After a brief foray into Season 4 with “The Lost Slayer,” the “Buffy” novels skip over Season 5 (at least for now) and enter Season 6 with “Tempted Champions” (March 2002), Yvonne Navarro’s sophomore effort that improves dramatically from “Paleo” (2000). Not only is this an excellent Anya novel, it’s one of the best Anya stories, period.
The ex-demon is tempted by an offer from D’Hoffryn during the height of her happiness with Xander. Her former boss would later tempt her in “Selfless” (7.5), which came out after Navarro wrote this book. That’s one of the better Season 7 episodes, illustrating that Xander’s positive influence on Anya was such that she refuses to become an immortal vengeance demon even after he has broken her heart in “Hell’s Bells” (6.16).
“Tempted Champions” is a lighter riff on this material. There’s no chance Anya will accept D’Hoffryn’s offer, but it’s a pleasure to see her work through the dilemma and realize she loves not only Xander, but also being domestic in their apartment and being a successful young professional at The Magic Box. While most of Anya’s time in the comics is spent making inappropriate comments demonstrating that she’s new to humanity, the more in-depth format of novels allows her to be a more layered, pleasant person here.
Speaking of comics, Navarro (like most “Buffy” novelists not involved with the comics) doesn’t seem to have read them. Although her references to TV episodes have admirable depth, including a moment when Buffy thinks back on becoming a vampire in “Nightmares” (1.10), the author is unaware of the excellent “False Memories” (Issues 35-38, July-October 2001), which is set in Season 5 and features the Slayer-turned-vampire Yuki. Navarro writes about her own antagonist, Celina, as if she’s the first Slayer to suffer this fate, but the gang had confronted Yuki earlier the same year.
Celina is a more interesting character, though. Navarro’s strength is getting into the heads of characters, and it makes for a great mini “Tale of the Slayer” in the flashback where Celina chooses to be turned into a vampire in ancient Greece. Spike and Angel also recall past run-ins with Celina, who continues to slay after being turned (despite also feeding on humans, we must assume, although the author downplays this aspect). She’s so dangerous that Angel returns to Sunnydale to help with this threat, and Celina tricks Spike after a steamy sequence at his crypt.
Granted, there are tons of “Buffy” spin-off stories that hype up a threat as being the biggest ever, but this one seems legitimate enough that it would’ve made for a good early Season 6 episode. As the title suggests, Buffy is briefly intrigued by the freedom that Celina enjoys as an immortal Slayer who doesn’t have the weight of expectations on her back. Buffy thinks of spending eternity with Angel.
One chapter initially struck me as overwritten: We see the details of Willow, Tara and Dawn doing a spell to give Buffy extra strength in her upcoming fight. But in retrospect, the passage does have value in that it shows an early example of Willow bringing Dawn into her sphere, something that mildly irks Buffy here and of course will seriously bug her in “Wrecked” (6.10), when a magic-addicted Willow crashes a car, injuring Dawn. But I think the chapter is also there because Navarro loves writing about the details of spells and the magical realm; she would later write “Wicked Willow” (2004), an entire trilogy set during Willow’s dark-side phase later in Season 6.
“Tempted Champions’ ” two major weaknesses might not be Navarro’s fault. For one thing, this is among the worst line-edited books in the series (truly, it seems like it was not edited), pockmarked with typos, misspellings, missing words and grammar errors. It’s not bad enough to make it hard to read, but you’ll notice it. The most egregious of those errors is that the historian’s note says this book takes place early in Season 5, when it actually is set early in Season 6, as is clear from a bevy of context clues, notably Buffy’s statement that this is her first autumn since her mom’s death.
The other weakness is that Buffy’s recent death and resurrection are not mentioned in “Tempted Champions.” Even when the group talks about how Buffy’s death in “Prophecy Girl” (1.12) created the new branch of Slayers starting with Kendra, they don’t reference her more recent death in “The Gift” (5.22). The gang worries that perhaps Faith (who is in prison at this time) has died, and that this vampire Slayer vampire in town is part of that line. This might’ve been a good spot to also worry that Buffy’s second death has led to another Slayer. We now know that’s not how it works – that Faith’s line is the “active” line – but our heroes did not know that with certainty early in Season 6.
My guess is that Navarro was working under an embargo from Joss Whedon’s office on delving into Buffy’s resurrection, similar to how the books set in Season 3 were for a long time not allowed to use Faith. Navarro includes a subtle reference to Dawn nearly being sacrificed in “The Gift,” but that’s the extent of the reflection on this pivotal time period. “Chaos Bleeds” (2003), also set in early Season 6, has the similar oddity of not addressing Buffy’s death and revival. Granted, the comics heavily delve into this era, especially in “The Death of Buffy,” but Whedon had a closer relationship with Dark Horse Comics than with Pocket Books.
Other than the typos and that one continuity oddity, “Tempted Champions” is a pleasure to read. Navarro writes all of the gang beautifully, gives Anya her due as a fleshed-out character, and invents one of the most intriguing villains of the novel line in Celina.
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