A new Slayer for a new generation...

I'll admit, like a publisher's dream, that tagline got me. As soon as I read it, I knew that I needed to pick up this book. The Buffy television series premiered when I was in college and quickly became part of my weekly routine. My best friend and I absolutely loved the show and would always watch it together. Therefore, the series holds a lot of nostalgia for us. Sarah Michelle Gellar was our Queen. Those were good times.

In Every Generation follows Willow's daughter, Frankie, who is a Sophomore at New Sunnydale High School. Willow has been slowly introducing Frankie to magic, as long as Frankie promises always to use it for good. Frankie, it seems, is all for that, being quite ecologically-minded. Willow's dark times still haunt her and she doesn't want her daughter to have to go through the nightmarish things that she did as a young adult. We all want better for our kids, Witches or not.

When Vi's younger sister Hailey shows up in Sunnydale, she comes bearing bad news. It appears the annual Slayer convention has been attacked and all the Slayers in attendance, including Buffy, Faith and Vi, may be dead. This leaves a major Slayer vacancy and therefore a new Slayer must be called. Hello, Frankie.

Frankie would be the first ever Slayer-Witch, but first she needs to learn to control her powers in order to be effective. Unfortunately for Frankie, she is a little pressed for time, what with the hellmouth threatening to be reopened. Together with a whole new group of Scoobies, Frankie must try to figure out what happened to the old Slayers, as well as defeat the forces of evil before it is too late.

Y'all, I had so much fun listening to this audiobook. I'm not going to lie, I was laughing my foolish head off while listening to this. The narrator has great comedic timing and I feel like Blake definitely nailed, or should I say staked, that classic Buffy-humor.

While I know this won't be for every Reader, for me it held just the perfect blend of old with new. It doffed its cap at the original series without going into copycat territory. Also, I feel like Blake did a great job creating new characters to care about and root for. This fulfilled my hopes for a nostalgic read, but still felt fresh and modern. I would love to read more adventures with this cast of characters.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Disney-Hyperion and Disney Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. In Every Generation releases on January 4th and would be a great way to kick off a new year of reading!!

“She finally understood why Buffy used to fight in heels–very handy for kicking a vampire in the face.”

4.25 stars for In Every Generation by Kendare Blake, the first in an all new series set in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This story follows Frankie Rosenberg (yep, THAT Rosenberg) as she is called forth to be the newest slayer.

Just like Buffy, Frankie is very hesitant in her slayer role. She doesn’t have any prior training and doesn’t think she could ever live up to the Legend who was Buffy. Luckily she also has a scooby gang to help her through it all! And given who her mom is, she also has some magical powers. But first she must accept her role and learn how to control her new powers while working to take down the new baddie in town!

This book is told in third person omniscient view but mostly follows Frankie around Sunnydale. It does cut to some of her scooby gang occasionally, and you will find lots to love about this new crew of scoobies. Frankie also spends time with some of the old gang, including one of my all time favorites, Spike. I really felt like I was reading a couple of episodes of the show and devoured this book quickly! I cannot wait for the next in the series.

I would recommend this book for anyone who was a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series. It absolutely captured the essence of the original show with a modern twist! This included the quirky humor that was one of my favorite parts of the show. There were also references to the show that fans will appreciate. I absolutely adored being back in the Buffy world!

Thank you to Disney Publishing Worldwide/Hyperion and Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“That should be its town motto. Sunnydale: Come for a tragedy, stay forever.”

Thank you Disney Hyperion & NetGalley for a copy of this eARC!

As someone who has literally memorized every episode of BtVS - I was SO excited to read this "reboot" that stakes place 20 years after the show aired, starring some of our faves from the show!

Willow, Oz, Spike - and our new slayer - Frankie, Willow's daughter!

This has all of the elements that fans of the show will recognize: puns, snark, mystery, and of course battles with the bad guys.

