Crossings

 Crossings

-Mel Odom
-June 2002
-243 Pages
  Summary: While at the theater for a Star Trek marathon with Anya, Xander recognizes a friend of his, from the arcade, enter the theater and begin threatening and beating humans in a very demonic way. Upon further inspection, Xander learns that his friend, Robby, was involved in total immersion VR video game beta testing. But the testing was a little too secretive, according to Robby's girlfriend. Meanwhile, Buffy and Dawn are having issues with one another, and Buffy doesn't know how to deal with being Dawn's new "mom" after the recent death of their own mother. After much research concerning the bizarre video game tests, and the appearance of a man named Bobby Lee Tooker, the group discovers that the video game isn't so much a video game, as much as it is another dimensional portal while the human bodies are being taken over by demons. Buffy and Xander need to find a way to get these beta testers back into the real world and destroy the evil demon who's using the testers to conjure a powerful being.
   
  Rating: 4/5
   
  Review: Alright, so my summary is more than a bit confusing. Hell, it barely makes sense to me, and I read the book! But truly, this was a good book. Maybe it's the nerd in me crying out (I adored video games when I was younger), but I found this book a lot of fun. It was easy reading and didn't take long to get through at all. And that's not saying it was just a piece of kiddy-written fluff. It was well written and the characters were nicely done, the only exception being Tara, who, during the magical interlude part with Willow, was a little too whiny, and perhaps a little too advanced (considering the tv series) in worrying about Willow's power. However, I was fascinated by this VR video game that ends up not even being a video game at all. I liked that the author had Willow using her magic and how they used that TV medium dude to get to the demon world. I liked that Anya was a big part in the novel. I liked that it showed Buffy and Dawn trying to work out their problems. Basically, I liked a whole lot about it. Every single character was well used. So pick it up, especially if you like video games. ;)
   
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