Confessions of a Bookaholic: Carnival of Souls

Okay, I know what you're thinking; "Buffy the Vampire Slayer, really? That is sooooo 90's." Yeah, it is. But you know what? So am I! Team 90's kids all the way. Admittedly, this is a bit of a departure from my usual content, but it was such a fun read that I couldn't resist.

Buffy used to be a normal girl. She went to school, had pretty average grades, and spent a little too much time at the mall. But that was before she found out that she was the Chosen One, the girl of her generation chosen to wage war against the forces of evil that make their way into our world. Since then, there's been a lot less mall shopping and a lot more vampire slaying going on. With the help of her Watcher, Giles, and her two closest friends, Xander and Willow, Buffy manages to keep her head on straight and get the job done. It also doesn't hurt that she's finally managed to get close to Angel, the vampire with a soul that's been helping her in the fight against the bad guys. Especially with all the recent slayage that's been going on, Buffy and the gang are ready for a little quality relaxation when Professor Caligari's Traveling Carnival comes to town. Yeah, sure, the owner is super creepy, no one can decide when the carnival actually arrived, and the crime rate takes a drastic trip north, but what's the worst that could happen? It's not like overindulging in some harmless carnival fun is going to suck your soul out...

When Buffy and her friends go to investigate the carnival after unexplained crimes start happening in Sunnydale, they decide the best course of action is to take in the carnival themselves. Believing the Tunnel of Love to be behind the strange behavior, they all take a trip through with a partner, but come out seemingly unaffected. After experiencing a few of the different attractions at the carnival, it's apparent that something funky is going on. Xander, who admittedly was pretty single-minded about food before, is constantly hungry, eating whatever he can get his hands on. Willow, usually shy and humble, seems to have been bitten by the green-eyed monster. Giles takes a trip back to the angsty days of his youth and Buffy suddenly decides that she's better than everyone in the town. Soon, they reveal that Professor Caligari is an ancient evil bent on nothing short of the destruction of Sunnydale and the enslavement of all its inhabitants. But with the various faults assailing the group, will they be able to overcome their own problems and save Sunnydale?

The first thing that should probably be addressed is the relation of this book to the Buffy series. If you're a huge fan of the 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' series, you'll enjoy this one either way, especially with the added Easter eggs. If you've never seen or heard of Buffy, you may miss out on some of the references and a little back story, but the author was really good about summarizing plot points that are important without detracting from the current story. That being said, reading this book is like watching the series. To be honest, the writing style threw me off a little at first because it's so Buffy, and by that I mean lots of 90's phrases that have since faded into obscurity. After a couple of chapters, you get used to it and you can focus more on the plot, but boy was that a bit of culture shock initially. Admittedly, reading the book from Buffy's iconically sarcastic POV is extremely amusing, but be aware that it's not written from a dry third-person view.

As far as the actual plot, I (obviously) really enjoyed it. The whole storyline is based around the idea of overindulgence and the Seven Deadly Sins, which are portrayed as actual characters. Morally, it backs up the idea that giving in to temptation when you know you shouldn't is bad and literally gets your soul taken away. Aside from that, it uses some of your typical carnival players without over-emphasizing them. Take clowns, for example. In a horror-ish type story about a carnival, you'd obviously expect there to be creepy clowns with chainsaws or blood-sucking tendencies or something like that, and while there are some clowns, they don't play as huge a role as you might expect. Overall, this is a fun read, especially if you're familiar with the Buffy series.

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