As much as I enjoyed this, I have to admit, I did not love it and it was hard for me to connect with the new generation of slayer and her "scoobies." I much preferred finding out what the OG crew were up to. There's no denying that I picked this up because of my love for the show, but I don't know if non-fans will gravitate towards this as much as us who grew with up with it. Especially since there are "inside" stories and jokes you would only understand if you watched the show.

This def ended like it'll be a series, and I'm sure I'll read them all at some point, but there isn't an urgency to see what happens next. Like most reboots - sometimes I just prefer the original.

This is out Jan 4th!

The writing style just really didn’t work for me, so I wasn’t into this book from the start because of that. I also think it might be more enjoyable to someone who isn’t familiar with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which doesn’t seem like how a Buffy book should be? Between Faith probably being dead and Buffy probably not actually being dead but being assumed dead the whole book, and then all the romance hints between Willow and Oz that were a disgrace to Tara’s memory this just…. wasn’t it.

I’m a huge fan of Buffy so this book peaked my interest immediately. The story was decent and kept my interest. It had a very Buffy show feel to it. With that side I also like how it was more tied into the show by characters and events mentioned. It was lovely seeing Willow, Oz, and Spike have major roles in the story. Spike as a Watcher is something I never saw coming.

This book definitely feels geared more towards Buffy fans given all the Easter eggs and references to specific episodes. If someone who has never saw the show read this certain topics would probably be confusing for them.

The characters we were introduced to: Frankie, Hailey, Jake, and Sigmund were not bad. I wish there was a little more character development, but I do like how we ended with Frankie coming more into her slayer abilities. I liked the twist with Frankie how she is a slayer, but also a witch cause of Willow.

I had really high hopes for this book. I've been a buffy fan almost my whole life and to see a next gen book coming out about Willow's future child? Sign me up!

Unfortunately, me and this book just weren't a good match. I found the book was dragging for me and I couldn't get very invested in characters or plot, outside of the references to the original series, and I just wasn't really enjoying it. That said, I do see how other people can and do love it. It has a lot of the key features of the series, even within the new characters, and while I cant say I loved it, there's no way I hated it either.

It was kind of nice to revisit the Buffy-verse from a different perspective. I think this titled lived up to the rather large legacy it was walking into admirably.

Calling all my Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans!! I was super excited to receive an ARC of In every generation by Kendra Blake. Aside of loving Blake’s other books, I went in with high hopes of loving this given it’s Slayer inspired continuation story and was not disappointed. This book is fun, witty, lighthearted, and a great spin on a favorite. I really loved all the references from the show, if you’re a true Slayer fan you’ll get it. Blake’s writing really brings the story to life in such a fun creative way.

Blurb:

Frankie Rosenberg is passionate about the environment, a sophomore at New Sunnydale High School, and the daughter of the most powerful witch in Sunnydale history. Her mom, Willow, is slowly teaching her magic on the condition that she use it to better the world. But Frankie’s happily quiet life is upended when new girl Hailey shows up with news that the annual Slayer convention has been the target of an attack, and all the Slayers―including Buffy, Faith, and Hailey’s older sister Vi―might be dead. That means it’s time for this generation’s Slayer to be born. 

But being the first ever Slayer-Witch means learning how to wield a stake while trying to control her budding powers. With the help of Hailey, a werewolf named Jake, and a hot but nerdy sage demon, Frankie must become the Slayer, prevent the Hellmouth from opening again, and find out what happened to her Aunt Buffy, before she’s

I grew up watching and loving Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so I was very excited to read this book! And I am so happy to say, I was not disappointed! In Every Generation Picks up 15 years after the series finale and in it we meet Willow's daughter, Frankie, Oz's nephew, Jake and another slayer's younger sister, Hailey, in New Sunnydale after an explosion seemingly kills all other slayers, including Buffy. The new 'Scoobies' try to figure out exactly what happened to the other slayers while also battling off demons and vampires. I really loved the characters in this book, both discovering the new generation and revisiting some old favorites! Frankie is such an awesome character and I loved following her in her journey of becoming a slayer, and not just any slayer, but a witch-slayer. Hailey and Jake are great 'Scoobies' and I loved the entire group dynamic. Seeing Oz again after so long was so great, because he was always one of my favorite characters. Seeing Willow as a mom was so cool, and seeing her struggle with magic continue even to this day was really interesting and I loved her so much. Spike was always my favorite character, so having him featured so heavily in this book was amazing and I loved watching him as a watcher. The mystery was fantastic as were the villains and I am very excited to see where this series takes these amazing characters!

