraphs of exposition.

In fact, most, if not all, of the exposition and Buffy explanation is done within the dialogue or is inferred and easily understood in a way that as a reader, I barely noticed. Kiersten does such a good job that Karen, who wrote this amazing review of Slayer as a long time fan of the TV series, didn’t even realize that Kiersten even gave us non-TV show fans enough information to know exactly what went down in the final episodes of Buffy.

When I started it, I thought I’d have to go to Karen to get more information and that I would be lost, being a big Kiersten White fan more so than Buffy, but in the end I didn’t need to go running to her with any form of “what even happened?” because while Kiersten doesn’t reveal all at the start, she feeds us non-TV series fans breadcrumbs enough along the way that lead us to understanding exactly what Buffy did and why the world is the way it is in Slayer.

That doesn’t mean that I caught all of the ‘easter eggs’ within the book, though. On top of many cameos, there are things that I assume are references to not only Buffy but the TV show Angel as well. Simple things like the usage of last names that are in Buffy, making some characters family members of the TV show characters. It adds depth to the world, and a strong connection to the rest of the universe while also allowing for Kiersten to weave an amazing story with room to grow.

The feel of Slayer is reminiscent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in it’s usage of humor mixed with the horror and gruesomeness that comes with slaying vampires, hellhounds, and other various demons and supernatural creatures. This is the first time that I as a reader, have gotten to see Kiersten’s humor come through in her writing and I can’t get enough of it.

Her twitter is one of my favorite social media profiles because she is absolutely hilarious and down to earth. Usually her books don’t leave much room for humor, with The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein being about the manipulation of Elizabeth Frankenstein by the murderous Victor, and her genderbent retelling of Vlad Dracul as Lada in The Conqueror’s Saga full of even more murder.

As far as nostalgia goes, Kiersten hits the tone perfectly in not only the dialogue and plot, but in the characters themselves. There are the tropes of the core friend group in Buffy that Kiersten makes use of in Slayer but their dynamic is new and is merely reminiscent of the early seasons of Buffy (because that’s all I have to compare it to!).

There is Nina, the reluctant new Slayer who spends a good amount of the book denying the fact that she is the Slayer due to her own prejudices against the Slayers in general, which makes an interesting dynamic.

Nina’s twin, Artemis, a fighter and who trained her whole life, has to deal with the fact that her sister is the Chosen One and she isn’t, all while supporting her. I found their relationship the most interesting because of the loyalty and jealousy that is intertwined in their interactions throughout.

Rhys, the bookworm, along with Leo, the Watcher and former crush of Nina, Cillian, Rhys’ boyfriend and an outsider of the Watchers who gets swept up into the world because a demon shows up at his house unexpectedly, and Doug, my new favorite demon, who I hope becomes one of the core group in the future.

The cast is diverse in not only race, but in sexuality as well. Kiersten isn’t new to incorporating LGBT+ characters into her novels, but she raised the bar in Slayer by not only making multiple characters in the core group LGBT+, but starting the series with two gay characters already dating.

This gives the characters more depth and the ability to have their plotlines not be about their sexuality, because it is already established. Most of the time in novels if characters are LGBT+, their plots revolve around that fact when it’s merely a part of them. Kiersten’s characters are more than their sexualities and it shows. She concentrates on the plot and in all honesty, that is what makes her LGBT+ characters stand out to me.

Needless to say, I’m now a big fan of Kiersten’s Slayer book series and now feel the need to binge watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer in order to tide me over until we get the second Slayer book.

Related:
Slayer by Kiersten White combines ‘Buffy’ nostalgia with a fresh story
Kiersten White answers all your burning Slayer questions
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein captures essence of its origin
10 historical facts interwoven within Kiersten White’s completed Conqueror’s Saga