Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder’s “The Gatekeeper Trilogy Book 3: Sons of Entropy” (May 1999) is so epic that Joyce describes it as “almost an entire month of hell, like nothing else you guys have run into” (page 316). It is actually only a few days, as we know from Oz’s three nights of transforming into a werewolf, but indeed, a reader does imagine the Scoobies could use some serious R&R after this one.
Notwithstanding a few expertly choreographed fights in big episodes, “Buffy” episodes tend to wrap with a brisk dispatching of the villain. By contrast, “Sons of Entropy’s” final third is one big battle on two fronts: the Gatekeeper versus Fulcanelli in Boston, and Buffy versus Belphegor in Sunnydale. It’s not bad reading, especially since it’s interspersed with Fulcanelli’s Sith-like origin story in italics, but it is undeniably long.
As with the first two entries, “Sons of Entropy” is part of Golden and Holder’s (accidentally) alternate Season 3, springboarding from the grim mood of “Anne” (Season 3, episode 1) and the fact of Buffy’s and Angel’s return to the Scooby Gang. On page 37, the authors – who had no doubt finalized most of the copy at this point – awkwardly insert a reference to “Band Candy” (3.6) on top of a reference to “The Dark Age” (2.8), as Buffy and Ethan Rayne meet again. Buffy says: “Last I saw you, you were carving tattoos in my back. Or no, wait, you were selling magick candy bars, right? So excuse me if I don’t do backflips at the sight of you.”
Ethan is the best part of “Sons of Entropy,” as the authors know the rhythms of the selfish sorcerer’s speech – although maybe he calls Giles “Ripper” a few too many times — and show him failing to strike a deal with the bad guys before throwing in his lot with the Slayer. This is a better guest turn than that of Spike and Drusilla, who disappear without explanation at the end of “Book 2: Ghost Roads,” because Ethan is actively part of the plot.
While the book’s place in the continuity is awkward — it nominally fits between “Revelations” (7) and “Lovers Walk” (8) – it’s interesting to see how Golden and Holder accidentally stumble onto themes the show would later explore overtly. The similarity between Buffy and Jacques, the 11-year-old Gatekeeper heir, is clear, as they are both young people cursed with a destiny.
But interestingly, if you throw Fulcanelli into the mix, we have a trio of characters whose destinies were created by other beings. Fulcanelli’s evil was carefully molded by the demon Hadrius. Jacques’ grandfather created the Gatehouse, which binds demons, in response to his own mistake, and cursed his heirs continue to watch over it. What the authors didn’t know is that “Buffy” would later reveal, in Season 7, that the line of Slayers was magically created by the ancient Watchers’ Council.
So there’s a nice accidental synergy there, although I wonder in hindsight if the authors’ references to the importance of Buffy as THE girl who will stand against the forces of darkness are overstated. When writing these passages, they were probably under the impression that Kendra was a one-off, rather than the new carrier of the Slayer lineage, which might’ve been a common misconception when Season 2 was airing.
Faith’s introduction in “Faith, Hope and Trick” (3) forced us to re-examine Buffy’s singular importance, as did the consistent contributions of the Scooby Gang — in the show AND in this very trilogy. Indeed, Xander is a temporary Gatekeeper, magically acquiring knowledge in much the same way he acquires soldier skills in Season 2’s “Halloween.” Plus, Willow generally does more impressive spell work than at this point in the TV series, Oz is a much better fighter and Cordelia is a steadier source of moral support.
The ultimate message of the TV series is that it’s important for Buffy to share her powers, and therefore spread the weight of responsibility and end the “one girl in all the world” rule, a purposely inefficient dictate by the Watchers’ Council that allows them to control the Slayer.
If the authors had tied Buffy more tightly into the schemes of Fulcanelli and Belphegor, “The Gatekeeper Trilogy” would’ve worked better. Flashbacks in “Book 1: Out of the Madhouse” tell us that Fulcanelli gained magical power by ritualistically sacrificing a Slayer, but here we learn that capturing and killing Buffy isn’t essential to the villains’ plans after all. Indeed, demons – including one that’s like the translucent creature from “Futurama” — spill forth in Sunnydale (from the same breach the Master used) and at the Gatehouse not because Buffy has died, but because the old Gatekeeper has died. So their very narrative about the Gatehouse and its importance contradicts the “one girl” mythology.
Still, the basic pleasures of a “Buffy” story are in place in “Sons of Entropy,” most notably Golden and Holder’s flawless feel for how the characters talk, and their love for one another; when Cordy admits she loves Xander, it’s more poignant than most Xander-Cordy explorations on the show because of the very fact that she says it. And this raises the emotional stakes of the book above that of the TV show, even though it’s not better than the TV show. While the quality “The Gatekeeper Trilogy” gets shaky on close examination, it remains an engaging page-turner from authors who know everything about the “Buffy”-verse except episodes they hadn’t seen yet.
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