Thank you NetGalley and Disney Books for the eARC to read and review!

Thanks to NetGalley and Disney Hyperion for an advanced copy of this to review! It’s been awhile since I’ve been Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but this book just seemed so fun! Plus, I love Kendare Blake’s writing, so it’s basically like a match made in heaven.

I will start by saying if you’re a Buffy fan, you will absolutely love this book. It is packed with Buffy references, I think effectively picking up a good time after the show left off. You’ll see a lot of familiar characters, which can make it fun if you’re really familiar with the show. Blake also does a good job capturing the whole feel of the show in novel form.

However, I’m not sure how much this will bring new fans to Buffy. If you’re not as familiar with the show, the little easter eggs throughout the book won’t be as fun. So, it’s not super clear who exactly this was written for. It sits in YA, because the characters are teeangers, but I think it might appeal more to adult Buffy fans instead. It will be interesting to see the reception for this book once it comes out in January.

Additionally, I wish that Frankie would have had more character development. Out of all the characters, she fell the most flat to me. Outside of getting slayer powers, she needed something else to make her more rounded. So much potential, and I think it was lost a bit in the story.

All in all, if you’re looking for a fun, adventurous vampire story, you’ll definitely find it here! There are some fun characters, and some funny lines. It might be a fun way to kick off your 2022 reading!

I went into this knowing it was based around Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which I have never seen), but I didn't realize it almost like a continuation of the series. I know there were a lot of things I missed not having seen the show. A lot of background information that would have added a little bit to the story. But at the same time, I didn't ever feel lost. This book did a really great job of being able to have new fans feel like they understood everything, but having old fans have so much from the show almost like an inside joke.
There was a great cast of characters in this book. I think my favorite was Hailey, but I also liked the new slayer-witch Frankie. She was so insecure about being a slayer at first and wasn't just all of the sudden this amazing slayer. Jake, Sigmund, Grimlock, Spike, Oz and Willow made such a great squad!
Despite knowing nothing about the Buffy-verse, this book kept my interest the whole time. The pacing was really good. There was always something happening or always something you were waiting to happen. It kept the demons current by having one of them feed on people through Instagram, but also had such a traditional supernatural feel.
This book actually made me really want to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I really think anyone who has seen the show will absolutely love this book. New fans will also have so much fun with it like me!

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney/Hyperion for the ARC of this book.

I really enjoyed this novel as I felt like I was reading the new season of the sequel series to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". The characters were falling into Scooby archetypes which I am perfectly ok with as it feds my nostalgia but was still different enough to stand on its own. This book works better if you have an intimate knowledge of the TV series before it but you can get the major plot points of what happened in the book itself. The rising of the first slayer-witch is pretty damn awesome and having her face Countess Elizabeth Bathory for her first big bad was wonderful. Can't wait to read a season 2/ sequel novel that I hope is coming.

I'm a sucker for anything Buffyverse, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to read this book on Netgalley.

What I loved most about this book was the nostalgia that came with it. So many past characters were included in this and we got to see where there lived took them. Willow has a daughter, Oz has a nephew, Xander and Spike are Watchers, and so much more.
I loved the moments mentioned that were from episodes that I vividly remember watching and I also really liked this next generation of Scoobies. Also, the 90s references were *chefs kiss*. Frankie has some really funny quips that made me think of Buffy and there was a lot of dialogue that sounded like it could be straight out of an episode.

My main problem with this book is that I felt like the audience it was written towards was not the correct one. This is technically a Disney book, so I understand that they were aiming towards a younger audience but I think they missed the mark.

