Slayer, by Kiersten White

In my recent review of the BOOM Comics Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, I wondered if the Buffy-centric storytelling well had finally run dry. Bestselling author Kiersten White's new spinoff novel Slayer proves that there is still some life in this 'verse, as she transforms a previously unexamined corner of the BtVS world into a conventional but satisfying teen book.

Nina and her twin sister Artemis have grown up at the Watchers' Academy. Once, their school would have been filled with students training to become guides for Slayers—the girls gifted (or cursed) with the ability to fight vampires—but recent world-altering events have left the school a shadow of its former self. Nina has never been Watcher material, so she trained as the school's medic... but when she begins to experience a series of prophetic dreams, Nina discovers that she might have a different destiny to fulfill.

There is a lot of background here, ranging from the original movie to the comic book spin-offs, and it's all mission-critical to understanding the plot. White must be a huge fan of the series, because otherwise I can't see how the publishers managed to convince such a big-name author to take on an project bogged down with so much background material. Frankly, this book has almost nothing to offer BtVS newbies, but hardcore fans will enjoy it, and casual fans of the movie and TV series will find it reasonably entertaining—as long as they're willing to Google a summary of the five seasons of storytelling that continued in comic book form after the TV series ended.