Coyote Moon (Mass Market Paperback)

At the end of Summer a carnival comes to Sunnydale. Shortly after that, coyotes are seen closer to town than usual. Buffy starts to get the wiggins about the carnival and finds some minor evidence that they are involved in something not normal. Eventually a plot involving werecoyotes and skinwalkers is revealed. Unfortunately for the townsfolk the plot involves the carnies seducing and slaughtering a number of Sunnydale's young folk. In the end Buffy triumphs and curses are lifted.

While this volume is quite good it is not canonical. The events take place at a time that we now know Buffy was not in Sunnydale. This puts it in a class with many of the Star Trek books. So if you consider this an old episode you missed then it works out quite well. Unfortunately these books are a little hard to find because they are being marketed towards young adults (hah, my 78 year-old father is one of the show's biggest fans).

RATING: 3/5 Stakes

SETTING: First Season (summer)

CAST APPEARANCES: Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Cordelia

ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Rose, Lonnie, Hopscotch (werecoyotes); Dr. Henshaw (friendly doctor); Spurs Hardaway (villian)

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY

"The seedy carnival looks like just the thing to give Buffy and her best buds, Xander and Willow, a break from staking bloodsuckers. Some greasy food, a few cheap thrills--what more could a Slayer ask for? But then Buffy senses something evil behind this carnival. Xander and Willow aren't so sure. They don't buy Buffy's notion that the carneys are somehow connected to the corposes turning up around Sunnydale. It doesn't help that her two best friends are each interested in someone at the carnival. Which puts the burden of proof on Buffy. Can she find out what's going on in time to save her friends? Or has the Slayer become the prey?"

REVIEW

Coyote Moon, the second original Buffy novel, is a solid if unspectacular story about the arrival of werecoyotes in Sunnydale (disguised as a carnival) and their attempt to resurrect their long-dead leader. Buffy spends most of the novel attempting to gain proof of the carneys' true nature (with Giles' help), while Xander and Willow are seduced by two of the carneys. Xander's terribly luck with the ladies holds out, as his new girlfriend Rose simply wants him and Willow to be the human sacrifices necessary to resurrect Spurs Hardaway, a Buffalo Bill Cody type of Western performer who died exactly a century ago and discovered the secrets of "skinwalking" from an unnamed plains Indian tribe, which allowed him and the other performers to become an animal by donning its skin. After being captured by the werecoyotes, Buffy manages to escape with the aid of Hopscotch, a renegade werecoyote who wants her to stop the resurrection because he was the one who secretly killed Spurs Hardaway to begin with. In her own inimitable style, Buffy manages to arrive at the resurrection just in time to drive a silver knife through Spur Hardaway's werebear form and save the day.
The novel has some strong elements. Xander's teen lust for Rose is depicted well, as are the feelings of love and hurt that Willow feels everytime Xander fails to notice how much she loves him. Also well played is a scene where Buffy interrupts a Xander-and-Rose makeup session, prompting Xander to tell Buffy off. Other highpoints include Xander trying to grow a goatee (failing miserably) and some interesting use of Native skinwalker stories.
Overall, Coyote Moon is a competent addition to the Buffy line and has the feel of a first season episode. It's by no means a page turner, but it also doesn't prompt groans of dismay like some other books in the series.