I think this book would have been a lot more successful if the target audience was adults who grew up watching Buffy. There were too many Buffy episode references and 90s references that I don't think the younger audiences would really understand. I just wish the book would have been a little more adult or even YA as opposed to middle-grade. It was just a little too juvenile for me.

I really enjoyed this return trip to the Buffyverse. This book acted like a continuation of the original show and even had a few returning favorites. In Every Generation follows Frankie, the daughter of Willow, as she becomes possibly the last slayer and first ever slayer-witch.

What I loved about this book.
The humor and vibe of the book felt spot on to the original show for the most part. I loved the comradery of the new Scoobies. There are a lot of Easter eggs for long time fans, but not too many that someone new to this universe would feel alienated. I also liked watching Frankie grow into her Slayer abilities. It read like a new season of the show. I would love for it to be adapted one day.

What I didn’t like.
At times I felt like Frankie seemed younger than what she was supposed to be. For some reason during the first half of the book there were a lot of jokes about menstruation. Not sure if it was an nod to the show in some form that just went over my head, but it just seemed a little weird. There was even a part where one of the characters in the book mentioned how often they joked about it. Another thing that got me was how much Willow and the other adults took a backseat to the slaying. I know Frankie needs to learn but it just seemed weird seeing as what the adult characters went through when they were this age.

Overall I really liked this book and I cannot wait to read the next installment. I’m so happy this is a series and it a stand-alone.

As a fan of the original Buffy the Vampire series, this book really appealed to my nostalgia while also being a great start to a new series. Frankie is on a journey to believe in herself and use her slayer powers with confidence. With a bit of a cliffhanger ending, I'm looking forward to reading more adventures of this new slayer and her Scoobies.

Oh how much I wanted to love this book. Buffy is very, very important to me. I am normally totally fine with whatever it is, if it has Buffy. The other novelizations, the comics, whatever. The boom stuff that is just OK, is still better than no Buffyverse. The problems with this book are twofold. The writer seems to think the reader has never heard of these characters, which would be OK, if she didn’t repeat herself over and over. I mean if you are going to reintroduce everyone, do it once, not once a chapter. Secondly, she breaks her own rules pretty quickly. All of Sunnydale has been destroyed, except this one random spooky place, just because. That doesn’t work. Since this book is ignoring the comics aspect of things, you can’t then also ignore the rules of the show. I am not mad, I’m just disappointed. I had high, high hopes.

I've never seen 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and I had no idea this was a “continuation” retelling when I picked it up.

Thus, I am not a part of the demographic this book was specifically written for, which is why my thoughts are probably going to be vastly different than someone's who is familiar with the franchise.

So this review is going to be for fellow readers who enjoy vampire stories and/or KB's previous books (my reasons for reading this in the first place). I thought these things would help me push through this, and they did to an extent. The story isn't hard to follow. Yes, obviously, I'm missing past context for the characters and world-building, but it's not impossible to treat it all as completely new without prior history and still understand everything.

The thing that lost my interest is just how much this feels like fan-fiction that tries way too hard. But I think that's just an inherent quality when it comes to continuation stories - they is, at their core, fan-fic. I just really want to emphasise the trying too hard bit. Which I think is because this is trying to cater to younger audiences when really it should be to adult Buffy fans. Also, no one likes menstruation humour. Like, literally no one.

Overall, a miss for me (again, I'm not in the demographic for this, so not surprising), but I'm sure fans of the series will enjoy being in the Buffyverse.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

So this book is definitely for fans of Buffy. So many inside jokes and references I feel like you'd need to know Buffy to get a good understanding of the book.

I loved seeing old characters mixed with some great new ones! And will definitely be reading the next book.

I loved being back in the world of Buffy. This continuation fully met my expectations and I know the scooby gang at my library are going to be doing the snoopy dance to get their hands on it!.

I was dying to get my hands on this and I’m so happy that I did! As an OG Scooby gang member, I will say that Kendare Blake did a fantastic job continuing the story with a new generation! I loved this story and the characters in it. It was so enjoyable to be back in the Buffyverse and I truly hope that she writes more.