Robert Levy's 2006 novel based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer revolves around Faith and her growing up in Boston, becoming the Slayer, and how much of an impact her family, boyfriends and early encounter with vampires had before she went looking for Buffy in Sunnydale. It's written in the form of a diary Faith kept, which really lets the reader get into her skin as she writes about bad dreams and a Not-So-Imaginary Friend.
Levy writes the story with a very solid grasp of exactly the sort of person Faith is, from an all round perspective. Fans of the character will be pumped in gaining insight straight from the Slayer herself, at least as much as they know her from watching both series and related material. Purists may cite that Faith is more mature or handles what happens better than how she would when she first appeared, but even if fans think a young Faith might not speak or act that way in hindsight they would very much think along the lines of, "Oh yeah, that's something Faith would say."
From understanding the source material it's clear that little clues from hints at abuse to being a Gamer Chick were picked up and ran with, and it's not just the show, but the games and other novels. There are a lot of little details, dreams of how previous Slayers died for example, that are explored. Should they be considered canon? I would venture yes, as not only are they pretty accurate and good guesses from the source material they make sense as well. Something from the show or games is echoed here for example, again suggesting the author has Shown Their Work.
As for the story itself, how Faith became Faith and hearing her history is clearly the stronger part. Hearing about the visions and whether or not being made a slave is real, it can get a little confusing. Probably the point, but the reader may be wanting Faith to go back to talking about her current boyfriend.
Will fans enjoy Go Ask Malice? Fans of Faith would be over the moon, where Angel & Faith has better writing but the novel better nails her character. For non fans or those who hate the character it's more Faith than you can handle, just not the evil or skanky Faith you may know, thus potentially still making it worth a look.
Go Ask Malice: Faith's own thoughts, Faith's own words
Robert Levy's 2006 novel based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer revolves around Faith and her growing up in Boston, becoming the Slayer, and how much of an impact her family, boyfriends and early encounter with vampires had before she went looking for Buffy in Sunnydale. It's written in the form of a diary Faith kept, which really lets the reader get into her skin as she writes about bad dreams and a Not-So-Imaginary Friend.
Levy writes the story with a very solid grasp of exactly the sort of person Faith is, from an all round perspective. Fans of the character will be pumped in gaining insight straight from the Slayer herself, at least as much as they know her from watching both series and related material. Purists may cite that Faith is more mature or handles what happens better than how she would when she first appeared, but even if fans think a young Faith might not speak or act that way in hindsight they would very much think along the lines of, "Oh yeah, that's something Faith would say."
From understanding the source material it's clear that little clues from hints at abuse to being a Gamer Chick were picked up and ran with, and it's not just the show, but the games and other novels. There are a lot of little details, dreams of how previous Slayers died for example, that are explored. Should they be considered canon? I would venture yes, as not only are they pretty accurate and good guesses from the source material they make sense as well. Something from the show or games is echoed here for example, again suggesting the author has Shown Their Work.
As for the story itself, how Faith became Faith and hearing her history is clearly the stronger part. Hearing about the visions and whether or not being made a slave is real, it can get a little confusing. Probably the point, but the reader may be wanting Faith to go back to talking about her current boyfriend.
Will fans enjoy Go Ask Malice? Fans of Faith would be over the moon, where Angel & Faith has better writing but the novel better nails her character. For non fans or those who hate the character it's more Faith than you can handle, just not the evil or skanky Faith you may know, thus potentially still making it worth a look.